Cold calling a former editor-in-chief of The Source, begging hip-hop artist Talib Kweli to set aside rehearsal time and dealing with Jay-Z's cancellation are just some of the challenges Michael Rudoy '07 has faced in organizing the first ever hip-hop symposium at Princeton.
The symposium, which takes place Friday at 2 p.m. in McCosh 50, will focus on the role of hip-hop in America after Sept. 11, 2001, and is set to feature a group of high-profile members of the hip-hop community, a Congresswoman from California and members of the media.
Rudoy, a politics major who worked at a record label this summer, said his inspiration for the symposium came after hearing "through the grapevine" that Jay-Z visited West's REL 316: "Public Intellectuals and Religious Traditions: Erasmus, Hume, Arnold, and Said" seminar last spring.
"That got me thinking that it was really interesting that a hip-hop artist could engage in an intellectual conversation at a place like Princeton," Rudoy said.
Rudoy describes hip-hop as music that casts a wide net and "represents our generation's social angst." Rudoy was raised in Chicago and "grew up around hip-hop." He said his friends, who enjoyed hip-hop and basketball, influenced him.
Hoping to translate his hip-hop interest into a campus event, Rudoy began his search for prominent members of the black community. Last spring, Rudoy, who is white and had never met West before, went to West's office and asked him what he thought of the idea of "putting together a symposium — a panel of scholars, intellectuals, politicians and hip-hop artists."
West not only liked the idea, but he had also just returned from participating in a similar event in Paris.
"I think Professor West said it best: 'Why should I be flown to Paris to speak on hip-hop?' " Rudoy said.
Obtaining such a diverse and renowned group of speakers for a student-directed panel, however, took further effort.
Over the summer, Rudoy sent out a slew of emails and had a difficult time getting more panelists until he got Bakari Kitwana's phone number from Fields Center Director Makeba Clay.
Kitwana, who is currently a freelance journalist, was the editor-in-chief of The Source, a monthly magazine about music, politics and hip-hop culture. Like West, he loved the idea. "I want to see it happen too. I will do whatever you need [me to do] to land [whomever] you want to come," he told Rudoy.
Kitwana put Rudoy in touch with the Center for American Progress, a progressive political research organization that helped him orchestrate the attendance of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)
Waters has been an outspoken voice on issues relating to hip hop and minority media representation in the past.
Rudoy also succeeded in booking BET personality and social commentator Jeff Johnson. When Rudoy called his cell phone number unannounced Johnson quickly said, "count me in."
Everything was in place except the "hip-hop" part of the hip-hop symposium.
Rudoy said he got several hip-hop artists' phone numbers through Kitwana and a "somewhat well-connected" friend in Chicago.
Many people wanted to come, including Fat Joe and "?uestlove" of The Roots, Rudoy said. Fat Joe was scheduled to come but had to cancel because of rehearsals for VH1's Hip-Hop Honors 2006. Talib Kweli, a hip-hop artist who Rudoy said has a "close relationship" with West and "understood that this was an important event," agreed to come.
Kweli, who is also performing at Hip-Hop Honors, has cleared time in a busy rehearsal schedule to attend the symposium. "Basically, I begged Talib," Rudoy said. "I told him I'd get him a car and get him right back to rehearsal."
Among the distinguished list of speakers, Rudoy said he also wanted to include a student, Maria McMath GS. McMath helped organize the Paris symposium West had attended.
"Because this is a student-initiated event, we thought it was important to have a student on the panel," he said. "And who would be a better person to have than the student who organized the Paris symposium that Cornell West went to?"
McMath, whose roundtable discussion featured West and TV host Tavis Smiley last year, is writing her Ph.D. on hip-hop in Paris.
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