Hip Hop Studies Summit

2024 Hip Hop Studies Summit

Community Exhibition

5:55

“Kill the ego. Make it about the art." - Nas

The 5th Annual Hip Hop Studies Summit celebrates the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop by honoring its 5th pillar.

50 years of creativity, collaboration, culture, consciousness, community. 50 years of defining and building all five pillars of hip hop—MCing, DJing, Graffiti, Breakdancing, all culminating in the fifth and most important element: Knowledge of Self. Knowledge of Self requires us to look inward and recognize our own gifts, and then respect and honor those gifts by sharing them with others. Knowledge of Self also celebrates the collective self, as wisdom is shared and received as part of the collective intelligence of the community. Knowledge is the glue that holds the culture of hip hop together.

To survive, Hip Hop focused less on its ego and more on creating. To thrive, Hip Hop had to be willing to adapt and be flexible, to innovate and evolve. With Knowledge, Hip Hop was unafraid to express its authentic self, regardless of what others said it should be. With Knowledge, we can be unafraid to express our own authentic self.

5:55 celebrates the creative process. Artists were invited to look inward and create something that reflects their authentic self, fully and fearlessly. In the spirit of Knowledge of Self, we encourage artists to share their unique gifts in order to uplift the collective intelligence of the culture.

Kill the ego. Make the art.

Juror

Robert Newman

Robert Newman is a 2014 Morehouse College graduate and works as an artist and entrepreneur based in Harlem, New York. Prior to working as a full-time artist, Newman worked as a Wall Street financial / business analyst for over 8 years working for Morgan Stanley & Neuberger Berman. Although Newman has been an artist for most of his life, it wasn't until the summer of 2022 that he decided to pursue art full-time. As a visual artist, Newman has exhibited his work in galleries and museums both nationally and internationally. He is involved in various mentoring initiatives and arts-based non-profits, including his current role as a Board of Directors for Americans for the Arts member. Some of his noteworthy projects/campaigns include The Words on White Movement (2016-2019), Silent Renaissance Series (2017-2019), and The 10,000 Paintings Project (2016-2022).

Featuring

Miquiel Banks
Mignon Farmani (aka COCO FARMANI)
Sean Paul Gallegos
Andrea Habersham
LPAEkili Ross
Diane Staver
NINA SYII
Delfina Torres
Vado Va

Juror Selections

Sean Paul Gallegos, Madonna and Child, 2020. Hand sewn and embroidered discarded toddler and adult sneakers, thread, laces, wire and taxidermy eyes. 18.5 x 14 x 12 inches. (https://www.seanpaulgallegos.com)

LPAEkili Ross, FATT FATT ONE, 2023. Digital print. 12 x 12 inches. IG @lstpxl (https://www.bylp.art)

Diane Staver, Bakery, 2023. Acrylic on canvas. 20 x 30 inches. IG @urban_art_by_diane (https://www.dianestaver.com) FB @Urban Art, Diane Staver

NINA SYII, from the Sonic Expressions series, BlackStar, 2023. Digital print. 10 x 8. @ninasyii_

Vado Va, Funk the Cypher, 2023. Digital print. 18 x 13 inches. IG @vadova_artworks

Gallery

2023 Hip Hop Studies Summit

Community Exhibition

Pyramids & Hieroglyphs: Hip Hop As Monument

I be…building pyramids/writing my own hieroglyphs…
…Build your own pyramids/write your own hieroglyphs…
…Got our own pyramids/write our own hieroglyphs…
~Kendrick Lamar

In 2018, when Kendrick Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize he asserted: “It should have happened with hip hop a long time ago.” And those in the community know it—they have always known it. Hip hop has served as a monument to the community, from the street corner to the stage, from the living room to the lecture hall. For those in the culture, the impact of hip hop has never been questioned and its value has never needed validation. So now, as those outside the culture begin to unearth and even uplift hip hop’s architects, those inside the culture have a newfound responsibility to preserve its rich history and reinforce its foundation(s).

We invite artists to consider how hip hop has existed as language, as landmark, as evidence and testimony of a people, as homeplace, as stability, as grounding, as artifact, as symbol, and as history. This exhibit seeks to survey hip hop as monument, recognizing its mighty presence in our lives—both personally and communally.

We don’t move pyramids; they move us.

2022 Hip Hop Studies Summit

Hip Hop Studies Summit Program Guide (PDF)

Artist Spotlights

In an ode to the roots and sound of hip hop, our featured artists rep’ both the East and the West—Rob Newman from NYC and Jonah Elijah from LA, each gracing us with their unique take on Blackness and hip hop culture.

Jonah Elijah

Jonah Elijah is a Houston, Texas native now working in Los Angeles. He received his BA in studio art from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2017. MFA from Claremont Graduate University in 2020.

Jonah Elijah’s work encapsulates black life in America and addresses controversial issues that actively affect the African American community. Using materials to explore economic inequality, displacement, or human rights Elijah’s artist practice embraces discomforting realities. Being raised around lower income hard ships Elijah builds off his own personal upbringing and creates works that reflect the black experience. Whether in his paintings or installations, Jonah layers his work with coded language offering an abstracted or representational view of what it’s like to be black today.

I negotiate and celebrate the concept of being black, through narratives, exploration of identity, portraiture, and language. Through abstraction, representation, and assemblage I use my memories to depict the experience of being raised in a predominately black neighborhood. I depict the scenes from my journey with the hopes of providing nostalgia for a viewer. When it comes to innovation, I’m always in search of news way too bring my ideas to life. Currently I have been dissecting sneakers and attaching them in my pieces to help the viewer walk in my shoes. My work invites viewers to look at these experiences both literally and metaphorically, echoing my upbringing. I not only want people to see scenes from my life, but also to feel what it's like to be a part of my larger community and maybe even feel what it’s like be black in America.

Robert Newman

Robert L. Newman III is a self-taught Black American multidisciplinary artist, best known for his expressionist portraits. Currently living and working in Harlem, New York, Newman's work primarily follows and examines the narrative of Black Folks through a post-Civil War Reconstruction era lens. Newman's artistic journey began in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the window of his grandmother's doll store. Since then, Newman has traveled and lived throughout the United States with a significant amount of his time situated in what is known as the "Jim Crow South." Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia. Newman utilizes his intimate and life-long experiences within Black culture to showcase the continued liberation efforts of Black Folks in America, evoking and honoring his ancestors throughout each piece he creates.

Drawing and painting have always been my first loves, but in my growth as an artist, I have become more interested in fashion, photography, curating and writing. Much of my work is still influenced by my grandmother. She was my first teacher. I have since had the opportunity to study at Morehouse College, a historically Black college in Atlanta, GA and the alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Because of this, my work is in constant conversation with my community. I seek to create work that represents my peers and neighbors in the way I see them [and they see themselves]. My hope is that through this process of storytelling, I can facilitate healing and growth for Black folks in American who have lived with, and for some through, the generational trauma of slavery and oppression.

Community Exhibition

Ruminations n' Rhythm: Reflections on Hip Hop
Guest Juror John Jennings

In KRS-One’s Ruminations, he contends that “Rap is something you do. Hip Hop is something you live.” He also frequently reminds us that hip hop has the power to change the world. For this virtual exhibition—titled Ruminations ‘n Rhythm: Reflections on Hip Hop as an homage to KRS-One—we asked artists to consider how hip hop appears, manifests itself, and/or operates within their lives as well as the power that hip hop has to spark dialogue, reflect experience, critique structure(s), envision new possibilities, and/or enact the type of change that KRS-One so famously imagines. This exhibition seeks to capture some of the ways that hip hop has been (and continues to be) a part of our lives—individually, collectively, locally, broadly, intimately, publicly.

We are also hype to welcome back our guest juror, John Jennings, who served as the keynote speaker at the Inaugural Hip Hop Studies Summit. Jennings is a professor of Media and Cultural Studies at UCR, a NY Times bestselling author, graphic novelist, curator, Harvard Fellow, and editor. Jennings examines the visual culture of race in various media forms including film, illustrated fiction, comics, and graphic novels. He is also the director of Abrams ComicArts imprint Megascope, which publishes graphic novels focused on the experiences of people of color.

Juror Selections

Michael Laughlin, OVERLOOK #1, 2021. Computer-generated imagery. (http://www.michaellaughlinart.com)

Jerry Stevenson, Hip Hop Dancer, 2021. Digital artwork. @jerrystevensonphotography (http://jerrystevensonphotography.com)

Lauren Jacob, Brooklyn, 2020. Digital photography. @laurenjmedia