Some people have a negative opinion of hip-hop because all they know about it is the negative gangster rap commercial hip-hip or the violence on King Street that was attributed to crowds attending hip-hop nights at the Club Majestic.

 

There is another very positive side to hip-hop and hip-hop culture that many people don't know about.  It is giving our youth voices to help change the world and make it a better place.  There are young people working to take hip-hop back from the commercial people who stole it.  Some of that is taking place right here in Madison.

 

Willie Ney has created a new UW Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives and its Youth Speaks Wisconsin program "empowers young people to find and share their voices through spoken word poetry and the urban arts".

 

Portal Wisconsin has an on-line article about Youth Speaks Wisconsin here that includes links to video of teen spoken word performances as well as a link to Susan Kepeks "Hip-hop goes to college" article (1 MB Acrobat) from the fall issue of "Wisconsin People & Ideas".

 

Marc Bamuthi Joseph will be a UW Arts Institute Artist-in-Residence this spring to teach a UW class, bringing nationally known people from the hip-hop community to Madison.  There will be public lectures and performances.

 

Look here for more information about an upcoming scholarship fundraiser DanceFest in March and public performances associated with the Marc Bamuthi Joseph residency.

 

For more info on this exciting program, contact

 

Willie Ney, Executive Director, OMAI
355 Bascom Hall • wney@wisc.edu • (608) 890-1055