Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes at Flagler

The local St. Augustine news desk has learned that Flagler College Assistant Professor of Sociology Dr. Casey Welch and the college’s Student Activities will host three more events in February as part of its six-part series, “Commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King and Celebrating Black History Month”.

On February 11th, Welch will screen the documentary, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, and have a discussion following. This documentary was produced by former quarterback Byron Hurt, and includes interviews with Mos Def, Chuck D., Jadakiss, Busta Rhymes, and many others. The film explores the masculinity embodied in popular rap and hip hop.

The featured event of the series will be February 18th when filmmaker and Flagler alumnus Jeremy Dean screens and discusses his documentary, Dare Not Walk Alone. The film describes the civil rights struggles in St. Augustine and included interviews of many people from that era. It has been hailed as “a triumph of outrage and empathy,” and described as a “powerful slice of roiling American history” by the Los Angeles Times. The film was also nominated in 2009 for an NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Documentary category.

The final event will be February, 25th, and the performer will be announced once set.

All events are free and open to the public, and will be held at 7 p.m. in Flagler College’s Gamache-Koger Theater in the Ringhaver Student Center, 50 Sevilla St.

All events are co-sponsored by Welch, Student Activities and the Ringhaver Student Center.

If you are in need of ADA accommodations, please contact Debbie Larew, (904) 819-6460.

Previous events in January included a screening of King’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” a discussion on race, and the screening of the documentary, Color of Fear, which records a mixed race group of eight people discussing race and racism.