We do it for the Culture: A Hip Hop at 50 Event Series

Facilitators

• 

  Dr. Francesca D’Amico-Cuthbert

  Program Associate

  • instagram@ hiphopscholar82
  • twitter@hiphopscholar82

  Francesca D’Amico-Cuthbert is an award-winning historian of American and Canadian Hip Hop culture, the creative industries, and the music marketplace. She holds a Ph.D. in History from York University in Toronto, Canada (2019) and has served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Toronto (2020-2022) and the University of Calgary (2022-2023). Her doctoral research traced how American emcees in the era of mass incarceration constructed complex ethnographies of urban spaces, transformed dispositions of power, and unmasked the modes and mechanisms of a persistent and haunting coloniality in the afterlives of American slavery. Her recent postdoctoral research explores Canadian Hip Hop’s relationship to national mythmaking, commerce, anti-Black market segmentation and the availability of state revenue streams and marketplace exposure. Her research has been published in: #HipHopEd: The Compilation on Hip Hop Education, The Journal of Canadian Historical Association, Canadian Journal of History, Musicworks, and The Dance Current.

  As an Hip Hop educator Francesca has taught several courses on the histories of popular culture, including “Hip Hop and the City” – a course that explores Hip Hop’s evolution from a translocal urban art form to a global commodity. In addition to being a multi-disciplinary creative with training in vocal and instrumental music, dance, and the dramatic arts, Francesca also serves as the Chief Research Officer at the New York City based Hip Hop Hop Education Center where she works collaboratively to establish Hip Hop Education standards and the professionalization of the field.

• 

  Dr Rhonda C. George

  Turntablist, Sociologist

  Dr. Rhonda C. George is a turntablist and award-winning sociologist whose research examines the social and intersectional dimensions of race, racialization, and racial stratification within social institutions. Her interdisciplinary work interrogates the ways in which Black communities, particularly Caribbean diasporic groups, experience, navigate, and resist systemic racial barriers. She is particularly interested in how Black Popular Culture shapes the identity formation, epistemologies, and aspirations of Black communities.

Guests

• 

  Dalton Higgins

  Author / Publicist / Journalist / Course Instructor

  • instagram@daltonhiggins5

  Dalton Higgins is an award-winning journalist from Toronto’s “Little Jamaica'' neighbourhood who first began writing for publications such as The Source Magazine – “the Bible of hip-hop music culture and politics” – where he penned the magazine’s first major interviews for many iconic artists – everyone from J Dilla to Nelly. He would go on to author six books – two of which centered the subject of Hip Hop (Far from Over: The Music and Life of Drake, which is carried in the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame & Museum’s collection and his best-selling book Hip Hop World which is used in dozens of high school and college curriculums and  is carried in Harvard University’s Hip Hop archive). As a broadcaster, Higgins has hosted his own digital cable TV show “Urban Groove'' on BPM TV, and has co-produced and co-hosted podcasts for the CBC (This Is Not A Drake podcast) and Rogers Media (Black Tea). As a well-known Toronto publicist, his company roster includes clients that have won a wide range of awards and accolades including: Grammy Awards (USA), BET Awards (USA), Emmy Awards (USA), The Mercury Prize (UK), Victoires de la Musique/French Grammy’s (France), and Juno Awards (Canada). More recently, as the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Music-Pro-in-Residence, Higgins created and teaches the university course “Deconstructing Drake and The Weeknd” that has been featured on CNN, New York Times, NPR, BET, Revolt TV, and 6ixBuzz among many other media outlets.

• 

  Shaheen Ariefdien

  Educator/artist/African-centered rites of passage facilitator

  • [email protected]

  Shaheen Ariefdien is a Tuesday-born class clown, son, partner, Child and Youth Care practitioner, African-centered Rites of Passage facilitator, arts practitioner, Hip Hop producer, and educator at Humber College. He has worked on numerous community and youth-based projects in regions as diverse as South Africa, Switzerland, Angola, Holland, Namibia, Denmark, Northern Ireland and Canada. As a member of the pioneering Hip Hop group, Prophets of da City, he has performed at the inaugurations of Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. He has also produced and co-produced over a dozen albums. He has also performed with The Fugees, James Brown, Quincy Jones, to name a few. His writing contributions have appeared in Jeff Chang’s Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop (2007), Paul Saucier’s Native Tongues: The African Hip Hop Reader (2011) and H. Samy Alim, Jeff Chang and Casey Wong’s Freedom Moves: Hip Hop Knowledges, Pedagogies, and Futures (2023). Shaheen has a passion for exploring African-centered, arts-based and other non-Eurocentric approaches to Child and Youth Care and education. He is interested in exploring the connections between hip hop, justice and healing.

• 

  Jon Corbin

  hip-hop artist, spoken word poet, speaker, band leader, writer and DJ

  • facebook@@joncorbinmusic
  • twitter@@joncorbinmusic
  • instagram@@joncorbinmusic

  Jon Corbin is a Canadian hip-hop artist, spoken word poet, speaker, band leader, writer and DJ based in Milton, ON. Since 2001, first under the name The Runaway, Jon has blessed stages big and small with lyrical themes of faith, love, family, social justice, and personal growth.

  Corbin is a veteran artist who has quietly carved a niche in Canada’s hip-hop community, collaborating with multiple Polaris Music Prize nominee Shad, Juno Award winner Caroline Brooks of The Good Lovelies, and many other revered emcees on both sides of the border.

  As a speaker, Corbin speaks passionately on topics of identity, race and racism, mental health and community connections. As a musician, Jon provides a dynamic show that stays true to the basic tenets of hip-hop: peace, love, unity, and having fun!

• 

  Michael “MikeAll” Grandsoul

  Michael “MikeAll” Grandsoult is a Scarborough, Ontarian and Hip Hop Headucator.  He began writing poems in the primary years of elementary school and started rapping in the junior grades.  He has released three solo albums; "Mike Check" (2008), "Mike Support" (2015) and "Mike All" (2018).  In 2012, Michael became a published author for the first time via the anthology, “Basodee.”  Michael is currently an elementary school teacher with the Toronto Catholic District School Board.  He uses rap/poetry as a bridge for learning and strives to promote passion for literacy.  He credits his love of literature to his Guyanese- born parents, Cheryl and David Grandsoult, who read to him as a child and encouraged him to read and write.  MikeAll’s goal is to put the poet back into Rhythm And Poetry.                                               https://mikeall.bandcamp.com/                                                                                                    https://www.youtube.com/c/mikeallhiphop

  MikeAll is a Scarborough, Ontarion and Hip Hop Headucator.  He began writing poems in the primary years of elementary school and started rapping in the junior grades.  He has released three solo albums; "Mike Check" (2008), "Mike Support" (2015) and "Mike All" (2018).  MikeAll’s goal is to put the poet back into Rhythm And Poetry.                 https://mikeall.bandcamp.com/  https://www.youtube.com/c/mikeallhiphop

Special Guests

• 

  Mary Fogarty

  Mary Fogarty is Associate Professor of Dance at York University, Toronto. A long-time member of the KeepRockinYou arts collective that organizes the Toronto B-Girl Movement, Mary has taught and performed in various countries. She has served as a judge at various international Breaking competitions, including the first Olympic qualifier (held in South Korea in 2022) that will help determine who competes when Breaking debuts at the Paris Summer Olympics (in 2024). Mary has published two collections of research on dance: The Oxford Handbook of Hip Hop Dance Studies (2022, co-edited with Imani Kai Johnson) and Movies, Moves, and Music: The Sonic World of Dance Films (2016). Her other recent research appears in We Still Here: Hip Hop North of the 49th Parallel (Marsh and Campbell, eds., 2020),  and The Oxford Handbook of Dance Competition (Dodds, ed., 2019). She serves on the editorial board of Global Hip Hop Studies, and DIY, Alternative Cultures and Society. Mary has also been an invited Visiting Scholar at the Hip Hop Education Center, founded by Martha Diaz at NYU, an invited teacher with Alesandra Seutin’s Vocab Dance Company, chair of PoP Moves Americas, and past President of IASPM-Canada.

• 

  Serouj Aprahamian

  Serouj “Midus” Aprahamian is Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA, and a long-time practitioner/scholar of breaking, popping and underground hip-hop dance styles. As a member of Style Elements Crew, a group widely credited for adding a new vocabulary to breaking in the 1990s, he has gained notoriety for his unique choreography and traveled throughout the world teaching, performing, and judging hip-hop dance events. His most recent book is The Birth of Breaking: Hip-Hop History from the Floor Up (Bloomsbury 2023) and his scholarly writings have appeared in the Journal of Black Studies, Dance Research Journal, IASPM Journal, The Oxford Handbook of Hip Hop Dance Studies (Oxford University Press 2022), and the forthcoming anthology Power Moves: Dance, Culture, Politics (Playwrights Canada Press).

• 

  Diana Reyes

  Diana Reyes also known as Fly Lady Di (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist, recognized for her work as a street dance artist, and DJ.  Born and raised in Toronto, her current explorations combine her ancestral Filipino heritage with contemporary concepts - through dance choreography, performance making and joke writing. Most notably, her work includes Honey (Universal), Fall Out Boy's 'Dance Dance', and performances with artists like Ciara, Jason Derulo, the Clipse feat. Pharrell, MC Lyte and BlackSTREET to name just a few. She's been featured on etalk, Toronto Life, Toronto Star, Dance Current and countless publications in North America and abroad. Her work has also brought her all over Europe, Asia and South America and she's been supported by federal, provincial and city granting bodies. She plans to further investigate pre-colonial Filipino culture and incorporate that into her work as a performance maker. www.flyladydi.com

• 

  Rebecca Barnstaple

  Rebecca Barnstaple is the Manager of Community Initiatives, Research & Innovation at Chigamik Community Health Centre in Midland, Ontario. She completed a PhD at York University investigating the neurobiological effects of dance, and is now mapping improvisatory movement practices and their medicinal properties as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation, University of Guelph.  A graduate of the National Centre for Dance Therapy at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal, she also provides dance-based programs for neurodegeneration and research and training on dance and health.

Guest

• 

  K-Cut

  Producer, DJ

  Kevin McKenzie professionally known as K-Cut, is a Canadian record producer and DJ, most notably as a member of East Coast hip hop group Main Source.

  In 1989, Main Source released their first independent 12" single, "Think" b/w "Atom", under the mentorship of producer/engineer Paul C. On July 17, 1989, Paul C was murdered in his home; K-Cut later stated that Main Source "basically inherited Paul C's style" and strove to "carry the torch" of his sound going forward. During this period, K-Cut helped teach DJ Premier sampling techniques on the E-mu SP-1200. After self-releasing their second 12" single "Watch Roger Do His Thing" in 1990, the group signed to Wild Pitch Records.

  In 1991, the group released their debut album, Breaking Atoms, which is regarded as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. Although Large Professor produced the majority of the album, K-Cut was praised for his "creative, energetic scratching", particularly on the track "Peace Is Not the Word to Play", which he produced. Also that year, K-Cut's production appeared on Queen Latifah's album Nature of a Sista', and he produced the bulk of The Black Tie Affair, an album by Toronto rapper Maestro Fresh Wes, which was certified gold in Canada.

  The following year, K-Cut produced the Main Source single "Fakin' the Funk", which appeared on the White Men Can't Rap soundtrack and peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart. In 1993, he produced the Fu-Schnickens single "What's Up Doc? (Can We Rock)", featuring Shaquille O'Neal, which peaked at number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold in the United States. That year, Large Professor left Main Source due to business differences, with K-Cut taking over as the main producer for their 1994 album Fuck What You Think. The album's single, "What You Need", was sampled for Madonna's 1995 worldwide hit "Human Nature", which credits K-Cut as a songwriter.

  By the late 1990s, K-Cut moved back to Toronto, further contributing his production to the city's hip hop scene. In 1997, he produced the Infinite single "Gotta Get Mine" (featuring Divine Brown) and contributed to Citizen Kane's EP The Epic, both of which were nominated for a Juno Award for Best Rap Recording. He also produced two tracks for Choclair's 1999 debut Ice Cold, which won the aforementioned Juno Award.

Co-presented with

Guests

• 

  Daniel Faraldo a.k.a. Dan-e-o

  MC/Actor/Songwriter

  • Twitter twitter@daneo10
  • Instagram instagram@daneo1010

  A Scarborough-based emcee, Daniel “Dan-e-o” Faraldo first won a Rap-Off Contest on Toronto’s “Electric Circus” dance show at the age of 13. Five years later, in 1996, his first single “Dear Hip Hop” (considered a Canadian Hip Hop classic) was featured on Beat Factory’s Rap Essentials Volume One compilation. In 1997, Dan-e-o established his crew, Monolith by co-founding One Rock Records and independently releasing the EP, The Long Awaited... the following year. He would go on to release a number of other albums: The Book of Daniel (2000), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (2004), Immortal(2013), Inevitable (2013), Dear Hip Hop: 20 Years Later (2017), The Day It All Changed (2020). Together fellow rap veteran Promise Dan-e-o formed the duo “Perfeck Strangers” and released their debut album Series Premiere in 2012. Dan-e-o has also worked as an actor, appearing in the series Breakout Kings as well as the feature-length films Anything Goes, Tapped Out, Lifechanger and most recently, World’s Best (streaming on Disney +).

  Website
• 

  Keysha Freshh

  MC, Songwriter, and Educator

  • Instagram instagram@freekeysha

  Dubbed “Hip Hops kid sister”, Keysha Freshh blends everything you love about the 90’s with everything you appreciate about Hip Hop. Born in Toronto, Keysha found a love for hip hop spending summers in NYC. She was exposed to the culture at an early age, listening to mixtapes her cousins would have. Keysha had her first song published when she was 5 years old, the song was titled “Summers coming” and she has been performing ever since. Keysha performed her first written rap, at the age of 12 while she was a member of the Toronto Children Concert Choir.

  After expressing her desire to record music to hit maker and super-producer T-Minus (credits: Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj) he referred Keysha to a local studio and she recorded her first song “Pardon my swag”. In 2009, Keysha then went on to record her very first official single “Hollywood Fresh”, which received rave reviews and radio play across North America. Keysha was the youngest female Hip Hop artist to have 3 songs in rotation on 93.5FM (then Flow 93.5) which, at the time was Canadas leading urban radio station. The remix to “Hollywood Freshh” soon followed featuring Gunna (who also produced the beat) and Hip Hop artist MIMS (This is why I’m hot). MIMS along with Hip Hop legend Doug E Fresh also appear in the music video for “Hollywood Fresh”.

  After the success of her first single, she has recorded 1 demo project, 3 mixtapes, 4 EP’s 1 collab album (All The Wrong Places; Pearls and bones one group album (Pledge; The Sorority) and 1 solo Album. Keysha has shared stages with artist such as; Joey Bad a$$, Miguel, Drake, Snoop Dogg, Jidenna, The Internet, DVSN, Main Source, Dan Hill, MC Lyte, Smif-N-Wessun, A TRAK, Cassidy, Ghostface and many more. Keysha has since worked with artist such as Maestro Fresh Wes, Saukrates, King Reign, Ray Robinson, MIMS, Doug E Fresh, Diamond D, Geechi Suede of Camp Lo and more.

Co-presented with

Partners