Mic check, 1-2, 1-2...This issue is dedicated to investigating hip-hop and contemporary art--not as isolated encounters, but rather where they intersect, how they complement and enhance each other, and, ultimately, how in conversation they act to transgress the status quo. — Fahamu Pecou, excerpt, Letter from the Guest Editor TABLE OF CONTENTS: Artist Project: DJ Adrain Loving Art x Hip-Hop Mixtape Letter from the Guest Editor The Devil Is a Liar: The Diasporic Trickster Tales of Jean-Michel Basquiat & Kendrick Lamar Shantrelle P. Lewis Shantrelle P. Lewis introduces us to the Yoruba deity Eshu (Exu), the keeper of the crossword, the way-maker, the quintessential trickster and his hip-hop manifestations in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kendrick Lamar. Ase. Eye Candy Is Dandy: Rashaad Newsome’s Hip-Hop Heraldry & the New Black Swag Katie Cercone Katie Cercone fashions the linkage between Rashaad Newsome’s Heraldry series and a new-millennial Black dandysim as embodied by A$AP Mob. Render, R.A.P. Music, and “Reagan”: Killer Mike & the Hip-Hop Imagination Joycelyn Wilson Joycelyn Wilson sits down with Killer MIke for an exclusive and revealing interview on artist responsibility, Ronald Reagan’s ghost, and how the hip-hop imagination presents an alternative context for looking at the world. Artist Project: Marcia Jones Displaced Oshum Theory Neither Queer nor There: Categories, Assemblages, and Transformations Matt Morris Essayist Matt Morris contends that the burgeoning queer hip-hop movement provides a different context for articulating “queer.” It’s not just theory anymore! Artist Project: Robert Pruitt Looking for the Perfect Beat Beyond the Abyss: Neo-Hip-HOp Cultural Expression A.M. Weaver A.M. Weaver mines the new aesthetic tradition in film and video emerging from hip-hop’s visual, cultural, and social sensibilities. Interview with Charlie Ahearn William Corwin On the 30th anniversary of the release of Wild Style, William Corwin sits down with legendary filmmaker Charlie Ahearn to discuss the art-historical merits of a nascent cultural movement called “hip-hop.” Artist Project: Bayete Ross Smith Got the Power Picasso Baby: Hip-Hop and the Appropriation of Space Mark Anthony Neal Mark Anthony Neal considers the power of hip-hop. Whether it’s on the block, in a gallery, or at your mom’s book club--once hip-hop enters, things will never be the same again. On the Production Value: Mohamed Bourouissa’s All-In Stephanie Bailey Stephanie Bailey examines the global aesthetics of commerce and value in hip-hop culture through the work of French artist Mohamed Bourouissa. Reviews: Art Beat + Lyrics, Andrew Alexander Wangechi Mutu, Laura McLean-Ferris Beat Nation, Andrew Forster Loretta Fahrenholz, Kari Rittenbach Banksy, David Everitt HOwe Odd Future, Henry Darger & Art Brut, Christopher Lirette
