ATLANTA — Atlanta is considered a hip-hop mecca by many, with several artists emerging from the southern city. One local university is launching a new program to explore the city's musical roots and its contributions to the culture.
Georgia State University announced it will now offer a Hip-Hop Studies Consortium to bridge the gap between hip-hop artists and scholars by sharing knowledge and learning from one another. GSU's Center for Studies on Africa and Its Diaspora (CSAD) and the Africana Studies Department are working to make the University the Southern leader in the study of hip-hop culture with the one-of-a-kind program.
Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey, a professor in the Africana Studies Department and an avid hip-hop scholar, is heading up the new consortium as director. She said she has wanted to do this for a decade.
“This is something I’ve been thinking about for about 10 years. The consortium is focused on the academic understanding of hip-hop and its culture,” Bonnette-Bailey said.
She also said GSU's location, which sits in the heart of downtown Atlanta, was a big influence on the creation of the consortium.
“With us being in Atlanta, which has been deemed a hip-hop mecca, it’s essential that we have this consortium,” she said.
Bonnette-Bailey has studied the art of hip-hop for years and also garnered a prestigious Du Bois Fellowship from the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at Harvard University for her research.
“Laketya has been leading efforts in academic engagement in hip-hop for years at Georgia State,” said Jonthan Gayles, chair of the Africana Studies Department. “She’s published books on the subject and has curated a national hip-hop conference. This Hip-Hop Studies Consortium was her idea.”
One aspect of the consortium is a hip-hop fellowship program, which invites artists, scholars and those involved in hip-hop studies to visit Georgia State for at least a week. While visiting the Atlanta Campus, the fellow will give a public lecture, visit classrooms and meet with Georgia State faculty involved in hip-hop studies.
“We hope to set Georgia State up as a place where hip-hop studies occur and a place where we are embracing the culture beyond just listening to the music,” Bonnette-Bailey said
The program hopes to have two people visit the University each year, one of whom is a native Atlantan artist or activist. Bonnette-Bailey also aims to host a hip-hop studies conference every two years at Georgia State and maintain a digital political rap database.