Big Boi and Dr. Cornel West Speak on Obama, Art, and Bridging the Generational Gap
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Big Boi and Dr. Cornel West |
Several of the most accomplished artists in the nation recently celebrated 20 years of the National Blacks Arts Festival at the Winter Ball: Art of Change in Atlanta. During the event, Dr. Cornel West presented rapper Big Boi with the Renaissance Awards for his performance of “BIG” with the Atlanta Ballet. Both men spoke on the importance of black art and the appreciation they have for each other.
“Dr. Cornel West is the smartest man in the solar system,” Big Boi says of the renowned professor of Religion and African American Studies at Princeton University. “I felt like I should have been giving him an award. I have admired him for a long time. I’m honored that he presented me with an award.”
West is equally impressed by the strides that Big Boi [along with his partner Andre 3000] has made in music. “The greatest duo in history is OutKast,” West says. “When they write the history of black music, they will come back to that duo and say something about what came out of Atlanta. They are pioneers.”
Although it often seems as if there are divisions between pioneers in the Civil Rights movement and the hip-hop generation, West believes hip-hop artists have carried on the tradition of speaking on black struggles in America.
“Hip-hop is the same tradition that comes out of the blues,” West says. “The blues are an autobiographical of a personal tragedy expressed lyrically, which means you have to sing your way through the storm. There is a connection in what goes on in hip-hop and when B.B. King says, ‘no one loves me but my momma, and she might be jiving too.’ You have to dig deep to find your voice. You can’t just be an echo. You got to be an original. You have to have a vision; you can’t just have a stare. The tradition has sustained a people through slavery and Jim Crow.”
Big Boi believes the hip-hop community will have to take more responsibility of continuing black music traditions with the election of Barack Obama. “The election didn’t change everything, but there is a sense that people are inspired. It’s about each one teach one. When I make music, I try to educate and entertain. When you have the mic and the whole globe is your audience, you have to say something that will touch people.- amir shaw
