‘WORD!’: South Florida Book Festival this week is all about hip-hop

It will be words about rap and rapping about words during this year’s South Florida Book Festival, which focuses on hip-hop.

Staged at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale this Thursday through Saturday, the theme is “WORD! Celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop Culture.” In addition to featuring authors and scholars, the 11th iteration of this literary event will highlight hip-hop’s influences on the performing and visual arts.

“I’m of the hip-hop generation. I consider myself a fan of the genre,” said Dr. Tameka Bradley Hobbs, library regional manager for the AARLCC. “For us as a cultural center and a repository of history, I think it was important … that we use this opportunity to place hip-hop as a genre, right alongside blues, jazz and all these other really strong traditions that we have in our community, of creating something beautiful, something musical. It gives voice to people at the margins. And so for me, hip-hop is a part of this continuation. And at 50 years old, you know, it’s earned respect.”

Because of the pandemic, the festival returns in person for the first time since 2019.

“What we’re offering is something that is educational, and something that is multigenerational,” she added. “There’ll be a little something there for everyone.”

THE SCHEDULE

Ahead of the event, Hobbs took time to give us all the details for different events.

Thursday, July 13

• 10:30 a.m. — The New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander
• 1 p.m. — Hip-Hop Hooray: Children’s Day, featuring the nonprofit Girls Make Beats and Miami’s Museum of Graffiti

“Kwame Alexander will be here to anchor our Children’s Day,” she said. “After the kids hear from him, they’re going to spend an afternoon getting to practice being a DJ, learning about graffiti art, and learning a little bit about hip-hop and house dancing.”

• 6:30- 8 p.m. — “Transnational artistic dance Works and practices that Evoke Revolutionary Kinship (T.W.E.R.K.),” presented by Olujimi Dance Collective

“As we were conceptualizing this and thought about trying to touch each element of hip-hop, including dance, again in trying to educate people up and connect to our broader history, I immediately thought of a dance performance that would take hip-hop dance and connect it back to the continent of Africa,” Hobbs said. “And then lo and behold, I became aware of Michelle Grant Murray’s organization and the fact that they had put together (this) show … and it was perfect.”

Friday, July 14

• 6 p.m. — “A Conversation with Kevin Powell”

“‘Real World,’ MTV. That was how the world was introduced to Kevin Powell. I don’t know how he feels about it, but it definitely is a part of his brand,” Hobbs said. “It’s amazing what he’s gone on to do since that time.”

• 7–10 p.m. — “Eat. Drink. Read. Kicks & Sips Edition,” a reception featuring DJ Demp, in benefit of the South Florida Book Festival.

Admission for the Kicks & Sips Edition, for 21-and-older attendees only, is $25 per person. Hobbs said the event will also count on the presence of Jam Pony Express, “deejays who got their start right here in Fort Lauderdale — and was probably some of the first hip-hop that I heard growing up in North Florida (Live Oak in Suwannee County).”

“Their mixtapes were legendary. They were sought after. And especially in a small town like mine, where you didn’t have a record store that would carry that type of material, it was really special,” she added. “Their style of emceeing, which is a really, very important part of hip-hop culture, was very distinctive and very unique. And the fact that they’re going to be here in the building is a huge treat.”

Saturday, July 15

• 11 a.m. — Dr. Regina Bradley, author of “Chronicling Stankonia: The Birth of the Hip-Hop South”

“To have a hip-hop scholar, who is the foremost authority on hip-hop in the South, with us I think is a very important feature of our gathering.”

• 1 p.m. — “South Florida Got Something To Say: The History & Future of Hip-Hop,” with Rico Love (recording artist and producer), Byron Trice (Black Music Collective) and Ted Lucas (Slip-N-Slide Records founder)
• 2:30 p.m. — Rob Kenner, founding editor of Vibe magazine and author of “The Marathon Don’t Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey Hussle”

“Vibe magazine. You don’t get much more hip-hop, I think, than Vibe magazine as a journalistic outlet. And to have the handpicked first editor here and have him talking about his fantastic work on the life and legacy of Nipsey Hussle is amazing.”

• 4 p.m. — “The Funky Drummer: Hip-Hop, Sampling and the Legacy of Black Music” with DJ Tillery James and DJ LS1 (of The DJ Collective)

“We picked that title because the ‘Funky Drummer’ by James Brown is the most sampled song in hip-hop history. And that whole session with DJ Tillery James and DJ LS1 is going to be about helping people to understand the way that jazz and blues and funk from previous generations influences hip-hop, even today,” Hobbs said. “Part of the reason that you have DJ Kool Herc on the ones and twos scratching records is because many kids in these urban areas didn’t have access to instruments, so they used what they had, which were their parents’ records, to create this new genre. And so there is a conversation between the Baby Boom generation and Gen Xers like myself and millennials when it comes to this musical tradition.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: South Florida Book Festival

WHEN: July 13-15

WHERE: African-American Research Library and Cultural Center, 2650 Sistrunk Blvd., Fort Lauderdale

COST: All but one of the events (“Eat. Drink. Read. Kicks & Sips Edition”) are free, but you must register at eventbrite.com. Some events are full, but keep checking as space may become available.

INFORMATION: broward.libnet.info/events