Spiritchild and Jessica Habie, Movement in Motion
This workshop will explore the origins of hip hop (black) music from Africa (describing the role of a griot and his/her responsibilities to the community) to modern day emceeing (looking at hip hop and its role in the struggle for freedom, justice and peace). We will start with exercises of vocal warm ups, “collective freestyling” (in which all of the participants whether familiar with hip hop or not can easily gravitate and contribute to the overall workshop) and an analysis of the content and image portrayed by hip hop music. A few guiding questions will be posed throughout the session: What is hip hop? What is freestyle? What are the elements of hip hop music? Why is hip hop an important tool for the struggle? We will also take a look at current resources and hip hop organizations (their victories and goals) for further analysis.