Midnight Skylark
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6/28/2007 5:59:23 PM
Is Hiphop the New Harlem Renaissance? (Part 1 of 3)
In many ways Hiphop is the Harlem Renaissance of the twentyfirst century. Two particularly good examples supportive of that hypothesis are Bayo Olorunto and A.K. Powell. Known collectively as Nightjohn, theirs is the combined talent behind the icon-challenging book "The Hiphop Driven Life" and their ultra-fresh self-titled CD.
So how do we bridge the historical gap between such giants of the (1920s to 1940s) Harlem Renaissance as author Zora Neale Hurston and jazz great Duke Ellington, and the modern-day multi-talented duo Nightjohn? I would say by considering the following factors:
Just as the highly successful Harlem Renaissance blossomed out of the innate creative talents of African Americans, so did the crossover triumph of Hiphop. Just as advances in technology, the growth of the publishing industry, diverse forms of black music, and everyday folk culture provided the Harlem Renaissance with the raw material necessary to achieve prominence, so have corresponding elements propelled Hiphop to the forefront of global popular culture.
The corpus of published works by Harlem Renaissance authors––Hurston, Jessie Redmond Fauset, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and many others––comprise a major component of the movement. Often considered chief among those works is the comprehensive anthology titled "The New Negro." Edited by philosopher Alain Locke, the book contains work by the very cream of the Harlem Renaissance literary crop, covering every area of black life at the time. Likewise, Hiphop also has a foundation in the printed word––one of the most dynamic texts to define, defend, and advance the movement is "The Hiphop Driven Life."
(Continues with part 2 of 3)
by Midnight Skylark Aberjhani
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