We invite you to respond to the questions below or add your comments. Selected submissions will be posted on our Talkback page, so check back regularly and join the discussion.

• Has HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes changed your perceptions about hip-hop and gender? If so, how?

• The film addresses representations of violence and masculinity within hip-hop culture and also within the larger, more general American culture. What are some positive representations of masculinity that you have seen recently? What are some negative representations?

• Mark Anthony Neal explains that record companies and video stations only want to showcase the music that sells: “We want to see kind of the hard core thug performing hip-hop, we want to see booties shaking in the background, and when hip-hop videos don’t fit into those conventions, they don’t get played.” Do you agree? What can be done to make room for more diverse types of music?