To a Beat
Hip hop began underground
Didn’t need fussy fancy melody
Just needed DJ and MC to create sound
They created complexity from brevity
Dull main stream gave it no play
It’s just a fad. Disco the future
No way will rap stay
No way will it become culture
But beneath the surface
Change was happening
Community had a new purpose
Old mainstream started crumbling
Today it’s the same damn thing for plays
Be our community. Help us to amaze
Hip Hop Found Its Audience
At the beginning hip hop was dismissed. It was considered a fad.
The powers that be decided that hip hop music was not worthy of attention.
Radio stations wouldn’t play hip hop.
BUT – no business survives by giving its customers what they don’t want. And the people wanted hip hop.
Next – Hip Hop Theater?
Today theater is in the same situation. The audience is there for hip hop theater. Hamilton proved it. But none of the mainstream theaters believe it. They say it was just luck. A fluke. Unrepeatable.
There needs to be a place where hip hop artists can go and develop new work. Our mission is to be that place.
To do that we need the help of the audience. You. We need you.
We’ve opened submissions to our new RAP (Resident Artist Program) residency, with the aim of supporting hip hop artist who want to write plays and musicals that voice our community’s concerns and put them up on the stage.
Please join us. Help show the world is ready for hip hop theater. Follow us on social media. Donate. Submit your scripts. Buy tickets.
Let 2019 be 1973. Let Rhymes Over Beats be 1520 Sedgwick Avenue.