Words Beats & Life
Words Beats & Life inc. is a Washington DC based hip-hop non-profit working to "transform individual lives and whole communities through elements of hip-hop culture."[1][2] Founded as a hip-hop conference in 2000 at the University of Maryland, College Park, Words Beats & Life separated from the University to become a separate organization in 2002, officially incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in 2003.[1][3] Words Beats & Life works with the community by teaching, convening, and presenting hip-hop through the Urban Arts Academy, the Cipher, and publication of the first peer-reviewed academic journal of global hip-hop culture.[1][3]
Words Beats & Life Academy[edit]
According to The Washington Post, the Words Beats & Life Academy “aims to transcend the familiar beats and rhymes and use hip-hop as a catalyst to change lives.”[4] Starting as a Saturday program, the Academy grew into an afterschool and summer program that serves 150 students during the year and up to 300 during the summer.[1][5] Classes are taught by practicing artists, who serve as mentors for their students.[2] Youth, ages 5–23, participate in pre-vocational arts programming to hone skills in graffiti and visual arts, B-boying, DJing, and emceeing. In addition to skill mastery, the urban arts academy focuses on self-awareness and employability, using hip-hop as a platform to engage students in learning, building community, and thinking about their futures.[1][4][6] For example, emceeing helps students sharpen public speaking skills, and DJing connects students to technology and engineering.[7] Visual arts skills are used to paint murals and Words Beats & Life has worked in conjunction with the DC Government on the Murals DC project, which aims to redirect the energy of graffiti artist to legal projects to beautify the city.[8]
Words Beats and Life Experiences[edit]
Scratch, Sip & Paint
Graffiti
DJing
Hip-Hop Tea Party
Walking Mural Tour
Bike Mural Tour
Concrete and Roses
Chocolate Milk and Butter Crunch
Creative Economy Career Pipeline[edit]
Creative Economy Career Fair(s)
Summer Youth Employment Program
Alternative Spring Break
Like a Boss
The League
The Cipher[edit]
The Cipher is a national network, connecting institutions, organizations, and individual artists and scholars using hip-hop as a medium to promote social change.[1][9] Traditionally, hip-hop organizations are often absent from conferences and symposia in their respective fields, and therefore working in isolation.[9] Through publication of a peer-reviewed academic journal and an annual Teach-in, Words Beats & Life works to bring together scholars, educators, artists, and activists who use hip-hop as a tool for social change in a discussion of how to work together as a community and maximize the collective capacity to make change.[9][10][11]
The Journal[edit]
Words. Beats. Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture is the first academic peer-reviewed journal of hip-hop studies, also showcasing the talents visual artists and poets in the field. Combining art and scholarly work intends to present a dialogue between different mediums. Featuring established intellectuals and artists in the field as well as previously unknown individuals, the journal is a resource for hip-hop scholars and non-profits, representing current developments in the field.[12][13] The Journal is published twice a year with the goal to promote dialogue and interaction between artists and scholars within the DMV.[14]
Vol 1 Issue 1: Inaugural Issue
Vol 1 Issue 2: The Art of the Name Drop
Vol 1 Issue 3: Where My Girls At?
Vol 1 Issue 4: Poetry, Hip-Hop, and Global Revolutions
Vol 2 Issue 1: Golden Era of Hip Hop
Vol 2 Issue 2: One Day it Will All Make Sense
Vol 3 Issue 1: The Blueprint for a Movement
Vol 3 Issue 2: Bootleg This Journal
Vol 4 Issue 1: It Ain't My Fault
Vol 4 Issue 2: The Sex Issue
Vol 5 Issue 1: I Am
Vol 5 Issue 2: Untitled
Vol 6 Issue 1: Who We Are
Vol 6 Issue 2: Brazil
Vol 7 Issue 1: Spaces and Places
Vol 7 Issue 2: Street Lit
Vol 8 Issue 1: South Africa
WPFW 89.3FM[edit]
Live @ 5
Words Beats & Life Radio
The 5th Element
Published Poets[edit]
Malachi Byrd
Kenneth Carroll III
Fine Lines: Mural Program[edit]
Baltimore
U Street
Signature Events[edit]
DC Youth Poet Laureate
Words Beats and Life Festival
Chinatown Block Party
The Fresh Ball
Juste Debout
La Belle Hip-Hop
Bum Rush the Boards is an annual hip-hop chess tournament created in 2005 as a more inclusive alternative to traditional chess tournaments.[1] Named after Public Enemy's 1987 album Yo! Bum Rush the Show, the tournament aims to connect the hip-hop generation to chess as a model of “overcoming through strategic struggle.”[15][16] In addition to chess matches cultivating strategic thinking, the event includes workshops about the elements of hip-hop culture and how they related to STEM fields.[17][18]
Remixing the Art of Social Change is an annual teach-in hosted at Howard University since 2007, bringing together organizations, artists, and scholars that use hip-hop culture to promote social change.[11][19] Through roundtables, panel discussions, film screenings, and workshops that build on the efforts of the previous teach-ins, the event showcases work being done and creates a network for individuals and organizations to connect and advance how hip-hop is used as a medium to promote positive change.[11]
The Freshest of all Time is DC's largest B-boy/B-girl jam featuring prominent b-boy crews from DC, Maryland, Virginia, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. The battle drew more than 600 people in 2009, and 800 in 2010.[20][21][22]
Remix Award Winners[edit]
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Awards[edit]
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External links[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g "Words Beats & Life Presents Seventh Annual Bum Rush the Boards Chess Tournament" Mixed Media District. 17 April 2012.
- ^ a b "Hip-Hop Culture: Q&A With Cory Stowers, Art Director for Words Beats & Life inc." Jennifer Vinson. Pink Line Project. 19 November 2010.
- ^ a b "Transforming Individual Lives and Whole Communities Through Hip-Hop" Words Beats & Life. 2011.
- ^ a b "Urging Youths to Step Up to Life's Opportunities" Juana Summers. Washington Post. 2 October 2008.
- ^ "Spotlight On. . . Mazi Mutafa" DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. 2010.
- ^ "The Academy" Words Beats & Life. 2011.
- ^ "Impact Awards" Lehrman Foundation. 2011.
- ^ "Tagging Rights: Have the nonprofits, art galleries, and party planners who fete D.C.'s graffiti scene also tamed it?" Jonna McKone. Washington City Paper. 9 September 2011.
- ^ a b c "The Cipher: Organize. Provide. Convene. Present. Words Beats & Life. 2011.
- ^ "WBL Teach In 2012 Recap" Amy Joseph & Magee McIlvaine. Nomadic Wax. 12 July 2012.
- ^ a b c "Remixing the Art of Social Change @ Howard University" Mark Anthony Neal. New Black Man (In Exile) 3 July 2012.
- ^ "Words. Beats. Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture June 9th" Penn English. 2012.
- ^ "Words Beats & Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture" Words Beats & Life. 2011.
- ^ Tate, Jef (2012). Words Beats & Life. Washington D.C.: Words Beats & Life. pp. ii. ISBN 978-0-9788971-6-1.
- ^ "Bum Rush the Boards Hip-Hop Chess Tournament" Jeff Winkler. Washington City Paper. 17 April 2009.
- ^ "Bum Rush the Boards. . . Hip Hop Chess!" Daaim Shabazz. The Chess Drum. 14 April 2009.
- ^ "Bum Rush the Boards tournament mixes chess and hip-hop" Kathleen Hom. The Washington Post. 20 April 2010.
- ^ "Bum Rush the Board Chess Tournament" Words Beats & Life. 2011.
- ^ "Remixing the Art of Social Change" Words Beats & Life. 2012.
- ^ "The Freshest of All Time: 2 on 2 B- boy/girl Jam" Words Beats & Life. 2011.
- ^ "2011 DC Hip=Hop Theater Festival" Hip-Hop Theater Festival. 2011.
- ^ "Freshest of All Time" Rhome Anderson. the Washington Post. July 2009.