UDK

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2011

Basketball, football, soccer, oh my!

A sports roundup from the week, including recruiting and drafting news. SPORTS | 22

Celebrating with a bang

Almost all reworks are illegal within the city limits, but holiday events will still allow you to celebrate in style NEWS | 15

WWW.KANSAN.COM

VOLUME 123, ISSUE 156

Forget

HEARD

what you

Hip hop holds weight in the Heartland

FEATURE 12

PAGE 12

WEDNESDAY, June 29, 2011

THe UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN

THe UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN

WEDNESDAY, June 29, 2011

PAGE 13

FoUR-PaRT SeRieS

Same beat, different dance

BY CALVIN MCCONNELL editor@kansan.com

Hip-hop holds weight in the Heartland

Next week:

Today:

The Professor

The Poet

Week 3:

The Promoter

Week 4:

The Dancer

Nicole Hodges Persley asks her students how homosexuality shows up in hip-hop culture. Can they hear feminism or peaceful expressions of blackness in the music once known for misogyny and rape culture? Educated in Los Angeles before directing programs at the Hip Hop Archives at Harvard, Hodges Persley has brought the musics academic study to stereotypically white, conservative Kansas.

Bryan OBrien throws his lanky arms in the air, cocks his head toward the ceiling and releases a rhythmic cadence from his chest. Standing behind the microphone at the Mirth Caf, 745 New Hampshire St., downtown on a Friday night, he couldnt have imagined those Vanilla Ice verses he memorized in elementary school in North Dakota would lead to this.

James Baker bobs his head to a jazz-infused beat as he and a sweaty, eclectic audience in downtown Lawrence get a full serving of Midwestern hip-hop. A white male from a suburban background, hes smack in the middle of the musics target audience, but the 22-year-old selfproclaimed hipster promoted tonights concert and has a vested interest in its success.

Chelsea Ybarras feet slide across the Robinson Dance Studio oor, her limbs are owing and her step is in-sync shes hip-hop and shes on tonight. Her skin is painted green as she performs an interpretative dance to Kid Cudis Embrace the Martian, living a dream thats literally and conceptually far from her hometown of Ulysess.

n the 1985 guide to the music genre entitled Fresh: Hip-Hop Dont Stop, Harlem rapper and hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow wrote, Maybe one day, when Im old, people will finally realize that rap is here to stay.

nomenon that surrounds it has come a long way since the South Bronxs DJ Afrika Bambataa outlined the four pillars of hip-hop: Emceeing, DJing, break-dancing and graffiti writing. The art moved from improvisational performances at parties in New York neighborhood centers to breakdancing or breaking and freestyle

hip-hop creators and consumers are increasingly a blend of all races and backgrounds. The genre has diffused globally and exponentially, becoming a major commercial force in fashion, dance and music, including in Lawrence, a small, largely Caucasian town.

Maybe one day, when Im old, people will nally realize that hip-hop is here to stay,
Kurtis Blow

More than a quarter century later, its safe to stay it stuck around. Far from the predominantly ethnic and economically-marginalized urban centers hip-hop calls home, and farther from the violent streets in New York City and Los Angeles from which the genre burst onto the popular stage, the promotion, study and performance of hip-hop is influencing an interesting mix of lives right here in the Heartland. The music and the cultural phe-

battles on city blacktops and to the pains of disgruntled youth rapping gangster rhymes about deplorable urban-living conditions. It stood for ethical and moral trials almost annually, spending its thirtyyear history defending usage of the words ho, bitch and other degrading epithets while surviving criticisms for perpetuating a culture of violence, drugs and death in inner-cities. Today, the movement at its core is strongly African-American, but

National acts have visited here for decades, playing sold-out shows at venues such as the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St. The local scene, most prominent in the early 2000s when groups like Archetype and Soundsgood represented a strong hiphop culture on and off campus, is getting stronger. All the while, hip-hop in the Heartland is popping up in unsuspecting places.

PAGE 12

WEDNESDAY, July 6, 2011

THe UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN

THe UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN

WEDNESDAY, July 6, 2011

PAGE 13

FoUR-PaRT SeRieS

The Promoter
BY CALVIN MCCONNELL editor@kansan.com

Editors note: This article is the second of a four-part series offering a small sample of hip-hops story in the Heartland. The Kansans next three issues will feature proles of James Baker, Chelsea Ybarra and Bryan OBrien. Photos by Travis Young/KANSAN

A target listener aims at his own industry bullseye

This week
James Baker bobs his head to a jazz-infused beat as he and a sweaty, eclectic audience in downtown Lawrence get a full serving of Midwestern hip-hop. A white male from a suburban background, hes smack in the middle of the musics target audience, but the 22-year-old self-proclaimed hipster promoted tonights concert and has a vested interest in its success.

Last week
In-depth writer Calvin McConnell proled Nicole Hodges Persley, assistant professor of theater. The article examines the intersection of hip-hop, performance art and academia in her work at the University. Catch up with the series online at Kansan.com.

romoter James Baker stands close to the side of the stage at the Jackpot Music Hall, 933 Massachusetts St. He watches as another local hip-hop show he organized unfolds in front of him speakers shake, emcees sound off wordplay, and the crowd moves to the rhythm. Approach, Lawrence hip-hop guru and owner of Datura Records, walks by and pokes Bakers under-

Baker attended the concert, which ran from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., and he was astonished at its level of constant intensity. I remember I got back to my apartment and said, That was like six hours of entertainment, whats up with that? Hed connected with the music briefly in high school, being drawn to the politicized content of emcees like Immortal Technique and Black Thought, the latter from the Philadelphia-based group The Roots. The live experience was even better,

The two connected at one of Steddy Ps concerts in Lawrence when Baker offered to hand out flyers for upcoming shows. At the time, Baker was also a D.J. at the Universitys radio station, KJHK. He brought his newfound interest on the airwaves and began to promote local artists like Louis Ripp, atilla, Greg Enemy, Approach and Stikfigaall from Kansas City, Lawrence or Topeka. Fast forward just a few months and today youll find Baker a once

character played a part in his swift immersion into promoting and organizing for both Indyground and KJHK Live Events. He works hard and earns respect one person at a time, Johnson said. No matter what hes doing, he realizes he represents the station as well as his own values, and he definitely knows that memories are long in Lawrence. Baker sees it a career opportunity, even if its not what his parents had in mind. Hes proud to say that his work

I found a passion in it. Maybe not making it, or producing music or anything like that, but just being involved in a community that is really accepting.
James Baker

belly, a fun gesture of good job, glad you got us all together again. Baker nods naturally, like hes been doing this for years. But Baker, the bearded, suburban kid, a senior from Dallas, had a more unexpected introduction to hip-hop. He didnt listen to gangster rap in his teens. In fact, it wasnt until Bakers sophomore year of college when he joined his predestined market classification. Atmosphere, the Minneapolis duo credited with pioneering the Midwestern independent hip-hop that grabbed attention the past decade, was playing a show at The Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St. I skipped writing a paper until 4 in the morning, he said. Instead,

though. I said, wow, somethings here. Something is here, Baker said. He went to more shows and researched the art, its proselytizers, critics and creators. Overall, he liked what he saw and heard. Then, almost completely bypassing the stage of hip-hop fan, Baker started an unusual journey into the business of promoting local hip-hop. My first impression of James was that he was a good kid who loved music and wanted to learn more not just about the music, but more about the culture, atmosphere, and business around it, Steddy P, a Kansas City hip-hop artist and founder of local music label Indyground Entertainment, explained.

hip-hop skeptic, then halfway fan, then small-time volunteer, then radio promotertaking part in Indyground business decisions, drafting and securing contracts and booking tours for artists. I found a passion in it. Maybe not making it, or producing music or anything like that, but just being involved in a community that is really accepting, Baker said, looking back at his rapid progression through the local hip-hop scene. You think of hip-hop as gangsters and people who want to beat each other up. But all these dudes are friends. Theyre the nicest dudes that youll ever meetnicer than bands. Tom Johnson, KJHK station manager, said Bakers personality and

is part of a new school of hip-hop business that is driven by Midwestern promoters and label executives his same youthful age. Its a cool business to be in, because its definitely strategic and a lot like politics, Baker said, emphasizing the valuable entrepreneurial skills hes learned already in his short stint with Indyground Entertainment, Steddy Ps Kansas City-based record label. He said he offers a fresh perspective to artists, entrepreneurs and entertainers that have been in the business for years. I did not grow up on hip-hop. All my friends are hipsters, and Im kind of a hipster, Baker said. I bring a breath of fresh air.

PAGE 12

WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2011

THe UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN

THe UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN

WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2011

PAGE 13

FoUR-PaRT SeRieS
Editors note: This article is the third part of a four-

The Poet
BY CALVIN MCCONNELL editor@kansan.com

part series offering a small sample of hip-hops story in the Heartland. The Kansans next issue will feature a prole of hip-hop dancer Chelsea Ybarra.

Photos by Travis Young/KANSAN

Local writer nds performance inspiration in hip-hop

This week
Bryan OBrien throws his lanky arms in the air, cocks his head toward the ceiling and releases a rhythmic cadence from his chest. Standing behind the microphone at the Mirth Caf downtown on a Friday night, he couldnt have imagined those Vanilla Ice verses he memorized in elementary school in North Dakota would lead to this.

Last week
In-depth writer Calvin McConnell proled James Baker, a senior in Spanish and Latin American Studies. From concert-goer to independent promoter, the article looked at Bakers unexpected entrance into the area hip-hop community. Catch up with the series online at Kansan.com.

hen the sounds of Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer reached Bryan OBriens childhood home in Eastern North Dakota in the early 1990s, he discovered a style of music different from the others played on his parents television set. It was called hip-hop. And at that point, the now global phenomenon born in the 1970s South Bronx, was going through some growing pains. The art had emerged from a forgot-

cacy with which they were placed in rhyme, the staccato schemes, the alliteration. But most of all, he enjoyed learning every word of a new song and performing it, on imaginary beats and completely from memory ,to his friends. Its a challenge hes kept with him throughout the years. After his family moved to Kansas and OBrien was attending high school in Topeka, his interest in what he dubs verbal mastery easily translated into a passion for forensics competitions. He read in a poetry and prose competition

brought in world-renowned slam poetry performer Saul Williams. OBrien tapped in. He found it a suitable convergence. Performance poetry brought the competition he enjoyed from his forensics days, the wordplay of hip hop and a soothing outlet for selfexpression during rocky times. He began performing, not just for his friends, via who-can-rememberevery-line-to-this-song challenges, but for live audiences and with his own writing. It was shaky, at first. OBrien would get really nervous but

Wednesday of the month poetry reading at the Jazzhaus, 926 1/2 Massachusetts St. said, He is loud, obnoxious and beautiful all at the same time. You want to listen to him. He is an incredible freestylerhe can go for miles off the top of his head. Its really very strategic to do poetry well. He attends most readings at Mirth Caf, 745 New Hampshire St., and performs at other spots when he has the time between waiting tables downtown at Mirth Caf youll hardly see him write down an order

Every rapper that goes out there and says, Im the best, Im the greatest, they are empowering themselves.
Bryan OBrien

ten urban culture with a simple yet radical litany: recognize, represent, come correct, build, maintain, respect. But Ice and Hammer ushered in a new eraone detached from the 1980s heydays of KRS One and other hip-hop popular culture pioneers and focused more on targeting new commercial markets, even rural North Dakota. There was no other way I would have found out about hip-hop. I wouldnt have known about it for years and years, unless that had happened, OBrien said, accepting that many hip-hop critics scoff at that particular era in the musics history, but gratefully accepting its role in his life. He liked the words, the intri-

and the thrill of trying to read intricate works on-point opened him up to the idea of writing his own lyrics, he said. During his first year of college, separation anxiety from his family, an unbalanced feeling, and a knack for writing poems instead of taking notes in class, led him to leave school after just one year. Yet those very issues that came up for him in his college experience, OBrien said, were formative in shaping his course as a writer. A lot of what got me into writing was trying to fix that, trying to reform things, he said. At that same time, in the early 2000s, the University was hosting numerous poetry slams and even

after a couple years, he said, he found confidence on stage. And, in turn, he now looks at it as a challenge that he encourages local poets to take on. He said thats part of what hip-hop and poetry is all about. A lot of people will trash hip hop and say, Its really exploitational. Its all about me, me, me and the ego and all that. I see it different, OBrien said. Every rapper that goes out there and says, Im the best, Im the greatest, they are empowering themselves. Today, hes a regular at poetry readings in downtown Lawrence, where hes known for a different but refreshing flair. Sara Glass, friend of OBriens and area poet who started the first

and taking classes at Devry University in electrical engineering. Empowerment is seen in his performance, like the reforming he set out to do after he left KU has come to fruition. His gift of recollection is apparent, too, as his poems almost invariably will pack twice as many words in less time than other readers works at local gatherings. His poem titled How to Talk Fast, performed in a head-spinning 30 seconds, is a good example. The lines here are spit in a split second: Its a direct possibility that verbal agility enhances neural ability, so the words work willingly, describing you diligently, I hope this illustrated it brilliantly.

PAGE 12

WEDNESDAY, July 20, 2011

THe UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN

THe UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN

WEDNESDAY, July 20, 2011

PAGE 13

FoUR-PaRT SeRieS

The Dancer
BY CALVIN MCCONNELL editor@kansan.com

Editors note: This article is the nal part of a four-part series offering a small sample of hip-hops story in the Heartland. See the Kansans multimedia presentation online at Kansan.com.
Photos by Travis Young/KANSAN

Student plants her own hip-hop roots in small town

This week
Chelsea Ybarras feet slide across the Robinson Dance Studio oor, her limbs are owing and her step is in-sync shes hip-hop and shes on tonight. Her skin is painted green as she performs an interpretative dance to Kid Cudis Embrace the Martian, living a dream thats literally and conceptually far from her hometown of Ulysess, Kan.

Last week
In-depth writer Calvin McConnell proled Brian OBrien, a local poet. The article examines the inspiration for other art forms that is found in hip-hop. Catch up with the series online at Kansan.com.

he small southwestern Kansas town of Ulysess wasnt the most cultivating community for artistic pursuits when Chelsea Ybarra, junior in American Studies, was a young, aspiring dancer. The town cherishes its traditional sportsfootball and basketball to be specific--and Ybarras game of movement, performance and rhythm was outside the conventional dimensions. So, with few resources and little support, except that from her

about the good things, Paula said. People really only will bring it up if theres something bad. Ybarra and the team kept dancing. In the summer of 2004, when the group was just getting on its feet, the team attended a National Dance Alliance Camp to take their shot at gaining recognition from a crowd that was offering, unlike in Ulysses. The girls took gold in the Team Dance Competition. The honor awarded them with the chance to perform in the January 2005 Orange Bowl. It was a serious opportunity. The girls from Ulysess danced in

the top lyrical hip hop choreographers and affectionately called in the entertainment industry Nappytabshave held workshops. Lyrical hip hop dance is characterized by gliding and fluid movements, isolations of the body and a slower tempo. Each dance is a narrative told by the dancer and the performance is often emotional. Ybarra said dancing to lyrical hip hop takes her outside herself and that is the styles main attraction. Whenever everything is going wrong, you can always turn to this. You get up and you move, and noth-

Step Show, KUs Best Dance Crew and at numerous venues in Kansas City, Wichita and even, Ulysess, Ybarras hometown of Ulysses. The crew took a trip back to Ulysses with Ybarra to see where her journey had started. They performed at a high school basketball game. Even to this day we are trying to gain the support of the community, she said. But witnessing the imprint she had on dancers who otherwise would have no opportunities in Ulysses, she said, is what makes the effort worthwhile. Since the dance team has started I have seen many girls go from

Dance is my passion. Its a way of me telling a story. With hip-hop, I get the message out.
Chelsea Ybarra

mother, Ybarra planted her own roots and started The Ulysess Dance Team at her high school. I'm not sure we really knew how well the program would end up or how the town would respond, she said. All we knew is that we loved dance and that we wanted there to be some kind of opportunity for others in Ulysses to dance and experience what we loved so much. They were sponsored by Ybarras mother, Paula, who helped organize and fundraise. Mom helped Ybarra find five dancers in the high school, one her own sister. But getting started wasnt easy and conservative currents in Ulysess had their own way of guiding the groups reception in town. They [Ulysses] never really talk

the Pre-game show and at halftime and brushed shoulders with stars like Kelly Clarkson, Jay-Z and Will Ferrell, Ybarra recalled. After high school graduation, Ybarra came to KU. She originally studied Jazz and Modern Dance but when she got involved with the universitys UNITY Hip-hop Dance Crew, Ybarra said, she knew that was her true calling. "Dance is my passion. It's a way of me telling a story," she said. "With hip hop, I get the message out." Ybarras particular focus in hip hop dance is a style called lyrical. She has participated in the Monsters of Hip Hop St. Louis Convention, where her favorite choreographers, Napoleon Buddy Duomo and Tabitha Duomoknown as

ing else matters anymore, she said. Ybarra also has an acute awareness of the arts lyrical content and how it interplays with her work as a performer. She said the UNITY crew tries to pick songs that dont boast disrespectful rhyme schemes and talked about how the tone of the track shapes the dance that accompanies it. You have to have some kind of connectionwhether with the lyrics or the beatto have some desire to bring that song to life, Ybarra said. And you have to remember this is a way of expression. The hip hop artists have emotions, they have feelings and they need to get it out. This is how they breathe. UNITY performs annually at Late Night in the Phog, KUs Greek

being insecure and shy to confident and dominating, she said. After her experiences in high school and college, Ybarra plans to keep dancing hip hop and would like to get involved in the entertainment industry, possibly as both an artist and promoter. But one thing is for sure, she said, her first love of dance and her passion for hip hop will carry on. Hip hop has kind of just become a part of me and Ive become a part of it. Ive found the one thing that makes me want toit makes me, not know what to say, she said excitedly. To give that up is not even an option. And Im going to do my best to have other people experience it, too.

PAGE 14

WEDNESDAY, June 29, 2011

THe UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN

The Professor
From Harvard to The Hill with books, beats and rhymes
Are you going to take all of the sexism out of literature? Out of film? You have to have a critical perspective. We have to look at the work for the works sake. Gender is one determining factor. Hodges Persley, assistant professor of theater, has brought her own ideas about the often despicable depiction of women in commercial rap to the University. As part of a growing group of hiphop academics, her scholarly work focuses on everything from hip-hop elements in African-American solo theatre to feminist roles in creating and critiquing modern rap lyrics. The syllabus for her course, Hip Hop in Popular Culture, warns that the class will play songs with explicit lyrics and delve into exactly what purpose they serve. For students here in the Midwest the subject matter can be fascinating. Hodges Persley effectively takes what is on most iPods in the room and examines the works in an academic setting raw content and all. We talk about it openly in my classes. Do you filter the work of Miles Davis? I think we have to give the artist a little more credit. They know what theyre saying, she said. One of the purposes of the class is to ask students to look at the larger picture, and not focus on just the provocative lyrics in hip hop, but what message might the artist be trying to communicate and why so in that fashion, Hodges Persley said. Julia Barnard, who took Hodges Persleys hip-hop course in Fall semester 2010, said the professor explained that hip-hop is a way to read the society we live in. For example, it says something about our society that one of the most popular musical forms rose out of the African-American community, a community historically subjected to institutional and cultural discrimination, she said. The marriage between hip-hop and academia was consummated nearly three decades ago but is hardly common knowledge. Hodges Persley has played an integral role in the partnership between books, rhymes and beats. She serves as one of the founding program directors for the Hiphop archives, established at Harvard in the early 2000s, and completed a PhD dissertation on Africanamericaness in hip-hop theatre and performance at the University of Southern California in 2008. She published essays on hip-hop in publications such as Chicken Soup for the AfricanAmerican Soul and Icons of Hiphop: An Encylopedia of the Music and Culture. Since 2009, shes been in Lawrence, which is an interesting culture twist for a woman who grew up outside Detroit and spent most of the her life on the coasts. The student response to the hiphop professor on campus? Her popular class has been wait-listed and, because of the demand shes working to develop another course, and focusing on how hip-hop has shaped youth movements abroad. All of this is part of Hodges Persleys efforts to bring the University, with a minority population barely over 20 percent, to the forefront of hip-hop academia. At Harvard for a gathering called Author Meets the Critics, where author Tracey Sharpley-Whiting discussed her book Pimps Up Hos Down: Hip Hops Hold on Young Black Woman, she said she did her best to represent her new home on the range. We are showing that the Midwest has a presence in hip hop and has for a long time, she said. And Im hoping that KU is going to push itself to be on the cutting edge. This semester, Hodges Persley is on research leave working on her new book, Remixing Race and Ethnicity: Sampling Blackness in HipHop Performance. By the time it is complete, she will have traveled to France, England and multiple spots in the United States to investigate performance practices of hip-hop theatre and performance art. Hodges Persley has also spent time in West Africa and other countries where, she said, she sees hip-hop culture seeping into a long list of traditions. The biggest thing that hip-hop does for me is it opens up artistic opportunities of reaching across borders, she said. Her work with the music and its movement in the academic arena came after working as a professional actress and performer in Los Angeles. She holds credits in numerous films and television shows and is known by her colleagues and students for adding the artists perspective to the usual academic theoretical frameworks. Marcyliena Morgan, professor of African and African-American Studies and Executive Director of the Hip Hop Archive at Harvard, said Hodges Persley creativity is what sets her apart. Her understanding of high art is so important, she said. Morgan added that she thought the Midwest would give Hodges Persley necessary inventive wiggle room. Its not something where the script is written. Its a question of whats going to come out of it. The next time Hodges Persley teaches the Hip-Hop in Popular Culture course will be Spring 2012.

We are showing that the Midwest has a presence in hip hop and has for a long time,
Hodges Persley

Nicole Hodges Persley, assistant professor in theater, brings a hip-hop air to her classes.

Editors note: This article is the rst of a four-

part series offering a small sample of hip hops story in the Heartland. The Kansans next three issues will feature proles of James Baker, Chelsea Ybarra and Bryan OBrien.