SATURDAY, JUNE 17 - SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023
7:00 PM - 2:00 AM EST
CENTRAL LIBRARY
From architecting beats for icons to shutting down the biggest festival stages across the world, TGUT casts a long shadow over today's music culture. The Virginia-born, New York-based DJ/Producer and creative director has racked up tens of millions of streams, performed to hundreds of thousands of music fans, and received acclaim from The FADER, Lyrical Lemonade, Complex, and more - while creating from the purest place possible. When asked about his mission, TGUT expresses his desire to connect musical cultures from around the world.
Alongside his standout production credits (Meg Thee Stallion, A$AP Ferg, Diddy, Fivio Foreign, etc.) TGUT has produced original bodies of work in more unique markets like Tanzania, Jamaica, Australia and more, with COMPLEX calling his SKYLINE: Kingston project "The New Sound of Jamaica". He has opened tours for the likes of Young Thug and 21 Savage, while also DJing for headlining artists such as A$AP Ferg and The Kid Laroi.
Souleo has been hailed as an “Icon of Harlem” (Ruth Millington, art historian and author of Muse) and “Harlem’s Heart & Soul” (NY Daily News). An acclaimed creative, curator, impresario, consultant, and muse, he seamlessly merges the worlds of art, fashion, literature, media, and music to document and amplify the stories of the emerging and underrepresented via exhibitions, events, and writing. Souleo has collaborated with noteworthy institutions and brands, including New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Brooklyn Public Library/Center for Brooklyn History, Museum of Arts and Design, Columbia University, Barnard College, Newark Museum of Art, Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, Nordstrom, and AARP. Souleo's work has been widely covered in outlets including the Associated Press, NY Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine/The Cut, ESSENCE, EBONY, and NBC. For more information: Souleouniverse.com or IG: @souleouniverse
Donwill is an award winning Brooklyn based multi-disciplined creative. He host/producer of the Webby Award winning podcast The Almanac of Rap and has served as music supervisor on Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas (HBO). He has done music production for several award winning shows including Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), Slow Burn Podcast (Slate) and continues to release underground classics with his group Tanya Morgan (Brooklynati).
Billboard Women In Music, 2020 Executive of the Year, Brianna Agyemang has made it her mission during her tenure in music to move with both purpose and kindness. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Brianna first started in the music industry through a string of internships including Bad Boy Records, Columbia Records, as well as local nightclubs and radio stations during her college years at Carnegie Mellon University. Following graduation, she interned at Violator Management under the legendary Chris Lighty, later simultaneously interning at Roc Nation in Digital Marketing. From there, she went to Roc Nation’s International Marketing Department. Her love of music coupled with the desire to make it global became her impetus, as Brianna was the liaison between the United States and the rest of the world for artists including J. Cole, Vic Mensa, Mustard, and Justine Skye among others.
By 2015, Brianna was brought on to work with Meek Mill as his day-to-day manager at Roc Nation at the height of his groundbreaking project Dreams Worth More Than Money. She then formed the in-demand community collective The Brownies with fellow industry maven Ayanna P. Wilks, coordinating events and building artist and peer communities. By 2017, Brianna joined Atlantic Records as their Senior Director of Marketing, where her first project was the late Nipsey Hussle’s Grammy Award nominated breakthrough album Victory Lap. It was followed by Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer, as the Grammy nominations racked up for Brianna’s roster with the aforementioned Nipsey and Monáe, along with Meek Mill and Nigerian phenomenon Burna Boy. She continued her international momentum with UK artists like Stormzy and Mahalia.
In the Spring of 2020, Brianna joined Apple Music’s multi-faceted artist services platform Platoon, as her expertise in both domestic and international markets allow her the insight to work with artists spanning all corners of the globe. She and Wilks have taken The Brownies virtual, hosting and curating a number of events during the pandemic. A co-founder of #TheShowMustBePaused initiative, Brianna’s goal through her music career and activism is to remain consistent: “I just want to make sure that whatever I do, I stay true to myself.”
Harlem representative The X- Factor DJ Boogie Blind is one of the most trusted and well respected DJ's in the industry today. Boogie Blind is a master of the art in party rockin and an extremely talented turntablist. His mastery of various genres of music means that Boogie Blind can rock anywhere on the planet.
His diverse catalog includes House, Hip-Hop , Funk, Breaks, Reggae, Reggaeton, R&B just to name a few. Boogie Blind has traveled the world numerous times bringing crowds with his infectious style and sound. He has manned the wheels of steel for artist such as Busta Rhymes Fat Joe, Jim Jones, Jean Grae, Elle Varner and currently rocks for D.I.T.C, and Pharoahe Monch. Boogie Blind is a member of the legendary X-ecutioners as well as the world-famous Heavy Hitters DJ crew and a world champion DJ with a passport that could rival any globetrotting DJ.
Boogie Blind has done many tours such as Anger Management, Rock the Bells, Coachella, MTV Icons, Sony Playstation, ESPN Espy Awards, NBA All Star weekend, Echo Getting Up festival, Montruex Jazz festival, Kool Cigarette tour, Heineken Synergy tour throughout the Caribbean, Dub Car show, Ibiza Reggae Beach, Spain Hip-Hop Kemp, Czech Republic Royal Arena Tour, Switzerland Rock the Bells, Soulitude weekend 2022 in Geneva Switzerland just to name a few. With each and every tour Boogie Blind lends his skills and his reputation grows.
Not only is Boogie Blind a party rocker and tour DJ he is the Vestax 2001 world champion, DMC 2001 US finalist, DMC Atlanta 2001 champion and 2001 New York champion, 2002 Linkin Park battle champion.
Boogie Blind also hosts his monthly party in Brooklyn NY titled Easily which has been running over one year successfully. Bringing in special guest DJ's such as Canada's own Skratch Bastid, two-time grammy nominated DJ Terry Hunter, DJ Aktive as well as numerous others. It is clear that he is not one-dimensional or local. You can google him and you'll see results. Why do so many veterans and new generation artists retain the services of Boogie Blind? The answer is quite
simple.They trust him and he delivers no matter what the situation. With that being said The X- Factor Boogie Blind is worth every dollar, yin, euro, pound, kroner, and any other currency u can think of..
Ana "Rokafella" Garcia is a NYC native who has represented women in Hip-hop dance professionally over the past two decades. She co founded Full Circle Prod Inc- NYC's only non profit Break Dance Theater company with her husband legendary dancer Kwikstep generating theater pieces, original poetry and NYC based dance related events. She directed a documentary highlighting the Bgirl lifestyle entitled "All The Ladies Say" with support from the Ford foundation. Rokafella performs original music based on her experiences growing up as an Afro Puerto Rican in NYC. She is hired internationally to judge Break dance competitions based on her knowledge of the classic Hip-hop dance style and offers unique workshops aimed at evolving and preserving its cultural aspects. She has worked within the NYC public school system exposing young students to the possibility of a career in dance. She is presently working with Works in Process at the Guggenheim Museum and is an adjunct professor at The New School. In May of 2017 she launched Shiroka-- a T shirt fashion line with Shiro, a Japanese Grafitti artist. She has been featured in pivotal Rap music videos, tours, film and commercials as well as choreographed for diverse festivals/ concerts such as Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Momma's Hip-hop Kitchen and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Rokafella is a multi faceted Hip-hop artist who references street and Latino culture as her foundation.
Kidd Kenn is finally growing up. The Chicago rapper, named in homage to his idol Nicki Minaj (you know, like Barbie’s boyfriend), broke out when he was just a high school freshman with gleefully gay twists on street hits from his hometown, most virally FBG Duck’s “Slide.” He built on the hype with a string of projects—Childish, Child’s Play, and Problem Child—that lean into the image of a precocious rascal flinging spitballs and texting your boyfriend from the back of the bus. But now, after years of nurturing his rep as a problem child, Kenn realized something about himself. “I’m old as fuck,” the 20-year-old says with a laugh. Kenn’s new EP on 4th and Broadway/Def Jam Recordings, Grown, fashions a new mold. He’s rapping with the wisdom and self-understanding of an adult.
Kenneth Montgomery is a lifelong resident of Brooklyn and originally honed his trial and litigation skills first as a young prosecutor in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, litigating cases in the busy Red Zone and the newly formed Gang unit from 1997-2001. After leaving the prosecutor’s office in 2001 Kenneth started his own law firm specializing in Criminal and Civil Rights litigation. His practice includes Federal Capital defense and both state and federal criminal defense. and As a talented and well-respected criminal defense attorney in both federal and state court, he has defended clients charged with federal capital murder, terrorism, murder, drug conspiracy, RICO and other serious crimes. He has tried over 100 criminal trials in his career and over the last 9 years have represented over 25 Federal capital murder defendants as both lead and learned counsel.
Kenneth is in private practice but is a member of both capital and Federal CJA panels in the Eastern and Southern districts of New York. He serves as learned capital counsel across the country in several federal death eligible matters in the District of Pennsylvania, Vermont and Colorado. He is also a committee member of the Death Penalty Working Group in Washington D.C. For the last 15 years Kenneth has lectured students at Fordham Law on trial advocacy and students in the African Studies department at Brooklyn college. In addition to the profession He is a founding member of a community and political based non profit organization called the Brooklyn Combine where he and his partners create education and community solutions in underserved communities of color in Brooklyn. Kenneth is still a resident of Brooklyn where he lives with his wife Candace Montgomery, his mother Barbara Montgomery, and his 3 children Stone, Jade and Jett.
Ian Olasov is the author of Ask a Philosopher: Answers to Your Most Important -- and Most Unexpected -- Questions (St. Martin's Press, 2020). In partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library, he has organized the Brooklyn Public Philosophers event series since 2013, which has held Ask a Philosopher booths, philosophy talks, screenings, and more in Brooklyn and beyond. He is an adjunct lecturer in the Philosophy Department at Brooklyn College, and lives in Flatbush with his two dogs and one partner.
Jorge "Popmaster Fabel" Pabon was born and raised in NYC’s Spanish Harlem where at an early age he developed his dance and choreography career at Hip Hop jams and clubs throughout the city. His pioneering individuality has been showcased internationally since 1982. Fabel also gained world renown as a featured dancer in the Hip Hop cult classic movie, "Beat Street."
Senior member of the Rock Steady Crew and member of the Electric Boogaloos, Fabel is also co-founder of GhettOriginal Productions Inc. With GhettOriginal, Fabel co-authored, co directed, and co-choreographed the first two Hip Hop musicals ever, "So! What Happens Now?" and "Jam on the Groove" (first official Off-Broadway Hip Hop musical). He has also choreographed various Hip Hop musicals and theater productions throughout the years.
Fabel is the co-founder of Tools Of War© which is an organization that brought Hip Hop culture back to the parks of New York City for 15 years (2003-2018) . TOW represents the grass roots essence of Hip Hop culture.
As an adjunct professor, he teaches Hip Hop dance/movement and history in the Experimental Theater Wing and Open Arts/Collaborative Arts Program at NYU's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. Fabel presents lectures, demonstrations, teaches master classes, and participates in outreach programs and conferences internationally.
Fabel is currently a master teacher and national reviewer for the National YoungArts Foundation. He was recently the Artist, Scholar in Residence and Fashion Curator for the Universal Hip Hop Museum’s [R]Evolution of Hip Hop exhibit in the Bronx.
Currently, Fabel is the Artistic Director for the European launch of the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop (50HHA™) and will have some of his archival vintage fashion displayed at the Museum of F.I.T.’s “Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: 50 Years of Hip Hop Style” exhibit.
Elena Romero is a journalist and Assistant Chair, Marketing Communications, at The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and TV Correspondent and Producer for LATiNAS on CUNY TV. She spearheaded the project Fresh Fly Fabulous: 50 Years of Hip Hop Style, which consisted of a fashion exhibition at the Museum at FIT (MFIT); a coffee table book published by Rizzoli; a one-day symposium and the development of a permanent fashion archive at MFIT. Romero is the author of Free Stylin’: How Hip Hop Changed the Fashion Industry (Praeger). She is currently working on a hip hop TV series for CUNY TV to launch later this summer.
Tricia Rose is the author of two highly respected books on Hip Hop. The award-winning Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (1994) and the Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop and Why It Matters (2008). She currently teaches at Brown University. www.triciarose.com
Professor Belle's primary research and teaching interests lie in Continental philosophy (especially Existentialism and Phenomenology), African American/Africana Philosophy, Black Feminist Philosophy, and Critical Philosophy of Race. She has also taught in African American Studies/African Diaspora Studies. Some of the major figures she writes about and teaches include Hannah Arendt, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Frantz Fanon, Anna Julia Cooper and Richard Wright. Under the name Kathryn T. Gines, she has published articles on race, assimilation, feminism, intersectionality, and sex and sexuality in contemporary hip-hop. She co-edited an anthology titled Convergences: Black Feminism and Continental Philosophy (SUNY Press, 2010) and is author of Hannah Arendt and the Negro Question (Indiana University Press, 2014).
Andre C. Willis is the author of Toward a Humean True Religion (2016) and several essays on black music, culture, and the role of race in Western philosophy. He teaches at Brown University and is currently completing a book on Afro-theisms and Post-Democracy.