Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Annals of lower education: Princeton hosts hip-hop confab
Princeton University's recruitment of Cornel West is paying dividends already. Alumni especially will be thrilled to know that Old Nassau has become a center for inquiry into hip-hop music, which seems to require the participation of Rep. Maxine Waters:
Princeton theologian and activist Cornel West will share a stage with rapper Talib Kweli, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California, and some of the country's leading thinkers in the field of hip-hop music for the "Princeton Hip-Hop Symposium" on Friday, Oct. 6, at Princeton University.
Well, we can't say that Larry Summers didn't warn us.
8 Comments:
By 
Sissy Willis, at
Wed Oct 04, 12:59:00 PM:
Who knew there was such a thing as "leading thinkers in the field"?
By Charlottesvillain, at
Wed Oct 04, 02:32:00 PM:
Dude, are you going to live blog Maxine Waters? Bwahahahahahahaha!
By 
, at
Wed Oct 04, 02:44:00 PM:
No wonder their not learning when they bring in these wackos into these places of lower standards and dumbing down what a mess it is
By Christopher Chambers, at
Thu Oct 05, 10:24:00 AM:
Considering that hip hop is now a very, very thick pillar of pop culture...I'm sure 60% of the troops in your little Iraq farce have it thumping in their headphones after a day of busting-in doors...why not have a symposium? I went by my old eating club and saw nothing but white faces having a lawn party, and gee whiz, I heard nothing BUT Ludicris & Pharrell's collaboration, "Shake Yoour Moneymaker" hahahaha.
Lowering standards? Wow, you clowns always ring that bell when you got nothing else to offer? But hey...you're right. I think a faculty of white guys, writing about white stuff, and maybe even a student body of white boys, possible mediocre tools like George W, George Allen, hell--how about ol Mark Foley to make things interesting, with Hastert as the wrestling coach, would be more your speed? And have you even checked out the other wonderful African American faculty members enriching scholarship at a place that's never been bigger and better, or does Cornell suffice as the usual whipping boy (compare: Bill Mahr stated on HBO that the GOP needs to have a Bush adviser or paid consultant called "Straw Man," as poor ol Straw Man's services have been used and abused so much these past few years).
I could say grow up and get with the reality of what the world and America in the 21st Century looks and tastes like. Get with the flava. But I'd get be bombarded with all species of pithy and bizarre analyses veiling crap I've heard a million times before. I have a guest op-ed in the Daily Princetonian on the black alumni's "Coming Back, Looking Forward" conference. You should maybe check it out, try to absorb the positive sentiments, the hopefulness of bridge building.
Lord, then I see comments like this and wonder why the hell I bother. Makes you just want to just want to let OJ loose again on y'all... ;-)
By , at
Fri Oct 06, 07:04:00 AM:
I thought that shaking one's "moneymaker" was reference in the Trace Adkins' song "Honkeytonk Badonkatonk", so at least those "white boys" that Chris refers to have touched upon a more diverse culture than a red- state one that he would totally go off on. I wonder what Chris would have said if he continued to hear Lynyrd Skynyrd covers at his eating club upon his return to his alma mater.
Conferences on all sorts of cultural developments are good things, regardless of whether we understand them or embrace them. Having dialogues on a whole bunch of issues is helpful. That said, labels are not good, and blanket-blasting the Republicans seems to suffer from the same problem that the author of the comment suggests that the blog poster falls victim to -- swiping at a group. And before Chris gets too feisty about his alma mater, it's certainly more like to invite a Maxine Walters onto campus these days than a religious-right Congressman from Oklahoma. Times have changed.
Great dialogue, guys, wouldn't miss it for anything.
All the best,
Flatulant Old Grad
By Christopher Chambers, at
Fri Oct 06, 02:47:00 PM:
btw, one of the topics at this event was the straying of hip hop from its 1980s genesis in social commentary, urban poetry, or just plain having fun. Now it's only about sex, jewelry, cartoonish violence. Only a few folks are holding the creative torch now. Guess who has coopted the artists, mass produces the crappier stuff heard on ipods from Brooklyn to Baghdad, Princeton to Palau? Well, if you own shares in any number of media corporations, or the banks holding debt--you. So next time you roll out for a cocktail with other grads dubious of this conference, check your portfolio first.
By Assistant Village Idiot, at
Fri Oct 06, 07:33:00 PM:
Yes, artists only do good, uplifting things, CC, until the evil corporate nightmare descends on them. They have no control over it, really. Throw a few bucks down and the geniuses all become mindless slaves of their industry masters.
By TigerHawk, at
Sat Oct 07, 08:22:00 AM:
I will confess that I can't stand hip-hop, at least when rendered with "music," no matter what the lyrics. To the extent I have heard it against my will -- such as blasting from the portable stereos kids brought to the playground near my apartment in Chicago back in the mid-80s (presumably before the alleged corruption), I have recognized nothing that should require an academic conference. Indeed, studying hip-hop strikes me as a lot like studying the "poetry" in Bruce Springsteen's lyrics -- hardly worthy of a place like Princeton -- but it gets legitimized because it is a style invented by an ethnic group with a champion on the faculty. What am I missing?
