"Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes" film screening and town hall discussion

• Event Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2007
• Time: 7:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Film

WILL AM-FM-TV
WILL Youth Media Workshop

Byron Hurt
Filmmaker

Hurt, a former college quarterback-turned-activist, is a self-described "hip-hop head" who took an in-depth look at masculinity and manhood in rap and hip-hop, where he says creative genius collides with misogyny, violence and homophobia.

Teens from WILL's Youth Media Workshop will join Hurt and other experts for the discussion sponsored by WILL AM-FM-TV and co-sponsored by the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center. Panelists include Twick G., Champaign hip-hop artist; Aisha Durham, a University of Illinois doctoral candidate who has studied hip-hop from a feminist perspective; Youth Media Workshop participants Brian Mitchell, a student at Urbana High School, and Gabby Ceasar, a student at Central High School. William Patterson, associate director of the U of I African American Cultural Program and co-director of the Youth Media Workshop, will moderate the discussion.

Hurt's groundbreaking documentary, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, provides thoughtful insight from intelligent, divergent voices including rap artists, industry executives, rap fans and social critics from inside and outside the hip-hop generation.

Museum visitors are reminded that food and drinks are not allowed in the Museum. Backpacks and other large items brought to the Museum will have to be stored; there is limited locker storage space available for these items.