New York and the Origins of Hip Hop

Catalog description

Hip Hop filmmaker, producer, journalist, impresario and pioneer Michael Holman will be teaching a course at CCNY this summer, on Hip Hop's early years in New York City. Holman was: first to use the term "Hip Hop" in a publication (East Village Eye, Jan., 1982, DJ Afrika Bambaataa's first, printed interview); first to put Hip Hop on national television (Graffiti Rock, 1984, featuring Run DMC and the Treacherous Three); creator, manager and choreographer of the internationally acclaimed breakdance crew, The New York City Breakers; managed female rap group Us Girls featuring Sha-Rock (from the Funky Four + One More); associate producer for the Harry Belafonte, 1984, Orion Pictures Hip Hop feature, Beat Street; and promoter for the first Hip Hop club downtown, Negril, in the East Village; amongst many other Hip Hop Culture hallmarks. Employing classic Hip Hop history books, such as Joseph G. Schloss' "Foundation" and Charlie Ahearn's "yes yes y'all," and his own journals, published writings and memories, Holman will take his students back to the days when Hip Hop was just beginning to be recognized as a new, cultural movement in New York City. Along with Holman's lectures and video screenings, there will be guest lectures by some of Hip Hop's earliest pioneers and field trips to historical landmarks and venues, where Hip Hop Culture was born.