HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes
Q&A with Byron Hurt

Byron Hurt, a self-described “hip-hop head,” was inspired to make his documentary HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes while watching rap videos and becoming disturbed at the themes that he saw reflected in most of them: materialism, sexism, violence and homophobia. “They all featured guys throwing money at the camera, dudes in fancy cars showing off their ‘iced-out’ jewelry…and, of course, lots of barely dressed, sexually available women as background props,” he says.

A former quarterback at Northeastern University, Hurt is also a founding member of the Mentors in Violence Prevention program, the leading college-based rape and domestic violence prevention initiative for professional athletics, and the former associate director of the first gender violence prevention program in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Over the past decade, he has lectured at more than 100 college campuses and trained thousands of young men and women on issues related to gender, race, sex, violence, music and visual media. HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes explores all those themes, from the viewpoint of an African-American man who loved and continues to love hip-hop music, but is uneasy about many of the values it espouses.

Inside Indies spoke to filmmaker Byron Hurt in February 2007, two weeks before his documentary was to air on PBS’ Independent Lens.

inside indies: What made you set out to make HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes?

Byron Hurt: My biggest motivation was that I learned a lot about masculine identity and gender issues by the time I got out of college in 1993. It woke me up about the realities of domestic violence in this country, and I started thinking about the construction of masculinity—the ways our boys are socialized to become men.

It forced me to look at and listen to hip-hop very differently. As I grew and matured, I started to question the lyrics I was listening to and what the hip-hop game was all about. And as I started to decode the representations I saw in the music videos, I saw the potential of a film about masculinity as seen through the world of hip-hop.

ii: When did you start to make the film?

BH: I conceptualized it in 1997, but I didn’t start shooting until late 2001. I didn’t have the courage. I knew it would be a really big endeavor…and I knew I ran the risk of being chastised by the hip-hop community. So I put things off and I procrastinated.

ii: Have you had any of that negative reaction you anticipated?

BH: Not really. I haven’t really had people chastise me or put me in a box as being anti-hip-hop. I took a lot of time thinking how to frame the film—to make a smart film that was also very accessible and nonjudgmental. I wanted to use visual imagery, to dig beneath the surface and make masculinity the thread that ran throughout the whole film. All those elements gave it a certain level of credibility in the hip-hop community.

ii: Byron, did you have any concern that your film might be co-opted and used as a critique to advance other people’s agendas? Or…has it been?

BH: Not that I know of. Certain people who have agendas could probably use my film in that way. There’s nothing I can do about that except to defend it when necessary. My motive was to provide a loving critique: making physical the invisible. What I was concerned with was the messages of violence and excessive materialism, along with a critique of the corporate media.

ii: Since you’ve been screening HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, what’s been the reaction from the hip-hop world?

BH: Most of the reaction has been very positive. Chuck D said on The Montel Williams Show, that the film should be used as a ‘hip-hop bible’ and be seen in every high school across the country. At this point, the film is out in the world to use as a tool, and people are free to critique it, rip it apart, and just talk about it.

ii: What challenges does socially conscious hip-hop have in the marketplace? Given the state of the media, is it even possible to have socially conscious hip-hop succeed today?

BH: Well, I think its still possible. There’s always one or two people who are ‘allowed’ to have that kind of success. No one really expected Kanye West! So I think it’s possible, but it’s still an uphill battle. They [the music industry] are much more comfortable with what hip-hop has become now; it’s a strategy that has worked, because it’s highly consumable and salable.

But I think the industry is really killing the music. I was giving a speech at the University of Connecticut, and afterward I stuck around to talk to some African-American students…well, mostly I just listened. They said they don’t even listen to today’s hip-hop. They prefer old school: A Tribe Called Qwest, De La Soul, that sort of thing.

Most of these groups don’t have a home on the radio. But look at a group like Dead Prez: they’re artists who talk about socially relevant issues, and they don’t need the radio. They’re using other ways to get their music out and their message heard; they wrote a book with their CD packaged inside. And they use the Internet in very creative ways. Even a group like Black-Eyed Peas: they’ve made their money mostly from commercials and video games and other ways. They said “Screw hip-hop radio.”

ii: What do you hope will happen after your film airs on Independent Lens?

BH: More discussion! Even after it airs, we’re going to continue to show this film in communities all over the country. We’ve coordinated an extensive outreach program that will continue for nine months after the film airs on PBS. The Ford Foundation has providing funding for a tour of black colleges that will let the film reach the people that hip-hop has the most impact on. That will really get going next fall.

Editor’s Note: HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes aired on Independent Lens in late February 2007. The film received press attention, public praise and thousands of blog posts and comments from around the world. Byron Hurt continues to show the film at colleges throughout the U.S. where screenings are followed by lively discussions and thoughtful dialogue.

An extensive community engagement program was created for HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. Learn more >>

Rate hip-hop song lyrics or post your own. Visit the PBS companion Web site for the film >>

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