Activist and filmmaker Byron Hurt made waves last year when his groundbreaking documentary, Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes premiered on PBS.
The film—which took six years to make—explores the relationships between Hip Hop culture, misogyny, masculinity and homophobia.
Since the film’s release, Hurt has travelled the country showing the film and discussing its contents. Hip Hop DX caught up with Hurt at this year’s National Hip Hop Political Convention in Las Vegas to get his thoughts on the industry and how consumers can hold artists and executives accountable for their actions.
“I haven’t really been paying a whole lot of attention; I don’t watch videos a lot anymore. But I think the music is becoming a lot more diverse with artists like Nas, Lupe [Fiasco] and Common,” he said of the industry. “I think my film helped a little bit to create resurgence in Hip Hop on a certain level. It’s hard to tell if the industry has changed.”
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While Hurt takes a lot of artist to task in the film for the sexual images in videos, he believes that there is a place in Hip Hop culture for sex and sexuality.
“We’re all sexual beings, but like anything else, there has to be some balance and discernment about when and where you show certain things. For adults there is a place for music that is sexual and most adults engage in sex, whether heterosexual or homosexual. It’s a matter of who the images are being played for and if anybody is being exploited in front of a mass audience.”
When it comes to engaging the youth about the images that they see, Hurt advocates educating the youth and confronting sexist images. He also calls on more boys and men to take a stand.
One thing many see lacking is accountability for the images and lyrics in much of commercial Hip Hop’s music. Hurt has a simple solution for taking action.
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“Stop buying their music,” he says.
“Write letters, march on the radio station, march on the CEO of these huge corporate media companies that continue to perpetuate this music. Express your anger and unhappiness over it. Don’t accept it. Realize we have power and we don’t have to accept what’s going on.”
For more information on Byron Hurt, click here.
