Marc Bamuthi Joseph, the Bay Area’s leading spoken word poet, and renowned writer Jeff Chang, come together for a public conversation. Reflecting on their own creative trajectories, they discuss the power of hip-hop to reshape the American and global cultural landscape at this critical moment in US politics. Stephanie Shonekan, Black World Studies Director at Columbia College, facilitates this dialogue.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph is an artist and activist based in Oakland, California. He is a National Poetry Slam Champion, Broadway veteran, GOLDIE Award winner, and inaugural recipient of the United States Artist Rockefeller Fellowship. He serves as Artistic Director of The Living World Project, and organization that mentors and supports the work of 13-19 year old writers. This highly personal multimedia excursion across planet hip-hop drew inspiration from Bamuthi’s emergence as an artist in a time of hip-hop globalization. It wasl also inspired by Chang’s seminal book Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, which won a 2005 American Book Award.

Jeff Chang has written extensively on culture, politics, the arts, and music. He was a founding editor of ColorLines magazine, and a Senior Editor/Director at Russell Simmons’ 360hiphop.com. He has written for the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Vibe, Foreign Policy, The Nation, and Mother Jones, among many other publications. In 1993 he co-founded and ran the influential hip-hop indie label, SoleSides.

Recorded Saturday, February 28, 2009 at Museum of Contemporary Art.