Bakari Kitwana, author, "The Hip Hop Generation" and founder of Rap Sessions (www.rapsessions.org)

We had a great time last night at UALR with Rap Sessions. There were six of us on the panel, including Bakari Kitwana (who organized the panel), Lisa Fager Bediako, and MC Serch. The overall conversation was about being post race after the election, and what this means to the hip hop generation. Serch and Lisa battled a little over the content played on radio, and then we discussed a wide range of issues. So we had a great 2 hour conversation. Hopefully we'll be able to bring them back for other conversations. Shout out to Patrick Oliver who was our moderator, and to Ryan Davis and Stacy McAdoo who were the local panelists.

PSC sophomore TJ Green and Lisa Fager Bediako, president, Industry Ears (www.industryears.com)

The Prez (with MC Serch of Third Bass, and host of VH1's "The White Rapper Show" http://www.myspace.com/mcserch)

Rap Sessions: A Community Dialog on Hip Hop

Home | 18 February 2009 11:16 pm

Celebrate Black History Month
February 18, 2009 - 7:00 pm
Donaghey Student Center Rooms A & B
Guests Include: Bakari Kitwana, MC Search, Dr. Walter Kimbrough and Lisa Fager Bediako
Moderator: Patrick Oliver

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Hip-hop activist and acclaimed author, Bakari Kitwana, is collaborating with the Community Technology Foundation of California to continue Rap Sessions, the first national tour exploring race and hip-hop. Is America really in a post racism era?

Come listen. Come be heard.

Last week I was honored to be the Unity Dinner speaker at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee. Their president, Tim Hall, and I have a few things in common. One is that he has a blog. But also, he is on Facebook, which is a tougher job for him because he has many more students.

So I appreciate his willingness to go where the students are to get them engaged. You can read his blog through this link:

http://president.apsublogs.com/

The Prez

At our chapel on Thursday, our Board of Trustees was in attendance as we had our meeting that day as well. The message was given by Bishop Stephen Arnold of St. Mark Baptist Church, the largest Black church in Arkansas. Bishop Arnold is a PSC alum.

We were able to present a check from board member Harold Gwatney in the amount of $75,000 which will cover everything for a student for 4 years. This is a part of our Renaissance 100 program, where we match donors with students so that its not just about giving the college a check, but to form meaningful relationships with students. The Gwatney gift was presented by Arthur Montgomery in their absence.

Our Gwatney scholar is Xavier Wilson, a freshman from Little Rock. The more scholarships we get like this, the more we will be able to assist other students who have need.

The Prez

Tonight was the first Bless the Mic on the road, if you will. We went down the street one mille to the historical Little Rock Central High School for tonight's program.

As this series has grown, I have identified people that would draw capacity plus crowds. We can handle about 650 or so standing room on campus. We did a remote location for Cornel West in 2006 at Wesley Chapel UMC next door and handled about 800. Last January, we had about 1,000 when Rev. Al came, but we turned people away as Wesley Chapel was filled (including putting chairs down).

So we thought about going to Central, where the main floor of the auditorium seats about 1,500, and the entire auditorium about 2,000. When I was able to book Kirk Franklin last year, I knew he would have a chance of breaking the Bless the Mic record.

Tonight, about 1,400 people, most of the middle and high school, as well as college students! I think the older crowd wasn't as interested when people heard he was not performing, but he presented a substantive message that entertained and enthralled those young people. In fact, he drew a bigger crowd that rapper David Banner and Fonzworth Bentley- combined! Both of those brothers were great too, but I just wish people could see young people flocking to a Gospel artist.

My 2 freshmen on the program were great. Adrienne, from Indianapolis, was SCARED and tried to back out several times, plus she had a bad cold yesterday. But today she was on point. Before the dinner, Kirk called her grandmother for her.

Brandon is a graduate of Central so he had the home field advantage and he was good as always. So Kirk talked for maybe 45 minutes (it went by FAST), answered a few questions, got a key to the city of Little Rock, and then took pictures and signed autographs for 90 minutes. As we tried to get him out, the wannabe gospel artists had to bend his ear (uggghh!)

He had a late night dinner downtown and I joined him. He has been doing college speaking engagements for about 3 years, and he thinks this is the second HBCU speech (he didn't remember the first but I told him he will never forget Bless the Mic). But he and his assistant did say this was the first time he hung out with a president. (I just got home too- 11:30 p.m.)

Y'all know how I do!

The Prez

Tonight we hosted Kevin Powell for our Black Male Initiative program. Kevin and I go back 10 years, when he came to Old Dominion University to speak for Black History Month. I clearly remember this because my former student Nakia told him during a Q&A that she didn't have time to read, and he went on to tell her she'll have more time to read now than any other time in her life. Her feelings got hurt a little, but she did become an avid reader.

Tonight, Kevin spoke as a part of our Black male initiative. His new book, The Black Male Handbook, has 8 chapters that address issues for men. Interestingly, four of the chapters were authored by people who have been to our campus (Jeff Johnson, William Jelani Cobb, Byron Hurt, and Kevin). So tonight he really offered some good, useful tips for the men in the audience to help them navigate life.

Kevin is a good brother and has always done a great job here. This was his second visit to PSC in the past 2 years.

The Prez

Benjamin, 11 weeks

Lydia, 2 years, 11 months

The Prez

A couple of weeks ago, we held a "Swagger Like Us" contest for the men. Sponsored by our Black Male Initiative, this was a fun and creative activity to have the men dress with their own sense of style, and then be judged by how they pull it off.

Our 3 celebrity judges included a bank Vice President, Miss Philander Smith College, and Miss Arkansas Baptist College. The judges mingled with the contestants and then determined the winner.

So this was something different and fun. We'll keep looking for more opportunities like this.

The Prez