Artist, musician and DJ Dimitri Madimin a.k.a. Dim Browski initiates a conversation to shed a surprising light on the age-old discussion about violence in rap lyrics. Can we shift the discussion by taking a longer view, and recognize the bonds between today’s hip-hop era and the African-American cultural movement of the Harlem Renaissance? What parallels can we detect with the European Renaissance of yesteryear, when the Medici family strategically mobilized art for a symbolic battle to claim their place in society? Let’s talk about the depiction of power structures, social status, money and respect, about self-representation and rebellious art filled with (violent) symbolism. And ask whether today’s rap lyrics are really the problem, or the kind of people that are saying them?
The conversation will be opened with a Spoken Word Performance by the American poet Black Ice. Afterwards Ruyzdael Selectaz will play Hip hop, breaks & beats, and there is an afterparty at MAVIS Rotterdam.
HipHopHuis will treat all visitors to a Ruyzdael x Beyond the Beat cassette mixtape ‘By All Means Necessary’, mixed and compiled by Dimitri Madimin a.k.a. Dim Browski.
This event is part of Dimitri Madimin’s exhibition By All Means Necessary, on view at TENT till November 14.
Language: English
Access is free
Reservations and Coronacheck required
Job de Wit – moderator
Job de Wit is a freelance music journalist. The past 20 years, he’s written for Update Magazine, OOR, Nieuwe Revu, Dagblad de Pers, Blend, nrc.next. He was Editor-in-chief of online Hip-hop platform State Magazine and the electronic medium DJBroadcast. He created radio programmes for VPRO, and was part of 22tracks.com from the start.
Dimitri Madimin – panelist
Dimitri Madimin a.k.a. Dim Browski is a Dutch-Surinamese visual artist, music producer and DJ and co-founder of Ruyzdael. His work spans from film to music, and from visual art to live performance. Across platforms and disciplines Madimin’s work focuses on inner city cultures and post-colonial identities. His work has been featured in various venues and festivals such as Circuit Centre d’Art Contemporain Lausanne, Art Basel, United Nations NYC, Point PERF Geneva, BIG Biennale Geneva, Direktorenhaus Museum Berlin, Michaelis Galleries Cape Town, W139 Amsterdam, Amsterdam City Archives, TENT Rotterdam, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Fringe Festival, Red Bull Studios.
Elisabetta Stumpo – panelist
Elisabetta Stumpo is a Historian of the Modern Age, specialized in Medici Family history and Tuscany history in the 16th and 17th centuries, with a focus on the role and representation of women. She works at the educational department of Muse Firenze association in charge of Florentine Civic Museums, and was an advisor to Madimin’s research into Renaissance depictions of power and violence.
Black Ice – Panelist and performer
The Tony, Peabody and Emmy Award winning, 6 time HBO Def Poet Black Ice is credited with being a major pioneer of this millennium in turning spoken word into a mainstream art form. His work is utilized from high school curricula to course studies at Harvard and Columbia Universities. Black Ice has toured with The Roots, Floetry, Musiq, Mary J. Blige and Def Poetry on Broadway. Many world renowned musicians like Nas, Fabolous and Kendrick Lamar to name a few, have had Black Ice appear on their albums. He began spreading his words of revolution back in 1993 when he was known as Lamar Manson. A captivating performer with a pro-family, anti-establishment message. His work focuses on power structures, capitalism, American politics, racial history and postcolonialism.