Beethoven, Mozart and Hip-Hop

Q-Tip Joins The Kennedy Center

By PGS Media

“Sittin’ round in my abstract part this abstract thing goin’ abstract far yo” –Vivrant Thing (Q-Tip ft. Violator)

Rapper and record producer Q-Tip has been named the first artistic director of hip-hop culture at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

This season will be the first time the Kennedy Center turns its attention to the hip-hop culture in a more cohesive way.  In the past there have been hip-hop events at this historic cultural arts center but there has not been a dedicated curator who would organize this music genre and all of aspects and bring it into this type of cultural setting.  

A Kennedy Center press release stated, “Q-Tip will establish a dynamic, new program that will stretch across all disciplines, bringing the historic roots, contemporary expressions, and transformative power of Hip Hop to the [Kennedy] Center and local and national audiences.”

“For over the past 40 years, hip-hop has not only served as one of the most influential art forms out of the African American community but it is also the prevailing energy of culture around the world. We see hip-hop in our films, we see it in our commercials, we hear it everywhere. You cannot escape that beat. And that beat; that pulse is what we’re going to connect to at the Kennedy Center and I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and start to work.” (Q-Tip /Kennedy Center video)

PHOTO: Q-Tip / MySpace