‘The Genius of Hip-Hop:’ Appreciating the culture of a musical and historical staple

Dr. Jeffrey Ogbonna Green Ogbar is a history professor and the director of the Center for the Study of Popular Music at the University of Connecticut. He offered a lecture on the genius of hip-hop to close off the end of Black History Month on Thursday, Feb. 29.  Entering the Student Union theater, the audience was greeted with a mix of hip-hop songs throughout the decades courtesy of DJ MoreLifee.  Residential Life employee James Walker took the stage to introduce himself. He then gave the podium to Denardia Amponsah-Amfo, who delivered the land acknowledgment with an added clause about the harm that American colonialism dealt to Indigenous American and African identities.   Walker then gave a recap of what new occurrences happened at UConn this Black History Month, those being that there is a new director of the African American Cultural Center and that this is the first year where there are learning communities for both Black women (BSOUL) and men (ScHOLA²RS). Jeffery Hines took to the podium to center the conversation on celebrating Black history year-round instead of just pigeonholing it to a single month.   UConn ENCORE performed a short but incredibly sweet hip-hop dance to what DJ MoreLifee played....