Hip-hop can't stop, won't stopAlexandria Mariscal
Chicago Flame
Issue date: 10/15/07 Section: News
"When I first heard about Jeff Chang, I thought he was going to be this big hip-hop guy, dressed in the dopest clothes," said Sandy Mac of Asian American Recourse Culture Connections and Vietnamese Student Associations. "Then I met him, and he looked all clean and professional like some kind of professor."
Hip-hop journalist and author Jeff Chang came to speak last Wednesday on behalf of his books "Can't Stop Won't Stop" and "Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop."
Chang explained his past and why he has taken such an interest in hip-hop and what it meant to him.
"Hip-hop and me were walking side by side," said Chang. "To me, it's not just the four elements like B-Boying, breaking, or whatever. It's down to what shoes we wear, to whether or not we vote."
Chang also delved into some of the basic themes of his novels, namely with hip-hop as being a generation, "a culture that took over the world." Clips from the films "From Mambo" to "Hip-Hop" and "Flying Cut Sleeves" were shown to introduce to the audience some of the themes from Chang's novels.
"Having [Chang] come gives you a background and a history of how hip-hop isn't dead and shows that we need to go out and support it and bring back old hip-hop," said Mac.
Another theme discussed during the session was hip-hop as more of a political movement, with such topics as P. Diddy's 2004 "Vote or Die" campaign that helped four million new voters, mainly people of color, to come out and vote.
"Hip-hop draws a much bigger political sense today," said Mac. "The kids who love it need to go out and support it and not let it die."
The event ended with Chang talking with the audience about various hip-hop-related issues. Topics such as corporate rap and hip-hop, women's role in hip-hop, to rapper Nas's comment that "hip-hop is dead" were all discussed.
AARCConnections put the event together with help of the English 161 classes that are studying "Can't Stop Won't Stop."
"At the end of the day it's going to be about our generation stepping up to the mantle of leadership," said Chang.
