The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday launched a new annual season focus highlighting hip-hop’s intersections with other genres, forms, and disciplines.
Each year, the “Hip Hop &…” series will explore the evolutionary and multitude of ways that the music genre affects culture. The festival kicks off March 27 with a special jazz and hip-hop edition of the Kennedy Center’s Hip Hop Listening Sessions.
The sessions start on March 29 with Igmar Thomas’s Revive Big Band with following performances from musician Robert Glasper, composer Derrick Hodge, the Black Radio Orchestra and drummer DJ Karriem Riggins scheduled for successive dates. On April 19, musicians Rakim, DJ Jazzy Jeff and bandleader Ravi Coltrane will perform.
“We are so excited to launch our Hip Hop &… Festival celebrating the deeply interconnected and symbiotic relationship between hip-hop and jazz,” said Simone Eccleston, director of Hip Hop Culture & Contemporary Music. “As two of America’s greatest art forms and vital genre within the Black Music Continuum, they have transformed global culture.”
Tickets for the festival are available via the Kennedy Center website or by calling 202-467-4600.
