PAUL SCHRAG: ONE LOVE >>>

Sincere congratulations to David Fischer and the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts for having the courage to host a community dialogue about hip-hop culture.

From the official release:

• “Hip Hop music is at risk of being marginalized in our society as solely focused on violence and the degradation of women. The Broadway Center will host a community dialogue to challenge those assumptions and discuss ways in which Hip Hop music can be presented in a safe and positive manner.”

This forum, scheduled for April 27 at 3 p.m. at Theater on the Square, arrives on the heels of challenges from the hip-hop community. Those challenges include claims that the BCPA tried to exclude the whole of hip-hop culture when it shut down a scheduled concert celebrating releases from East Tacoma-based label Rottweiler Records, featuring special guest E-40. For that story, visit the Weekly Volcano Web site.

This conversation is rich with risk, and it’s not always positive. It is definitely not safe. But it is as real, significant and meaningful a conversation as any that has ever occurred in Tacoma.

I would encourage the people involved in organizing this dialogue to include voices from all corners of hip-hop culture â€" not just the components that middle-class Americans can immediately identify with. A panel of academics, community leaders and so-called conscious rappers won’t be talking about hip-hop â€" not all of it anyway. They should be welcomed, but so should Kyle Nephew, General Wojack and West Coast Stone.

I also hope this is the first of a series of larger, long-overdue conversations about all the issues that hip-hop has been talking about for decades. Not all of that should fall on the shoulders of the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts. How about it, heads? Can we stand up and make “One Love” more than a catch phrase?

I believe that the Broadway Center is truly dedicated to making its venues accessible to a diverse audience. I also believe that most of the people that are truly involved in hip-hop culture want to make their community a better place. Both groups are now in a unique position to prove it. If we can come together and do right, we’ll have a much better chance of succeeding at both.