Diversifying Hip-Hop: Krip-Hop Homo-Hop

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Krip-Hop Nation, Art-In-Action & the University of California at Berkeley bring you the first ever panel/performance event highlighting two upcoming movements in Hip-Hop: Krip-Hop (Hip-Hop by artists with disabilities) and Homo-Hop (Hip-Hop by artists who are queer). “Diversifying Hip-Hop: Krip-Hop & Homo-Hop” will be held on Saturday April 11th 2009
2-9pm at the Worth Ryder Gallery, 116 Kroeber Hall, U.C. Berkeley. The building is near the corner of Bancroft & College Ave. Admission is free.

Hip-Hop has a rich expressive history, and at the same time it is now heavily commercialized. Who defines Hip-Hop? Who controls what its image will be? This program explores two emerging offshoots of the Hip-Hop movement, “Krip Hop” and “Homo Hop.” Bringing together academics, performers and community activists, the event will explore these sub-cultures, gathering leading figures from both cultural phenomena to examining their place within Hip-Hop culture(s) and their invitation to a more diverse audience. The goal of “Diversifying Hip-Hop: Krip-Hop & Homo Hop” is to bring the margins front and center, to expose the struggle of difference, as has always been the legacy of hip-hop.

“Diversifying Hip-Hop: Krip-Hop & Homo Hop” will consist of a showing/discussion of two documentary films, Kathleen Kiley’s “Halfasoulja” and Alex Hinton’s “Pick Up The Mic: The Revolution of Homohop"; live performances; and a panel of speakers. Artists and speakers will be coming from as far as Atlanta, GA., New Mexico, Houston, TX, and Los Vegas and as close to home as the San Francisco Bay Area. Performers include George “Tragic” Doman, the King of Handicap-Hop; King Montana, who is the first quadriplegic Hip-Hop artist to secure a global distribution deal with DEKA Records and his song, and video, “Freedom Fighter” will appear in an upcoming documentary, "Cycle of Life" with Carlos Santana, Miss Money, who is in the documentary “Pick Up The Mike: The Revolution of Homohop" and who has a radio show in Houston; NaR, a queer Arab hip hop crew of Oakland, CA; Deadlee of LA., who was recently featured in the LA Times, talking about the rise of Homo-Hop; Juba Kalamka, who served as curator/director of PeaceOUT World HomoHop Festival from 2002-2007, an event featured heavily in Hinton's “Pick Up the Mic”; and more leading voices of both movements.

The moderators of the event will be Khalil Amani, the author of "Hip-Hop Homophobes,…" who bills himself as a spiritual advisor to gay hip-hop, and Leroy F. Moore Jr., founder of the Krip-Hop Project and community relations director of Sins Invalid.

“Diversifying Hip-Hop” is sponsored by the Disability Studies Program, the Division of Arts and Humanities, the Departments of Art Practice, Theater Dance & Performance Studies, Katherine Sherwood's Art, Medicine & Disability class and African Diaspora Studies at U.C. Berkeley. The organizers also acknowledge the support of Poor Magazine, Turf Unity, Homo-Hop Radio and the Doreen Townsend Center Working Group for Hip-Hop Studies at UCB.

April 11th Saturday 11/2009 2-9 pm FREE Admission
Worth Ryder Gallery 116 Kroeber Hall
Contact: Leroy Moore at (510)) 649-8438
kriphopproject [at] yahoo.com
Wheelchair accessible