Saint Paul panel discusses hip-hop, from the street to the university

BY JONAS ROSENBERGER,
for the TC DAILY PLANET

“Hip-hop saved my life,” said Daniel Hodge at a panel discussion on “The Future of Hip-hop Studies” on October 20. Hamline University’s School of Education in Saint Paul hosted the discussion that focused on the roots of hip-hop, where it came from and where it is going.

“I think if we are going to talk about the future of hip-hop studies, then we also have to talk about who can afford to go to college,” said Toki Wright of Rhymesayers. “All of this study and all of this energy is coming from the inner city and from poverty.” He said that it is a question of how people not coming from those areas and having that background can be reached. “We have to make sure that we are always going to have that conversation and that it will always be across economic lines, gender lines and racial lines.” It is important that it will not be forgotten that “hip-hop came from trying to make something out of nothing.”

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