Join us for an exploration of the queer origins and aesthetics of hip hop through discussion, film, performance, and food. The event includes a Black healing portal curated by Astraea award-winning duo Krudxs Cubensi, a session with Soul Fire Farm on BIPOC vegan foodways and their connection to community-centered activism, and a panel discussion centering on the queer underground hip hop scene led by Hip Hop Heresies author and scholar Dr. Shanté Paradigm Smalls.
CLAGS (The Center for LGBTQ Studies) award-winning hip hop musician and dharma teacher Shanté Paradigm Smalls leads an enlightening roundtable discussion focusing on the ways that hip hop culture in film, visual art, and music in New York City from the 1970s to today offers queer articulations of race, gender, and sexuality, and how this might affect the future of hip hop. Panelists include Creative Capital grant-winner and Priestess of Twerk Nia Witherspoon, Afro-Latina MC, artist, and activist Ms.Boogie; Chair of New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, Dr. Jason King; and educator, poet, youth advocate, and hip hop artist tim’m west.
Krudxs Cubensi headlines Black Healing Portal II: Más allá del tiempo / Beyond Time, a queer Afro-Cuban hip hop cypher featuring dance, drumming, projections, procession, and community offerings that links Afro-Yoruba spiritual practices to modern rapping and explores race, religion, gender, class, and sexuality. This immersive session features a presentation by Librada González Fernández of Archivo CubaneCuir, Afro-Cuban dancer Yesenia Selier and batá drummers, poet and Executive Director of the Nuyorican Poets Café Caridad “La Bruja” De La Luz, and the music and art of Krudxs Cubensi. Group members Odaymar Cuesta and Oli Prendes adhere to vegan lifestyles and politics, and the event includes a riveting keynote address delivered by Soul Fire Farm’s Co-Founder and Farm Manager Leah Penniman that underscores the importance of BIPOC food sovereignty, food justice, and ancestral connection between food and land, as well as a reading by Soul Fire Farm Director of Education and poet Naima Penniman.
Presented in collaboration with the Black Studies Collaboratory at UC Berkeley.
Queer Hip Hop Cypher Schedule
3:00pm–4:00pm: Celebration of BIPOC Vegan Foodways
Second Floor Hallway
4:00pm–5:15pm: Hip Hop Heresies Roundtable
Veterans Room
5:15pm–5:30pm: Procession
First Floor Hallway
5:30pm–7:00pm: Black Healing Portal II: Más allá del tiempo / Beyond Time
Board of Officers Room
Oli Prendes and Odaymar Cuesta of Krudxs Cubensi.
Images: Qrcky; Krudxs Cubensi image courtesy of the artists.
Sunday, May 15, 2022
In-Person Event
3:00pm–7:00pm
Tickets: $25 (plus fees)
Livestream of Hip Hop Heresies Roundtable
4:00pm–5:15pm
Free on the Armory’s YouTube channel
Health and Safety Protocols
All ticket-holders must be fully vaccinated. “Fully vaccinated” means that you received your final dose of an FDA or WHO-approved vaccine at least 14 days before your performance date. At check-in, ticket holders will be required to show proof of full vaccination (the New York State Excelsior Pass or a hard copy or photo of your vaccination card) and a government-issued photo ID.
All patrons and staff are required to wear masks while inside the Armory.
To view additional COVID-19 Policies, please visit our FAQs page.
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