By Danielle Bettendorf Asst. living and arts editor
The Hip-Hop Club hosted a “Marginalized Voices in Hip- Hop” concert at Trax on Feb 3.
The concert featured several rappers: M Life, Dynasty, J-remedy, B.L. Shirelle and Bates. DJ Cash Out Casper also performed throughout the night.
Both the event at Trax and the Hip-Hop Club were created in collaboration between senior Ben Gottlieb and Lissa Skitolsky, associate professor of philosophy.
“I was in her class, Philosophy and Hip-Hop, and she was bugging the class about starting a club,” Gottlieb said. “It turned into more when I got an email a couple weeks before the semester ended asking me to do a departmental honors project where I could make a documentary.”
“I didn’t know really what I wanted to do, so I thought that I could do it on the coursework of the class,” Gottlieb continued. “I brought up the idea of her helping me with the documentary, and it kind of exploded from there.”
“The concert definitely emerged in tandem with figuring out the whole aim of Hip- Hop Club and figuring out the structure of this documentary,” Skitolsky said.
The event also appealed to students who were not previously interested in hip-hop and was preceded by a question and answer panel Feb. 2.
The panel consisted of Bates and B.L. Shirelle, who spoke about their relationship to hip-hop culture and answered questions about their music.
“I’ve never been that big of a fan of hip-hop and rap, but I went to the panel to see what it was about,” junior Em Osback said. “I was not only super impressed by the freestyle at the end, but I was also inspired by the stories and lives of each of the panelists.”
“Their personalities alone persuaded me to go to the actual event at Trax, and I’m really glad that I did,” Osback continued. “They each had such important things to say through their music, and now I’m interested in listening to them more.”
Gottlieb and Skitolsky also emphasized the importance of showcasing artists who did not see themselves represented within the hip-hop industry.
“[We] were interested in highlighting rappers that you wouldn’t associate with the business,” Skitolsky said.
“They’re actually just as marginalized in the world of hip-hop as outside, and that seemed like a nice take, so we could make everybody question their assumptions about hip-hop,” Skitolsky continued.
Topics covered at the event included race, sexuality, family troubles and other issues that set the performers apart from others both in their lives and from others in the industry.
“To me, that event was so diverse because they were all underground rappers who hadn’t yet been signed [and] they all still work minimum wage jobs,” Skitolsky said. “They don’t rap for money but because it helps them cope.”
“Underground rap is more closely related to hip-hop culture than commercial rap,” Skitolsky continued.
“They were talking about the pervasiveness of racism,” Skitolsky added.
“They were talking about how difficult it is to be excluded from the labor market. They were talking about how difficult it is to re-enter society once you’ve been in prison. They were talking about the everyday discrimination and vulnerability they face as people of color. What they were rapping about exudes the values of hip-hop culture,” she said.
Gottlieb also emphasized the solidarity that came about as a result of the concert, and the importance of solidarity between marginalized groups.
“At the end [of the concert], you could look around the room and see people that you could go to,” Gottlieb said.
“You could look around that room and see people that you know are on your side. If you’re a marginalized person on this campus, you can also see people who translate that frustration into an artistic medium and are able to project it to large audiences,” Gottlieb continued.
