Sharing love and knowledge of Hip-Hop Culture in the same space; welcome to the 2023 Hip-Hop Diaspora

BY SYDNEE WALCOTT

2023 marks the 50^th anniversary of Hip Hop, and an array of celebrations continue to take place for this milestone anniversary. Hip-hop’s history in the United States continues to be shared. However, the genre’s history in Canada and many other countries worldwide continues to receive under-appreciation. To help change this narrative, there is work in progress to bring awareness to the under-appreciated Hip-Hop roots in Canada and other countries globally.

From November 9^th, to 11^th, 2023, the University of Toronto launched its Hip-Hop Diaspora (HHD), with this year’s theme all about archiving and celebrating 50 years of the culture. During the three-day symposium, speakers, scholars and artists touched on hip-hop street culture practices, education and innovations in cities like: Toronto, Havana, London and Stockholm and on preserving elements in hip-hop archiving.

The inspiration behind creating the Hip-Hop Diaspora came from the recently launched book Hip Hop Archives: The Politics and Poetics of Knowledge Production by Mark Campbell, a Scarborough-raised DJ and U of T Hip-Hop scholar, and Murray Forman, a Hip-Hop expert and associate professor at Northeastern University. To commemorate the book, Campbell and Pablo D. Herrera Veitia, a Cuban rap producer and U of T scholar, wanted to organize a space to establish a conversation on knowledge – the fifth element of Hip-Hop culture. The knowledge of Hip-Hop is understanding what one needs to be part of the Hip-Hop community, including self-knowledge and awareness of social and political issues. They also wanted to touch on what happens outside the US border in hip-hop culture and to show that Hip-Hop is a global phenomenon.

One thing people can take from the three-day event is that Hip-Hop culture has a deep international history that many don’t know about. It also has an enduring legacy beyond the four main elements and New York City. Speakers from various countries helped express that hip-hop produces forms of knowledge and how everyone can yield new forms of knowledge artistically and creatively in connection with the evolution of Hip-Hop in its 50^th year.

Being together in the same room, where community-based organizers, practitioners and scholars come together with students to combine synergies of different knowledge, creates an amplitude of the central point of the meeting itself.

For upcoming artists, what they can take away from the event is there’s a long, rich and local history of Hip-Hop culture, and how they practice it within their local community may look different in a different country, or decade. However, there are 50 years of history one can immerse oneself in, understand the culture around it and how emerging artists shouldn’t feel limited to where they’re from – meaning they can straightforwardly be an embraced Hip-Hop artist by a global community of artists.

With this year being the 50^th anniversary of Hip-Hop, a moment to celebrate what they’ve given so much of their lives to, is prodigious for both Herrera Veitia and Campbell, who enjoyed seeing many people come out to share their love and knowledge of Hip-Hop culture in the same space.