Changing Demographics

Multiculturalism and Global Youth Culture

Robin Kelley

Summary by Marisa Brona Messer

Dr. Robin Kelley spoke brilliantly about poetry and how much poetry comes into play in the lyrics of hip hop.  Kelley referred to hip hop as the sonic nature of music.  Hip hop is poetry, a vision of freedom and imagination.  Kelley stated that the poetry in hip hop is a powerful form of knowledge that compels us to stimulate our imagination.  I never put poetry and hip hop together before this lecture.

Kelley mentioned ho in hip hop culture, what people are against take precedence over what people want to build.  For example, hip hop has to do with revolting and yet hip hop holds a utopian vision. This utopian vision is extremely hard to illustrate because we live in a society where utopia is not accepted.  The reality of hip hop is the nature of urban life, not the dreams of utopia.  I found this topic of utopia to be very intriguing and agreed with Kelley on how it is virtually impossible to transmit a utopian idea in society today.  Musical artists with utopian visions, such as Bob Marley, are natural "modern ancients" who relate African Americans to the earth and nature.

Wanting to get away from urban space challenges the common image we see in hip hop.  the desire to go to a place away from urban life is represented in the song "Tennessee," where desiring to be in the countryside and sharing a relationship with God are expressed.  Freedom and hope for the future to make up for the lost past is a theme in the song "Sunny Meadows" in which slavery is reconsidered.  I never knew how much hip hoppers want to get out of the urban lives they lead.  Graffiti art expresses dreams of stepping out of urban life.  Kelley referred to graffiti as "calligraffiti" and celebrates it as a form of rhythm and motion.  He also said that "graffiti is not vandalism but a very beautiful crime."  Kelley ended up with the idea of "keepin' it real," moving beyond a material world to something bigger and showed it in the song "Fear not of man."