PhDs, Poetry, and Powerful Possibility

Recap of the Black AF Conference + upcoming interdisciplinary Hip Hop events

Feb 25, 2026

It’s Saturday morning at an academic conference on a university campus. It’s cold. It snowed the night (and several days) before, so snow and slush covers much of the landscape, while wide sidewalks have been recently plowed to allow students to freely walk the commons.

In a small classroom, sits Charlie. He’s a young college student, handsome, brown-skinned, still a bit baby-faced, with tight locs and a medium build, attending one of the first sessions after the opening plenary.

The session leader isn’t at a podium, he’s more so situated among the 15 or so attendees. His minimalist slideshow displays short, bold lettered statements on the screen, and he’s casually explaining his overall thesis in a light, conversational manner, inviting banter and spirited debate.

Some attendees smile, or nod in agreement, or widen their eyes slightly in response to some informative gem. Some — particularly the younger ones — have perhaps never been to a conference like this — so they are a bit more… hesitant.

Like Charlie.

The instructor asks some of the students their thoughts on one of his slides. One young woman gives a soft-spoken, yet solid analysis. Then the instructor asks Charlie, “What do you think?”

Charlie hesitates. “I… don’t know,” he answers.

The instructor waits a beat.

Charlie continues, still softly, slowly, but thoughtfully. “I’m just… processing it all.”

At that moment, the presentation became something much deeper.

“That’s what you should lead with,” the instructor tells Charlie. “Never start with ‘I don’t know.’” He explains to the young man how he’ll enter many rooms where an assumption that he ‘doesn’t know’ will already precede him. He lets Charlie know that “I don’t know” isn’t even a correct answer — that processing is a part of knowing — and is a perfectly good response in and of itself.

It was firm, yet gentle guidance. From a stranger to another, yes, but coming across like a caring uncle or a pastor. “I’m telling you this out of love,” he assures Charlie.

Charlie believes him.

We all do.

“What’s your name?” the instructor asks. (That’s when we found out it was Charlie.)

Then he did something I’ve never seen a conference session leader do.

“Matter of fact… Come over here Charlie I want you to choose who we should ask next.”

Charlie got up, dapped up the instructor, sat down next to him, turned around to face the rest of us, scanned the room, and picked out someone who then gave their own thoughts on the topic.

And so it continued. Charlie had graduated to co-presenter, and for the rest of the session, he helped direct the conversations, all while laughing along with the group and throwing in his own two cents from time to time.

It was a brilliant pivot, an adaptation which made for an elevated experience for all involved, even more admirable because of its impromptu nature.

Though perhaps the ability to think on his feet like that isn’t all that surprising when you know that this particular instructor happens to know how to freestyle rap his a** off!

The instructor was professor (and minister) Timothy Jones, representing the HipHopEd organization for a session titled, “Hip Hop’s Legacy Amidst A Nation In Chaos,” and it exemplified precisely the type of engagement that Hip Hop-minded educators and leaders embody — behaviors that can be found and adapted from all throughout Hip Hop culture.

If you know how to look.

Each one, teach one. Meeting folks where they’re at. Letting folks come as they are. Co-learning. Peer to peer engagement. Mentorship. Social emotional intelligence. Remixing on the fly. The power of the cypher.

Peace, love, unity, and safely having fun.

In a classroom. At an academic conference.

Who woulda thunk it?

Admittedly, this was no standard academic conference (although it kinda is, if you look at the conferences that I tend to go to). Now, don’t get it twisted. There was no shortage of PhDs in the house. The sessions were filled with theory, discussions on praxis and practicums, research results, interdisciplinary studies — all the scholarly things one would expect.

But when a conference kicks off with a gospel choir, the keynote is a multiple Grammy winner who worked with Kanye West (and is the person who renamed John Stevens → John Legend), when there’s a DJ rocking all day — who himself has a doctorate(!) — and when the afterparty is a world class spoken word poetry slam, you know you’re in for something special.

This was the 3rd annual Black AF (Artistic Freedom) Conference held at UMass Amherst (in conjunction with The Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research, the College of Education, the W.E.B. Du Bois Center, and UMass Amherst Libraries), and led by conference founder, poet/scholar Imani “Lyrical Faith” Wallace, co-organizer Arnold Lane, and a small but impressively mighty set of volunteer staff.

The theme of this year’s event was “TV OFF: Hip Hop as the Revolution for Critical Conversations and Resistance to Conform” and aimed to address the following:

What does it mean to heal through art? How do the conversations that scholars, creatives, and activists have through literacy, language and unapologetic expression shape the culture that we live in? If we do not continue to incite the revolution now, then when?

Right up the HHCSA! alley I suppose. 😁

In fact, I was honored to have been selected to present a lecture myself, which I titled, “Revolution Deferred? Hip Hop, Systems Change, and the Urgency of Now.” In it, I spent a great deal of time doing what I always do throughout the different arenas of my work — amplifying the brilliant efforts of folks who are utilizing the unique power of Hip Hop music and culture in ways that can help improve lives, livelihoods, and communities, particularly those from whence Hip Hop came, in radical and — depending on your definition — potentially revolutionary ways.

But believe me, I would have been there anyway. To learn. To hear from the Hip Hop innovators and members of the communities they are trying to uplift. To listen to the difficult discussions about resistance, revolution, liberation, gatekeeping, and what all of what we’re facing today as a society means for them.

The sessions were ready. With titles like: “Self Destruction Don’t Pay the %*!& Rent’: How the commercialization of Gangsta Rap Destroyed Consciousness in Hip-Hop,” “Resisting Statistics: Our Fight Against the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” “Beyond the Book: Using Hip Hop, Human Rights, and Diverse Children’s Literature to Cultivate Critical Consciousness in Elementary Classrooms” and more.

Those breakouts, the performances by the UMass Amherst Gospel Choir and UMass Slamherst Poetry Team, DJing by Dr. Justis Lopez aka DJ Faro, and an uplifting and truly compelling keynote by Grammy Award winner J. Ivy made one thing unmistakably clear: Black artistic freedom — especially its power to resist and uplift — is under attack for a reason. Its power is recognized and feared, perhaps more than ever. This conference stood as a powerful reminder that protecting and sustaining that freedom is not optional — it is essential.

J. Ivy in conversation with Imani “Lyrical Faith” Wallace

As I often point out, unfortunately, there were no media covering this conference, just as there will likely be none covering the multitude of similar Hip Hop and/or Black cultural gatherings that I call attention to. They tend to only pay attention to the flashy events where the focus is entertainment, or the allure of capitalistic endeavors across music, podcasting, or content creation, or other shiny distractions that herd folks into places and spaces only designed to feed the hustle mentality (and, you know, make a killing on registration fees). I suppose shining light on the events which are using music and art — and Hip Hop and spoken word specifically — to raise up against some of those very same oppressively capitalistic forces is a bit much to ask for. I just wanted to give you a taste of the exceptionalism that can be found at a Hip Hop-oriented academic conference so that when the next one rolls around, you’ll consider attending. (And for a list of upcoming such events, see below!)

For those who attended, however, it was clear that in this ongoing fight for Black artistic (and overall) freedom, Hip Hop and its fiery cousin spoken word poetry, are still out here doing some inspiring heavy lifting, and despite constant co-option and narratives to the contrary, there are people and places continuing in the long tradition of fighting against the forces of white supremacy by being unapologetically and brilliantly Black AF!

➡️ Get your signed copy today!

📅 HIP HOP INTERDISCIPLINARY EVENT CALENDAR

I’ll be keynoting or presenting at a BUNCH of these (look for the *)! If you want to talk about booking me for your event, just reply to this newsletter.

Also, if you have an event that should go here, please reply and let me know.

* March 18-21: Groningen, The Netherlands

European Hip Hop Studies Conference
“Things Done Changed”: Hip Hop Futures for a World on Fire

* April 9-13, 2026: Trinity College, CT

20th Trinity International Hip Hop Festival

April 9, 2026: Skyline College, San Bruno, CA

Rock The School Bells [Workshop call for proposals now open]

April 9, 2026: Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

Hip Hop Youth Research and Activism Conference
[Call for proposals through Feb. 27]

Jun 5-6, 2026: Teachers College, NYC

HipHopEd Conference [Call for proposals open through Mar. 9]

August 29, 2026: Columbus, Ohio

2X2 Hip-Hop Festival 06

November 13-15, 2026: Howard University

4th Annual Hip Hop Studies Conference (Recap of 2025 conference)

WATCH THIS PREVIEW OF UPCOMING HIP HOP CONFERENCES:

Back soon with more Hip Hop news that isn’t about dumb sh*t, more events, more Mannyfestos, more Field Notes, and just… More!

Until next time, peace and love to you and yours.

-Manny

Share Hip Hop Can Save America!

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?