Princeton University panel discussion set Friday
By: Jake Uitti
The Princeton University student group "Hip-Hop: Art & Life," in cooperation with the national Center for American Progress, will present a panel discussion 2 p.m. Friday in McCosh 50 focusing on the role of hip-hop in post-9/11 America.
The event, which is free and open to the public, "is intended to explore the role of the hip-hop generation as today’s dominant youth culture in initiating social change," according to a statement on the university’s Web site.
Princeton University Professor Cornel West will be taking part in the discussion, along with rapper Talib Kweli, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California and others.
"This event truly contrasts the four original elemental figures in hip-hop culture the emcee, the DJ, the graffiti artist and the B-boy with the four fundamental figures in social change the politician, the intellectual, the artist and the student," said Princeton senior Michael Rudoy, a principal organizer for the event. "Since hip-hop culture has established itself as both dominant in youth and pop culture in America today and we’re seeing the solidification of hip-hop as a legitimate and worthwhile academic pursuit these counterparts are being forced to interact in new and complex ways."
Television personality Jeffery Johnson of Black Entertainment Television will moderate the panel discussion that will explore this new interaction. Johnson is known as "Cousin Jeff" for his role hosting the BET show "The Cousin Jeff Chronicles." He was previously the national youth director for the NAACP and vice president for the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.
"We’re hosting this symposium as our nation commemorates three major events that have changed our society," Mr. Rudoy said. "We’re commemorating the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11 and the 219th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17. As a leader in progressive higher education, it is important that Princeton recognizes the hip-hop generation’s role on the American political stage. This event has been fully initiated and developed by the torchbearers of the hip-hop generation the students."
The panel will include Mr. West, the class of 1943 University Professor of Religion and one of the nation’s most widely known and quoted intellectuals on topics of race, politics and class issues; Rep. Waters; Mr. Kweli, the hip-hop artist commonly referred to as "the thinking-man’s rapper"; and Bakari Kitwana, an author, freelance journalist, former editor-in-chief of The Source Magazine and co-founder of the first National Hip-Hop Political Convention.
Sponsors for the event include the Frist Campus Center, Fields Center, Center for African American Studies, the departments of politics, English, anthropology, history and music, and the programs in African studies and American studies.
The event does not require tickets and will be simulcast live at the Frist Campus Center. It will also be carried on University Channel 7.

