The Symposium
Presented by Words Beats & Life Inc, watch Howard University Professor Dr. Msia Clark and the Global Journal Staff lead a series of panel discussions celebrating and dissecting racism, history, the arts, Hip-Hop and Pop Culture in South Africa.
In the latest special issue of the Word Beats & Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture (WBLJ), we are exposed to the dark past and bright future of South Africa. Africa has 54 countries that somehow seem to get grouped together as one large country. While Hip-Hop culture is influential across the continent of Africa, South Africa plays a major role in publicizing that culture internationally. While many issues were tackled in the journal, the symposium allowed the writers to dive deeper in the topics in front of a live audience of academics.
The connections between the US and South Africa are clear, so much of our identities are rooted in a history of colonialism and racism, beyond these similarities, there is a rich history of culture and community that tends to get overlooked. This day-long event highlights these connections and celebrates the beauty of the various communities in South Africa while dismantling ideas that hold us back from acknowledging the beauty of diversity.
March 5, 2022
Panels
Why South Africa?
This is a discussion with the people most responsible for the creation of this issue of the WBL Journal and its accompanying mixtape.
Hip-Hop Connections Between South Africa and the US
The Pan African connections between hip hop culture in South Africa and the U.S.
Queerness, Visibility and Power
The importance of visibility of queer communities in SA hip hop. The history of the visibility of queer artists. Importance of greater representation globally. Continued challenges.
Gulshan Khan Remixing the Art of Social Change: Telling Stories through Photos
Gulshan is a world renowned photojournalist from South Africa. His work has been featured in the Washington Post, New York Times, National Geographic and more. She is joining us to talk about how she used her photography to promote lasting social change in South Africa.
Hip-Hop and South Africa’s Music Industry
The role of South Africa's music industry in shaping the trajectory of South African hip hop. The impact of the industry on artist development and creativity.
March 5, 2022
Coordinators
Dr. Msia Clark
Dr. Msia Kibona Clark (msiakibonaclark.com) is an Associate Professor in the Department of African Studies at Howard University. Her work focuses on representations of Pan Africanism, African feminism, and African identities in popular culture.
Dr. Dennis Winston
Dr. Dennis L. Winston is a writer and scholar of English and African American literature. He has taught courses in creative writing, popular black literature, and hip-hop studies. His poetry appears in Callaloo and his research is featured in Street Lit: Representing the Urban Landscape (The Scarecrow Press, 2014).
Jennifer "Fete Jen" Erie
Jennifer Erie, also known as Fete Jen, loves arts and culture and curates experiences to promote feel-good vibes. Hailing from Queens, New York with roots in HaiB, she travels the globe for work and finds her creaBve niche wherever she lands.
Website: fetejen.com.
Mazi Mutafa
Mazi Mutafa is the founding Executive Director of Words Beats & Life, a hip-hop non-profit founded in 2002 in Washington D.C. Mr. Mutafa is the host of a weekly hip-hop show called Live @ 5 on WPFW 89.3 FM every Wednesday MC’s, Poets, DJ’s, Producers, and vocalists.
Instagram: @mazimutafa
March 5, 2022
Featured Panelists
Siya Metane
Siya Metane, well-known in the music industry as Slikour, has a heart for music and a head for business. He’s passed through numerous rites of passage – some hard, some disheartening, some positive – but all adding to the skills and insight of a man building new digital platforms for companies to build their brands on.
IG: https://www.instagram.com/slikouronlife/
Gulshan Khan
Gulshan Khan is an independent South African photojournalist and artist based in Johannesburg. A former stringer for Agence France Presse (AFP), she was the first African woman to be regularly assigned by the agency in 2017. She has published in The National Geographic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, among others. Gulshan also regularly works with NGO's.
Dr. Crystal Leigh Endsley
Both performer and professor, Dr. Crystal Leigh Endsley is an award-winning spoken word artist, poet, author, and advocate. She teaches at John Jay College in New York City and most recently performed in Soweto and Johannesburg South Africa where she presented on her book entitled The Fifth Element: Social Justice Pedagogy through Spoken Word Poetry.
Osmic Menoe
Leslie Kasumba popularly known as Lee Kasumba is originally from Uganda. However, she found her footing and home in South Africa through the Hip-hop community. Her background and role in SA hip-hop became the launchpad for her career across the African continent in media, popular culture and the greater African Music and Creative Industry.
Erica Keith
“I study culture, mix it with creativity, and infuse it with technology—when, where, and how appropriate—to reimagine consumer experiences and endear brands to target audiences. I create work that leaves lasting impressions in the hearts and minds of consumers; work that positively impacts the bottom lines for companies; work that leaves the world—and me—better because of it. connect people and brands through compelling creative experiences.”
Nick “the 1da” Hernandez
ANDYMKOSI is a Documentary filmmaker and photographer. She is from Cape Town but lives and works in Johannesburg. She is astute and superbly capable of following the brief given, or exploring a blank canvas. As an events curator, poet, music producer, lyricist, activist, and rapper who has been on a journey of artistic self-discovery since starting out in radio, traveling to the USA, touring South Africa and releasing EP’s.
Leslie Lee Kasumba
Leslie Kasumba popularly known as Lee Kasumba is originally from Uganda. However, she found her footing and home in South Africa through the Hip-hop community. Her background and role in SA hip-hop became the launchpad for her career across the African continent in media, popular culture and the greater African Music and Creative Industry.
Emile
Emile is a multiple award winning South African Hip Hop Pioneer, founder of Black Noise Hip Hop Group and Heal The Hood Project. He qualified as a schoolteacher in 1988. In 1993 he created South Africa’s 1st Hip Hop Magazine called Da Juice. In 1997 he was part of the South African breakdance team that won 3rd place at the World Breakdance Champs, Battle Of The Year. He has since raised funds to send more than 250 young artists to international Hip Hop events.
Alan King
Alan King is a Caribbean American poet, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from Trinidad and Tobago in the early '70s. He's a father, husband, and author of two full-length collections of poetry: Point Blank (Silver Birch Press, 2016) and Drift (Aquarius Press, 2012). Plan B Press published his recent chapbook, Crooked Smiling Light. King's poetry caught the attention of U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo who said: "Alan King is one of my favorite up-and-coming poets of his generation.
Kimberly Monroe
Dr. Kimberly F. Monroe is an Assistant Professor of History and Africana Studies at Trinity Washington University in Washington, DC. She infuses hip-hop from across the African Diaspora in her history classes to engage students through a global lens and further explore the course themes.
Website: Kimberlyfmonroe.com
Dr. Sipho Sithole (PhD)
Sipho Sithole (PhD) is a Research Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Study, University of Johannesburg and holds a PhD degree in Anthropology from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), a MSc. degree in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BSc. degree in Politics and International Relations from Lincoln University of Pennsylvania.
Angel Ho
Angel-Ho is a Musician & Creative Director from South Africa Cape Town. Angel places contemporary social issues in performance, drag, and a digital space whereby they deconstruct the powers of oppression. In other words, diving into the fantasy of reality of being a feminine gender non-conforming queer African body with the capacity to critique the history we create as a society.