Growing Up Hip-Hop: Plugged In

Posted on 29. Mar, 2009 by kahlilalmustafa in MULTIMEDIA, ON TOUR, PROJECTS

Growing Up Hip-Hop: Plugged In is a Multimedia performance which integrates poetry, hip-hop and story-telling with music and visual images.

Multimedia Performance is the term I use to define my show’s aesthetic approach which integrates poetry, hip-hop and story-telling with music and visual images. As a member of the generation who grew up watching MTV and eating fast food I believe it is imperative to utilize media in the presentation of my show. Just as the television doubles as a babysitter, best-friend, night-light, teacher and confidant in society, media is the second character in my show. The media takes several forms: slideshow, photography, music video, film, clips of stock footage, collage and audio clips. This integrated media approach helped me get selected by the Hip-Hop Theater Festival for the Future Aesthetics Artist Re-grant (FAAR) funded by the Ford Foundation.

Growing Up Hip-Hop: Plugged-In is the live show which takes its name from my collection of poetry, Growing Up Hip-Hop, (MVMT Milk Publishing/August 2008). Each chapter of the book is represented by a chapter in the show. This show provides further branding for the book, so as I promote the book it will act as promotion for the show and vice-versa.

This show was designed for a generation who grew up on fast food and MTV. Although this is a one-person show, Media is the other character. I actually could not conceive of creating a show without its presence and often as I created the visual landscape the television was playing in the background.

Much of the theater aspects of this show is due to my partnership with my wife Julia Grob. During the first two years of our relationship, I helped her debut her one-person show He(R)evolution in New York City and worked lights, sound and slide as she toured it internationally. These experiences helped me incorporate theatric elements into my performance and learn about theater from behind the scenes.

This development of this show would have not been possible without the help of Kamilah Forbes and the Hip-Hop Theater Festival who hosted me during the Turning the Tables Reading series and the amazing individuals who braved that snowy day to hear early drafts of the show. This show was also inspired by my good friend Conscious who calls me to share his vision about breaking new ground as an urban artist and who invited me to his series Bonafide.

This show is a Multimedia Performance as opposed to a One-Person show because it incorporates elements of theater into it, not the other way around. I learned this critical distinction while taking a Solo Performance workshop with Daelle Orlandersmith at HB Studios.