Oprah Winfrey Network SuperSoul Short Film
"It's about more than just a building. It's about the people, the community and literally making something out of nothing. The goal for us is not only to get more students of color invested in those careers but also to reimagine themselves –and reimagine what their world can look like."
In this SuperSoul Short Film presented by American Family Insurance, watch how Mike Ford is fusing his passions of hip-hop music and architecture to inspire young people of color to think critically and dream fearlessly about their neighborhoods and their communities.
by Shana Collins
“Hip-hop lyrics are [filled] with first-hand accounts of living conditions in the projects,” Ford states. “The hip-hop MC used lyrics to create a dialogue, to give commentary and counterpoints to the modernist vision [that birthed towers like 1520 Sedgwick Ave]. The MCs served as a voice for disenfranchised communities and often un-consulted end users of public housing.”
by Elias Leight
Anyone who can tell the difference between Golden Age New York hip-hop and Los Angeles gangster rap knows intuitively that there are connections between music and place. Then the question becomes, if space impacts rap, what happens when you change the space?
by Sheinelle Jones
Educators are often faced with getting students interested in new subjects at school, but that’s exactly what one program is doing through music. TODAY’s Sheinelle Jones takes a look at how one free after-school program is teaching design, urban planning and economic development with hip-hop.
Michael Ford
The Hip Hop Architect explores how hip hop lyrics provide an evaluation of modern urban architecture and some of the areas where it went wrong.
Robin Young
“I oftentimes describe rap music as the post-occupancy evaluation of modernism … saying that once we design and construct a space, we oftentimes go back and see how successful that architecture may have been, and that evaluation allows us to design the next space even better. That hasn't happened with public housing, or it's happening on a very small scale. So I look at rap music as that unsolicited evaluation of architecture.
Alice Kemp-Habib
And how did hip-hop come into play? Hip-hop was born in those towers. 1520 Sedgwick Avenue is acknowledged as the birthplace of hip-hop — it’s a Corbusier-inspired structure, built [on] the advice of Robert Moses. The resulting conditions are what necessitated the birth of hip-hop culture. The lack of private space created a high concentration of people whose cultures cross-pollinated and resulted in the four elements of hip-hop: DJing, MCing, B-boying, and graffiti.