Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

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Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes
Directed byByron Hurt
Written byByron Hurt
Produced byByron Hurt and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon
Starring
CinematographyBill Winters
Edited bySabrina Schmidt Gordon
Release dates
Running time
56 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes is a 2006

Emmy-winning documentary series, Independent Lens
.

Interviews

The film features interviews with many hip-hop artists including

Mos Def, and Talib Kweli.[1][2][3] Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes also features academics such as Dr. James Peterson of Pennsylvania State University, Professor William Jelani Cobb of Spelman College, and Michael Eric Dyson of the University of Pennsylvania.[2][4] Activists, journalists and poets such as Kevin Powell, Sarah Jones, and the Hip Hop Minister Conrad Tillard are also interviewed.[5]

Noted moments

Of the one-hour documentary, media outlets largely focused on three specific interviews:

Interviews with students of

Tip Drill," in which he is seen sliding a credit card down the back side of a woman. In response, the rapper canceled plans to hold the bone marrow drive at the school.[1][2]

An interview with Rapper Busta Rhymes in which the rapper walked out when confronted with a question about homophobia in the rap community. Rhymes is quoted as saying: "I can't partake in that conversation," followed by, "With all due respect, I ain't trying to offend nobody. . . What I represent culturally doesn't condone [homosexuality] whatsoever." When asked if the hip-hop culture would ever accept a homosexual rapper, Busta Rhymes then exited the interview.[3]

To reveal the effect of the commodification of women in hip-hop, Hurt interviewed concertgoers at the BET Spring Fling in Daytona, FL. Hurt was appalled by the actions of black youth at the concert, who were indiscreetly touching and taking videos of women. One young man that was interviewed commented that "Look how they dress” to justify the actions of the men at the event. In this segment of the documentary, Byron claims that the objectification of women in hip-hop lyrics and music videos has taught young men to view women as sex objects for their own personal pleasure.[6]

Many media outlets focused on the interview with activist and rapper,

BET is the cancer of black manhood in the world, because they have one-dimensionalized us and commodified us into being a one-trick image. We're [shown] throwing money at the camera; we're flashing jewelry that could give a town in Africa water. We got $160 million contracts, 'cuz we got happy niggas."[1] The rapper also stated a link existed between the sales of hip-hop music to young white Americans, and the amount of pressure on black artists to create more of that content: sex and violence.[1][3][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Zurawik, David (2007-02-20). "A daring look at hip-hop". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 2007-02-22.
  2. ^
    New York Daily News. Archived from the original
    on 2007-02-22.
  3. ^ a b c d Richards, Chris (2007-02-19). "A Hip-Hop Fan Hunts the Reason Behind the Rhyme". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  4. ^ Wiegand, David (2007-02-20). "Academic view of violence and sexism in hip-hop". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  5. ^ "A Look at Hip-Hop, 'Beyond Beats and Rhymes'". NPR.org.
  6. ^ Hurt, Byron. Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhythms. PBS Indies. 2006.
  7. ^ Bigg, Matthew (2007-02-20). "US hip-hop film sparks debate on masculinity". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-03-09.

External links

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