Expand your knowledge and learn about hip hop’s rich history and global cultural currency with these informal talks with food and friends.
Overview
Welcome to the Hart House Hip Hop 101 Café. Whether you’re a sneakerhead or a novice, an emerging fan or an old school expert, we’ve got a hip hop conversation for you!
Hip Hop 101 Café is a space created for students to come together and explore how hip hop infuses all parts of our everyday culture. Peer- and community-led conversations in this space will leave you with a deeper appreciation of a shared community and a greater understanding of how hip hop culture continues to influence our world.
Everyone is welcome. Bring a friend and drop-by the Hart House Hip Hop 101 Café in the Map Room. Refreshments will be served.
Topics we will explore through the Hip Hop 101 Café series:
- The Evolution of Hip Hop: Then, Now, Next
- Hip Hop through an Indigenous Lens
- Hip Hop, Women and Gender Dynamics
- Hip Hop and Criminal Justice
- The Economics of Hip Hop
- Hip Hop, Faith and Spirituality
Socialize, get down, and let your soul lead the way.
Afrika Bambaataa
For this session:
It’s still wild to imagine that this now worldwide, multi-artistic, billion-dollar, cultural behemoth that we call hip hop all started on August 11, 1973, at 18-year-old Clive Campbell’s back-to-school jam. It was a small party in a humble apartment building rec room located in the Bronx, NY.
On that faithful day, everything from music, art, dance, culture, fashion, knowledge and more changed forever. It was the start of a revolution based in the founding principles of peace, love, unity and having fun. Fast forward to 2019, and we can now see hip hop affecting every corner and facet of contemporary life. Rap artists are cultural titans, hip hop record producers are multi-millionaires, breakdancingis taught in studios across the globe, and graffiti art has become a treasured asset on countless urban buildings.
That must have been quite the party, Clive.
But how did it all start? Who were the people that built and sustained this movement? How did it change, not just art, but politics, culture and society? And where does it potentially keep going?
Join us as we discuss the history and evolution of hip hop, as told by the knowledge keepers that celebrate and preserve its rich history.
Special Guest Facilitator
-
Thrust
musician
Christopher “Thrust” France is a Toronto emcee who is perhaps most known for his appearance on the Rascalz' 1998 single "Northern Touch" which also features artists Kardinal Offishall, Choclair, and Checkmate. In the early 1990s, at the young age of 15, Thrust appeared in a 1990 Kids in the Hall skit. In 1996, he released Past, Present, Future, in 2001 The Chosen Are Frew, and then in the early 2020s he collaborated with BoFaat to release “Like its 1994” and “Broken Arrow.” In addition to his own music, Thrust was also featured on one of the biggest Canadian pop hits – “Faded” – by the band soulDecision. In addition to music, Thrust has also served as a music instructor, teaching hip hop production (as well as the occasional history lesson) at Harris College.
Hip Hop Education at Hart House supports our values of representation, collaboration and social justice to explore and provide platforms for key principles of hip hop and its importance in our everyday culture on all three campuses. Recognizing hip hop as a powerful global influencer, Hart House seeks to create unique opportunities for students and community to engage hip hop education and artistic expression.
