Liner Notes: Feb. 20 at the Schomburg Center and Feb. 21 at Columbia Journalism School

INTRO

As we planned this event, we realized that so many of the publications that have been key to hip hop journalism are no longer available online, and so we wanted to connect attendees with opportunities to learn more about this important body of work. These liner notes are a starting point for further exploration. We hope you enjoy them.

ABOUT

Word: Life is a multigenerational mixtape, conjuring the spirit of hip hop journalism at its best: with deep roots but unmistakably present and proximate, maybe even a little arrogant.

Over the many #HipHop50 celebrations we kept asking each other: “When is somebody going to talk about the role of hip hop journalism in the culture?” Eventually, we decided to do it ourselves.

As we began conceptualizing this event, we heard that so many of the #hiphop50 celebrations felt overly focused on the past. We wanted to do something that would celebrate some big moments in hip hop journalism history without sanitizing the story; that would tackle difficult questions we’re still grappling with. That would resonate across generations, with the writers, the podcasters, the Youtubers, the social media mavens. 

It starts with a preview event on February 15 at the Ford Foundation and then continues at the Schomburg on the 20th and Columbia Journalism School on the 21st.

TEAM

We worked with a multigenerational group of advisors (big thanks to Syreeta Gates, Shamira Ibrahim, Bakari Kitwana and Danyel Smith) who shared ideas and names of people to talk to, read and listen to. dream hampton sent us four hours of B-Roll from her never completed 1993 documentary on The Source magazine,and watched the whole thing and selected a segment to share at the conference.  We spoke with many hip hop journalists past and present, took a deep dive on social media, watched many commentators, listened to podcasts and read widely to understand which issues felt most relevant to writers right now.

THE WORKSHOPS

We wanted to ensure that this wasn’t just a celebration but that people would have the opportunity to learn and connect in a more interactive way. We’re delighted that some greats of their respective fields agreed to join us in leading those: David Hajdu is a professor at Columbia Journalism School and the author of several well-regarded books on the arts and popular culture; Nicole Counts is executive editor at One World Books; and Doreen St. Félix of the New Yorker is a celebrated cultural critic.

THE PANELS

Three panels celebrate hip hop journalism’s golden era: in one, “THE ARCHITECTS: A CONVERSATION BETWEEN EDITORS” we’ll hear from some of the people who built the magazines that transformed the newsstand. Two, “THE CULTURE IS VISUAL” is an opportunity to hear from legendary photographers whose iconic images played an enormous role in how we see hip hop.

The third, FLYBOY UNBOUND: THE LIFE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF GREG TATE, curated in collaboration with his family, celebrates the writer and renaissance man who many of us consider a mentor and the template for extraordinary journalism (Elizabeth was a “tater tot” as a young writer and benefited from his wisdom). At this gathering, we are launching a scholarship for an arts journalism student in his honor. We also wanted to have a conversation between an artist and a critic, to illuminate that fraught relationship. Black Thought and kris ex’s longstanding friendship offered a perfect opportunity.

The other three panels are inspired by current conversations and bring together different generations of hip hop journalists. IN HER OWN WORDS is moderated by Sidney Madden, and connects women hip hop journalists across generations.

CODE READ was inspired by a tweet exchange between Rolling Stone hip hop writer Andre Gee and Jayson Rodriguez (consultant on Word: Life) QUOTE GOES HERE as well as reflections on the recent allegations against figures like P. Diddy and Russell Simmons: why didn’t hip hop journalism uncover those stories years ago? THE CRITIC AND THE STAN emerged from a conversation with Jay Smooth about the changing relationship between artists, critics and fans; the panel was taking shape as Nicki Minaj and The Barbz went after anyone who dared critique Pink Friday 2. We wanted to connect the reason The Source had bulletproof glass with what’s happening today.

THE SPOTLIGHTS

We had a list of maybe 50 important moments in hip hop journalism past and present that we wanted to highlight TED-talk style. We had room for five. And then one slot was cut for time, which hurt. We’re grateful to Nelson George, Jason King, Sheena Lester and Minya Oh for sharing their work.

THE CHALLENGE

In planning this, we struggled with the fact that there are so many legends of hip hop journalism and we had so little space on panels. So many people and publications around the country that we couldn’t include on panels or who weren’t able to attend. We decided to launch an oral history and portrait project which would be an opportunity to celebrate some of them and gather their insight. 

The archives of the publications that defined an era—Vibe, The Source, Ego Trip, XXL, Blaze, Stress— aren’t available online. We are actively working to see if we can change that, in collaboration with Syreeta Gates, the archivist and author whose book TK, celebrates the golden era of hip hop journalism (2025, One World), and Marya McQuirter, TK at the library of congress.

In the end, Word:Life is not a survey of hip-hop journalism but rather a lede. The beginning of a conversation about the next 50 years. What follows in these liner notes is context and inspiration for each of the panels we’ve convened.

With love and hip hop,

Jelani Cobb (dean at Columbia Journalism School)

Elizabeth Méndez Berry (VP at One World books and co-founder of Critical Minded)

rashid shabazz (Executive Director of Critical Minded)

 

PANEL: IN HER OWN WORDS: WOMEN JOURNALISTS ON COVERING HIP HOP

Moderator:

Sidney Madden

Panelists:

Clover Hope 

Shamira Ibrahim 

Kierna Mayo 


CONTEXT

Hip Hop and women have had a complicated relationship since the genre’s inception. Though mothers are often placed on a pedestal by rappers in song, misogyny still courses through the lyrics in many other works. This phenomenon was examined in depth by Joan Morgan in her seminal book, “When Chickenheads Come Home To Roost,” where she used a feminist lens to take a hard but nuanced look at the music she loved.

The panel features Kierna Mayo, an original staff writer at The Source, a former editor-in-chief of Ebony and a cofounder of Honey. It also includes Clover Hope, a veteran rap journalist (Vibe, XXL, Billboard) and the author of “The Motherlode: 100+ Women Who Made Hip hop.” Cultural critic Shamira Ibrahim completes the panel; Ibrahim’s work has appeared in Essence, OkayAfrica and New York Magazine, where she recently published a much-discussed piece examining what hip hop owes women at its 50th anniversary mark.

The discussion will be moderated by Sidney Madden, a music reporter for NPR and former co-host of Louder Than A Riot, a critically-acclaimed podcast. The second season examined who hip hop marginalizes, and how misogynoir — a term created by writer Moya Bailey to describe the particular brand of hatred directed at black women in American visual and popular culture— is embedded into the fabric of the country’s most popular export.

Sample credits:

Bonus tracks:

 

PANEL: THE ARTIST & THE CRITIC: BLACK THOUGHT IN CONVERSATION WITH KRIS EX

Speakers:

kris ex

Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter

CONTEXT

"The opportunity to talk about the music is the opportunity to bring our whole lives, who we are. I think it's the most distinguishing thing, in terms of Black critics relative to some of our colleagues is that they know the vinyl; we know a whole world that begins with our mamas and extends out into the street and then it gets funneled into this writing. We were such a gift to the whole field because of that," Greg Tate.

While public works of art have long been reviewed by professionals, the relationship between the rapper and the rap journalist is a unique one, often as tangled as a densely constructed rhyme couplet from a talented MC. Both artist and critic wrestle with the complexities of identifying authenticity and exposing hypocrisy. Both are usually superfans of the genre; they just express their appreciation differently.

This one-on-one conversation features Grammy-award winning rapper, actor, producer, playwright and book author Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter. Trotter is the lead vocalist and member of the legendary Roots, hip-hop’s most prominent band. Over a 30 year career, Black Thought has proven to be one of hip-hop’s most skilled rappers. He will be in conversation with one of hip-hop journalism’s most gifted voices, kris ex. The veteran writer has contributed to The Source, XXL, Vibe and co-wrote 50 Cent’s From Pieces to Weight. His writing style has influenced countless writers with its mix of wit, profound observations and colorful wordplay.

Sample Credits:

 

COLUMBIA JOURNALISM SCHOOL FEBRUARY 20TH, 2024

SPOTLIGHT: NELSON GEORGE ON HIS 1978 AMSTERDAM NEWS ARTICLE ABOUT DJ KOOL HERC

Sample credit:

PANEL: THE ARCHITECTS: A CONVERSATION BETWEEN EDITORS


Moderator:
Jelani Cobb 


Panelists:
Bakari Kitwana 

Kierna Mayo 

Scott Poulson-Bryant 

Mimi Valdés

CONTEXT


Hip hop magazines were never just music titles, chronicling rappers, DJs, breakers and graf artists. Their pages were also filled with political commentary, fashion, policy, deeply reported pieces on community and also, yes, music coverage, including the hotly debated music reviews section. Conducting this editorial symphony every month was the responsibility of the editor-in-chief, who managed the staff, oversaw finances and steered the outlet's reputation in the streets and within the industry with assistance from the rest of the masthead. Being EIC was a high-wire role that called for regalness and a touch of ruthlessness—often from journalists who were barely 30. This conversation will revisit an era when the hip hop conversation was closer to the community that created it, and editors set the cultural agenda every month.

This panel will feature Bakari Kitwana, a former editor-in-chief at The Source, author of the book, “The Hip Hop Generation” and creator of Rap Sessions. Joining Kitwana is Scott Poulson-Bryant, who famously named Vibe when he was one of the influential publication's founding editors, and is now an assistant professor of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan. The conversation will also feature Kierna Mayo, a member of The Source’s original Mind Squad, co-founder of Honey Magazine and presently Vice President and Executive Editor of Roc Lit 101/One World. Rounding out the group is Mimi Valdés, a former editor-in-chief of Vibe, Blaze, and Latina, who is now a film producer, whose credits include Dope, Hidden Figures, Roxanne Roxanne and the forthcoming Pharrell Williams documentary in LEGO animation, Piece by Piece. This panel will be moderated by Jelani Cobb, Dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.
 

Sample credits

  • Louder Than A Riot; season 2, episode 5: If You See Something, Say Nothing: Kim Osorio vs. The Source. (podcast: NPR, 2023)
  • Kierna Mayo, The History of Honey Magazine, pt 1 and pt 2 (Podcast: Culturati, 2022)


Bonus tracks

SPOTLIGHT: SHEENA LESTER ON XXL’s GREAT DAY IN HIP HOP

Sample credit:

PANEL: CODE READ: THE ETHICS OF HIP HOP JOURNALISM

Moderator:

Jeff Chang

Panelists:

Davey D 

Andre Gee   

Karen Good-Marable 

Akiba Solomon

CONTEXT

In the preface to “The Vibe History of Hip Hop,” Danyel Smith writes “Hip hop writers” are often accused of being “too close” to the music, to the artists, and to the scene. Hell yes, we’re close to it. We love this shit. The proximity between author and subject has long been a topic of discussion in journalism circles and institutions, most notably in Janet Malcolm’s book, The Journalist And the Murderer. For many hip hop journalists that dynamic is accentuated: does it blur the relationship from a professional exchange to one that’s more personal and potentially compromised? And then there's the money: the role of advertisers in coverage as well as more explicit pay-to-play, as practiced by Ozone magazine, which literally charged artists to be on the cover. And how has the inclusion of bloggers, podcasters and other content creators compounded things?

CODE READ was partly sparked by a tweet from critic Andre Gee. He wrote, "Culture journalists, how many times have you taken out wild quotes from an interview cause you know they could have career implications (or worse) for the subject? I’ve taken it upon myself a couple times." It was also inspired by reflections on the recent allegations against figures like P. Diddy and Russell Simmons: why didn’t hip hop journalism uncover those stories long ago?

Panelists include Andre Gee, the lead hip hop writer for Rolling Stone; Karen Good-Marable, a veteran writer and author, who penned one of the definitive DMX profiles at the height of the haunted rapper’s career, Akiba Solomon, a former editor at The Source whose sharp political coverage was a highlight of the publication; she's currently an editor at the Marshall Project. Rounding out the panel is Davey D, a leading voice in hip hop media, who pioneered the use of platforms from radio to digital to cover and comment on hip hop culture. The conversation will be moderated by writer and author Jeff Chang, whose book Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip hop Generation is considered one of the greatest on hip hop culture.

Sample credits:

SPOTLIGHT: MINYA OH ON HER FIVE MIC SOURCE REVIEW OF NAS’S ILLMATIC

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PANEL: THE CULTURE IS VISUAL: HIP HOP PHOTOGRAPHY

Moderator: 

Michelle Willems

Panelists:

Mel D. Cole

Martha Cooper 

Sue Kwon 

Ernie Paniccioli           

CONTEXT

While the words of hip hop journalism lionized rappers and minted them as stars with Horatio Alger-tales of rags to riches, it was the images that often canonized them. Photographs of artists in the ‘70s and ‘80s are intimate portraits of a burgeoning scene. By the ‘90s and turn of the century, as hip hop became a global phenomenon, often visuals would capture the quieter moments between artist’s larger than life exploits. This conversation will center around all those moments and the observations of the photographers that were able to capture some of rap’s most historic memories. 

 

Featured panelists include Ernie Paniccioli, the former principal photographer for Word Up! magazine and longtime visual documentarian covering hip hop; Martha Cooper, a landmark chronicler of New York’s graffiti and dance scenes; Sue Kwon, a photographic contributor to The Source and the Village Voice and Mel. D. Cole, an award-winning photographer who’s known both for his portraits of hip hop artists and his photojournalism. Moderating the panel is Michelle Williams, former art director for Honey Magazine and Tommy Boy records.

Sample credits

 

Bonus tracks:

 

SPOTLIGHT: JASON KING ON HIS NPR ESSAY ABOUT LIL NAS X 

Sample credit:

PANEL: FLYBOY UNBOUND: THE LIFE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF GREG TATE     

Location: Lecture Hall

Moderator:

Syreeta Gates

Panelists:

Nelson George 

dream hampton 

Joan Morgan 

Mark Anthony Neal

CONTEXT

Cultural critic and journalist Greg Tate was a creative giant, a renaissance man whose impact cannot be contained by any one of the many areas where his impact was felt, from journalism to music to art to the vibrant community he cultivated. Tate’s early writing in the Village Voice helped legitimize hip hop criticism as on par with any other type of arts criticism. But while hip hop was a love of his and his hip hop criticism is legendary, he was not limited to it, often ruminating on all aspects of Black life and politics, through essays, lectures and in his brilliant Facebook posts.

This panel discussion will celebrate the critic and his work as Columbia Journalism School and Critical Minded inaugurate a scholarship in his honor to support an arts journalism student.

Planned in collaboration with Tate’s family, this panel includes four of Tate’s dear friends and collaborators: Nelson George, a filmmaker, writer and a godfather of hip hop journalism alongside Tate, dream hampton, an award-winning filmmaker and writer; Joan Morgan, cultural critic and author of “When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost” and Mark Anthony Neal, the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor, and Chair of the Department of African & African American Studies at Duke.

Moderating the discussion will be Syreeta Gates, a hip hop archivist and founder of The Gates Preserve, a multimedia company that preserves and archives hip hop. Its motto: “archiving is a statement of value.”

Sample Credits:

Bonus Tracks:

PANEL: THE CRITIC AND THE STAN

Moderator:

Jayson Rodriguez

Panelists:

Jay Smooth 

Jesse Washington 

Rawiya Kameir 

Jouelzy

CONTEXT

Hip hop gave the world the concept of the Stan, via Eminem's 2000 song of the same name. Word: Life's THE CRITIC AND THE STAN panel emerged from a conversation with Jay Smooth about the changing relationship between artists, critics and fans; the panel was taking shape as Nicki Minaj and The Barbz were going after anyone who dared critique Pink Friday 2.

Hip hop critics have played a particular role in the culture. As the late, great Greg Tate said, "I don't think there's another genre era where what people wrote about music mattered as much to the musicians as it did in hip hop and rap... cats be ready to bully folks over half a mic.. They got bullet proof glass at The Source." The Source’s famous 5 Mic rating system had the power to make or break a project (and sometimes an artist’s career). Because the reviews in hip hop magazines were so high stakes, artists themselves and members of the music industry sometimes intimidated critics or even attacked them. 

Over time that dynamic changed. As rappers moved into the mainstream and social media emerged as a communications juggernaut, not only did reviews diminish in weight, but fans began to mobilize around artists to shield them from anything interpreted as unfair criticism. For this panel, we wanted to connect the reason The Source had bulletproof glass with what’s happening now and consider how to make more room for productive friction in the culture.

Joining the panel are Jay Smooth, a pioneering vlogger, hip hop radio host and cocreator of the 2023 podcast on Michael Jackson, Think Twice; Jesse Washington, a former editor at Vibe and Blaze magazines; Rawiya Kameir, a contributor to The Fader and Pitchfork; and Jouelzy, a popular online cultural commentator with an eponymous youTube channel. 

Moderating the discussion is Jayson Rodriguez, a former editor at Vibe and XXL magazines and currently publisher of Backseat Freestyle, a weekly hip hop newsletter.

Sample Credits:

Bonus Tracks: