"Yo bailan en Puerto Rico. Yo bailan en Nuevo York" - Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Che Che Colo
Lawver.net has the wiki of our panel and I want to expand on something I said.
Jason: It doesn't just apply to hiphop. You can talk about the music, but when you talk about the issues of the culture - it applies to black people. If you're coming from Harvard as a white or asian male, you're not the right voice to be the "official" voice of that issue.
I use the example Aaron used a few years ago. I might love Kabuki theatre or Bollywood films. I might read everything there is to read about those subjects. Hell, I could be a Ph.D. in the subject. As a black American, however, I can't truly understand it in the same way that someone who grows up and lives in the culture that brings forth those art forms understands them.
I could go to Kabuki with a person of the culture or attend a Bollywood film in the same way and we would experience completely different things because of who we are.
I don't want to come across like I want to limit what people can and should talk about. I just want their to be an awareness that, perhaps, when we talk about cultural issues, the most relavent voices are the experts within that culture and that we should seek them out.