Beyond Beats and Rhyme

picture by Colleen Norman/ITVS

A Hip-Hop Head Weighs In On Manhood In Hip-Hop Culture BY BYRON HURT

BEYOND BEATS AND RHYMES: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs in On Manhood in Hip-Hop Culture, is a riveting documentary that examines representations of gender roles in hip-hop and rap music through the lens of filmmaker Byron Hurt, a former college quarterback turned activist. Conceived as a “loving critique” from a self-proclaimed “Hip-Hop Head,” Hurt tackles issues of masculinity, sexism, violence and homophobia in today’s hip-hop culture.

BEYOND BEATS AND RHYMES features revealing interviews with famous rappers including Mos Def, Fat Joe, Chuck D, Jadakiss and Busta Rhymes and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons; along with commentary from Michael Eric Dyson, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Kevin Powell and Sarah Jones and interviews with young women at Spelman College, a historically black school and one of the nation’s leading liberal arts institutions. BEYOND BEATS AND RHYMES also reveals the complex intersection of culture, commerce and gender through on-the-street interviews with aspiring rappers and fans at hip-hop events throughout the country. The film provides thoughtful dialogue from intelligent, divergent voices of rap artists, industry executives, rap fans and social critics from inside and outside the hip-hop generation.

Director Bryon Hurt comments:

"As I saw how formulaic rap music videos had become—with their limited and narrow representations of manhood—I began to wonder, how do black men feel about the representations of manhood in hip-hop culture? How do black women and men feel about the pervasive images of scantily clad and sexually objectified women in rap music and videos? How do black males truly feel about the way women and violence are talked about in rap music? What do today’s rap lyrics tell us about the collective consciousness of black men and women from the hip-hop generation? What does homoeroticism in hip-hop media look like? I decided to pick up the camera to make a film about the gender politics of the music and the culture that I grew up with and loved: Hip-Hop."