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From the web-site “Thug Life Army” some notes on artists and presenters at this event:
Confirmed Guests and Speakers for the 2008 National Hip Hop Political Convention include: Byron Hurt, Asheru, Davey D, Rev. Lenox Yearwood, Boots Riley, Rosa Clemente, Camp Lo, Haiku D’Tat, Jeff Chang, Gamblers Crew, Knucklehead Zoo, Popmaster Fabel, Rebel Diaz, The Welfare Poets, Supernatural and more to be announced. (Photos below: Rosa Clemente top, and The Welfare Poets at bottom of post)
National Hip Hop Political Convention
(Las Vegas, Nevada) The 2008 Third Bi-Annual National Hip Hop Political Convention (NHHPC) will be held August 1-3, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The NHHPC is a bi-annual gathering of social justice activists, organizers, students, journalist, scholars, artists and concerned citizens who come together to define the political agenda of the Hip Hop community.The NHHPC has a network of local organizing committees around the United States that are working on the National Hip Hop Political Convention 2008. “This political convention is the biggest gathering of young activists, mostly urban youth of color, who are often ignored and overlooked when policy is developed. What do these young people care about? What is their position on the education system, the criminal justice system, or even on access to adequate healthcare? If policy makers feel these young people do not care about these issues then they should pay more attention to what happens at the 2008 National Hip Hop Political Convention.”, says Troy Nkrumah the NHHPC 08 Chairperson.
The convention this August will be the third convention hosted by the NHHPC in the last four years. The NHHPC is a 501 C 3 organization promoting political education. Hip Hop Culture is used as a tool to encourage community action and civic engagement. The first National Hip Hop Political Convention took place in 2004 in Newark, New Jersey, and resulted in the development of the National Hip Hop Political Agenda. In 2006 the second National Hip Hop Political Convention was held in Chicago. In 2008, the third National Hip Hop Political Convention will continue to evolve the Hip Hop Political Agenda and build unity amongst the political hip hop community both on issues and through a growing and strengthening network. To date, the NHHPC has more than twenty chapters nationwide. Filed under: More Events Calendars Tagged: | Byron Hurt, convention, Haiku D'Tat, hip-hop, Rosa Clemente, The Welfare Poets
Remember that Hip Hop was also called a “movement” — and some continue to insist that it still is. It is true that Hip Hop contained a great deal of progressive political content during the heyday of the late Eighties-early Nineties, before the major labels bought out the independents. Today, commercial Hip Hop is saturated with anti-social lyrics and themes; its content is overwhelmingly non-progressive, although the musical form remains much the same as during the genre’s progressive era. Content is everything.
Glen Ford at Dissident Voice http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/07/%e2%80%9cprogressives-for-obama%e2%80%9d-fool-themselves/