Fahamu Pecou takes 'Art Papers' on heady, hip-hop trip
The Atlanta artist guest edits an issue that strives "to open a dialog that does more than see hip-hop as novelty, or contemporary art as unapproachable"
- Courtesy Art Papers
- Cover image "Fitted Crown" by Rashaad Newsome
The Atlanta-based Art Papers magazine handed the reins over to guest editor/visual artist Fahamu Pecou for the first issue of 2014 and the resulting mashup of high art and hip-hop has hit newsstands.
Pecou, who's been busy pursuing a Ph.D. at Emory University's Institute for Liberal Arts, has long focused much of his work on bridging the perceived gap between the two worlds, typically presented in stark opposition to one another.
In the Jan./Feb. 2014 issue, which is Art Papers' first to focus exclusively on hip-hop, Pecou strives "to open a dialog that does more than see hip-hop as novelty, or contemporary art as unapproachable," he writes in his "Letter from the Guest Editor." It adds up to a compelling mix of critical theory, art history and some intriguing analysis on hip-hop's evolving representation of black masculinity.
In addition to the content, which you can preview below, Pecou will be engaging readers in some creative ways. He kicks off a series of Twitter conversations he calls Open Mic tonight (Tues., Jan. 14) at 10 p.m., beginning with Shantrelle Patrice Lewis (@apshantology), who contributed to the issue the essay "The Devil is a Liar: The Diasporic Trickster Tales of Jean-Michel Basquiat & Kendrick Lamar."
He also has a series of live cross-disciplinary conversations called Rap Sessions in the works for later this month and February, which will pair a handful of high-profile artists/producers from Atlanta's hip-hop community with practitioners from the visual arts/dance side. Look for an update once those details are announced.
In the meantime, you can dig into the online preview of the issue, which includes:
>> Katie Cercone's cultural critique on black dandyism via visual artist "Rashaad Newsome's Hip-Hop Heraldry & the New Black Swag":
"In many ways Newsome's work heightens the stakes of a culture in which the historic spectacularization of the Black body often serves to hoodwink foul economic inequalities. Hip-hop in many ways still buttresses a White male corporate power structure, as does art, often at the expense of marginalized virtuosos who become the show ponies of the 1%."
>> Joycelyn Wilson's detailed interview with Killer Mike about the lyrical interpretation of his critically acclaimed song "Reagan" in "Render, R.A.P. Music, and 'Reagan'":
? ? ?
Dr. Joyce: Why is hip-hop still referencing Reagan?
Killer Mike: Because there is an active marketing campaign to lionize Ronald Reagan and I'm here to say that it is a lie. That's all. He was filth. He was slime. And there was nothing good about him other than him giving us the King Holiday. People say, "But he ended the Cold War." Yeah, but the cold war didn't end against poor people. The cold war didn't end for policemen being able to brutalize children. I was beaten during the "war on drugs." And my dad was a cop. You hear what I'm saying? When I ain't never been to jail for any drugs. Any felonious things. So if I can be beaten, imagine the brother who might've been guilty, but assumed innocent until proven guilty; imagine the trial and jury he had when the Atlanta Police Department's disbanded Red Dog Unit was on the street. Thank God for Maxine Waters. Thank God for the books that were written that connected the CIA and Oliver North with basically a triangle trade of death where arms had to get to the Middle East, drugs had to come out of Central America and up into California to be disseminated throughout the nation. It destroyed my community.
The full print edition, now available on newsstands, also includes:
>> "Picasso Baby: Hip-Hop and the Appropriation of Space" - A dissection by noted culture critic Mark Anthony Neal of Jay-Z's 2013 bumrush of New York's Pace Gallery, where the making of his short film for the song "Picasso Baby" attracted the likes of famed performance artist Marina Abramovic. Neal "considers hip-hop's capacity to redefine the spaces it inhabits."
>> "Neither Queer Not There: Categories, Assemblages and Transformations" - An exploration of the underground queer hip-hop movement by writer Matt Morris
>> An interview with Charlie Ahearn on the 30th anniversary of his cult-classic film Wild Style, by William Corwin
>> Artist projects from DJ Adrian Loving, Marcia Jones, Rob Pruitt and Bayeté Ross Smith
Follow Fahamu Pecou's Open Mic Twitter conversations about the new issue of Art Papers (@fptheshit), beginning at 10 p.m., Tues., Jan. 14, with contributor Shantrelle Patrice Lewis (@apshantology).