- ONE, TWO, THREE, LET'S GO!
[electronic hip-hop music]
- There are artistic programs that exist all over the country,
but there are none,
nada, zero, nilch that are like this.
- First Wave is a revolutionary scholarship program
focused on hip-hop, spoken word and multicultural arts.
- Chris Walker: It was an experiment in the beginning
of looking at the role of the arts, social activism,
and how those practices could come together
to create a more embodied involved academic experience.
- Gia Euler: From singing and poetry
DJs,
artists,
producers,
writers,
actors.
- Willie Ney: It's one of those things where, all the time,
you know "What is spoken word?"
and, "What's hip-hop theater?"
You can only explain it so much
because you have to experience it.
[sighs wearily]
- I don't think God would go to college
He is too major to settle in minor places
By no means, under no Heavenly decree,
would he elect to crash and burn under 10,000 degrees
Hell
does not recruit with pitchforks and tightrope,
does not congregate in mobs at your front steps.
It sits in your classroom,
tells you to turn to unrepresentative textbooks
passes out invites to its kickbacks,
and always makes sure
as to forget the back of the bus.
College
when you find yourself parked in one
you learn more from the burning in your throat
than the education taught in limbo
it is a matter of time that we realize
that time did not heal all who matter.
Time did not have our backs
Time did not keep history from turning us into stars,
shooting fireworks like it was dream
where you can only be red
or white or
I can't breathe blue.
This is the type of learning that'll light a fire in you.
[electronic hip-hop music]
- Hip-Hop U was funded in part by
Bill and Jan DeAtley,
Joe and Mary Ellyn Sensenbrenner,
Evjue Foundation,
American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation,
Wisconsin Arts Board,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
- Deshawn McKinney: Just First Wave existing in this space
at University of Wisconsin- Madison
and in academia in general
is one of the most hip-hop things that I've ever seen.
You know? Like, it's not supposed to be here.
- Zhalarina Sanders: In the '70s when hip-hop was born,
the entire purpose of the culture
was to make sure that
people still had access to resources and outlets
that were being cut out of schools.
- Michael Penn: It's a cultural movement started by
lower-income poor black and brown people,
that's literally responsible for, like,
an overwhelming majority
of the culture and content that you consume,
period.
["DMC JR." by CRASHprez] ♪ You can't rock with my regime
♪ Boy, you'd suffer on the scene
♪ I keep Dasani in a double cup
♪ Sober kid sippin' clean
♪ Mountaintops in my dreams
♪ You could never kill the king
♪ I'm grippin' death by the throat
♪ Throw it in the choke, hit the guillotine
♪ Bumbaclot, you don't get the sentence
- There are examples of other programs
of other university and college programs
that have hip-hop in them,
but as far as offering a full-tuition scholarship for it
and bringing students and recruiting students for it,
I don't know of any other programs that do that
at the undergraduate level.
- Chris Walker: So, what is the role of
this hip-hop-centric program
on a "Research I" campus?
The UW, you know, is founded on this idea
of sifting and winnowing,
getting down to the truth.
And hip-hop centers itself
around solving that same problem.
["Dear White America" by Danez Smith] - Their flesh and blood
re-gifted their children.
I've left Earth
I am equal parts sick of your "Go back to Africa!"s
as I am your, "I just don't see races."
Neither did the poplar tree.
We did not build your boats
though we did leave a trail of kin to guide us home.
We did not build your prisons
though we did and we filled them too.
We did not ask to be part of your America
though are we not America?
her joints brittle, dress ripped,
dragging her dead child through Oakland?
I am sick.
My name is Danez Smith
and I was in the first cohort of First Wave, OGs,
and I graduated in 2012.
♪ She was screaming at the mountaintop
I was very excited to be part of something new.
Really, what I was excited was about
that somebody was going to pay my tuition
because I liked poems.
And that seemed like a crazy stupid idea,
but I was down to let them test it out on me.
[laughing]
[synth notes over a hip-hop beat]
- Willie Ney: So, the first cohort of First Wave
arrived to the UW-Madison campus
in June of 2007.
Basically, the vision was to bring students together
to share with one another in a safe space
to live in a community together
in a campus environment
so they could share their art.
- The pillars of First Wave, which we call the "three A's",
are academics, arts, and activism.
[piano into medium tempo hip-hop beat]
Academics is pretty critical to this program.
I think that over the years
that pillar is probably the most constant
because they're a student here.
You know, as part of this program,
you're on a scholarship.
- We have 15 total scholarships
that we have available to students.
So every year, we've had anywhere
between 14 to 15 students
come in to each cohort.
So we do call them 'cohorts,' as they come in.
Currently, we just received our 11th cohort.
- [in unison] Yeah!
- First Wave says, "You hip-hop artists,
you can be anything you want to be."
- It's sort of like being an athlete on campus.
That's the easiest way I can describe it.
So, like, athletes can major in whatever they want.
- I graduated in May 2015 with a Journalism Reporting Degree.
- My degree from UW-Madison is in creative writing.
- I'm an art major.
- I'm majoring in English-Creative Writing
and I have a certificate in Afro-American Studies.
- I study psychology and Afro-Am studies.
- Adey Assefa: The type of student we look for in First Wave are
demonstrated leaders in their community.
- Willie Ney: We've done a phenomenal job, I think,
vetting students who've come in,
who really want to change the world.
["For All It's Worth" by Miona Short]
- There are a thousand names for the black woman
Daughter of Ra
Daughter of Ankh-clad Sun God,
Africa mother,
fruits of civilization,
sister-womb man,
queen with a 'K',
and a host of other names
that smell like incense,
somebody else's ancestors,
and gas station dashikis.
And then there are names
that taste like the gritty rubber of pavement,
like a knee to the neck,
like somebody's shit that they mistook for a burning bush,
and I choose not to say those names
because I refuse to scrub my tongue of its gold
just to entertain the air with lies.
But if you must say my name though,
hold up every letter, every syllable
like a necklace of diamonds
neither meant for the adoration
nor the adornment of your tongue.
So do not assume
that the gravity of my name
was ever meant to bow down to your English.
Instead, treat my name like birds.
When you hear it in fleeting flight across the soundscape
just let it fly there.
Let it be fly there
without entering the lagging bumble of your voice
to detangle everything
that is nappy and free about my name.
And on those moments
when my name perches on the tongue
like a two-ton palace,
resist the urge to be lazy.
Resist the urge
to respect me
with whatever overarching pseudonym
while all the while, refusing to unravel
the very raw pulse of my name.
What I'm really trying to say is
if you're gonna call me "Black Girl Magic,"
I prefer you just call me by my name
I already know my own alchemy.
I don't need no overcooked metaphor
for dark arts and cryptic sorcery
to understand that when my society gives me lemons,
I just use them to keep my edges proper.
So if what you're going after is respect,
I suggest you just take a trusted mug of Lipton
and the Book of Life and sit down
and pore over every black girl name
like a prayer.
And in those inevitable moments,
when your mouth snags the wrong sound
on the entrails of our names
and we are quick to correct you,
it might hurt,
it may feel like we're being mean about it,
but you must understand that our names tag the air
like permanent marker
so when you get it wrong,
you insult our formation
and we must check you.
As black women, we are rekindling the gold standard
and calling it mirror
We are taking every ugly, wrong, wretched moniker
and repurposing it into ash
and that is exactly how we will love ourselves
in a world that has neither a throne, nor a crown,
nor a snap of praise
for any of us.
So if you must say my name,
first drape your words in purple,
then ask how I want my name to be said.
And I'll tell you
to leave me to dance alone all by myself
for me, my thousand sisters, and our thousand skins.
And that, my loves,
is the proper pronunciation of my name.
- My name is Miona Short
and I'm a member of the seventh cohort of First Wave.
I'm from Chicago,
the south side particularly.
I'm getting my degree
in astronomy-physics and Spanish literature.
So, my mom tells this story
that when I was two years old,
we saw a Kraft Cheese commercial.
We were in our house,
and she was doing my hair
and I saw a cow jump over the moon
and so I asked her, like, "Mommy, what is that?"
The moon.
And she's like, "Oh, this is the moon."
And I was just like, "Cool.
I want to go there."
[laughs heartily]
And then she told me, she said,
"Okay, well, you have to be an astronaut."
And then it was done.
Then, I was going to be an astronaut.
First Wave seemed like a great opportunity,
to one: attend an excellent school
that has a great astronomy program and also
be an artist, a poet, and develop my craft here.
- Adey Assefa: She came in...
"I'm a science major.
I'm focusing on sciences."
And really stood proud in the idea of
"Science does inform art and art does inform science."
- My astronomy and my poetry, are...
connected.
They're so connected
they're like adjoined twins in a way.
Because the stars just by themselves,
stars are just so poetic,
stars are just literally like people,
literally like people
trying not to blow themselves away or collapse inward,
just trying [laughing] to maintain an equilibrium,
and that just--
it translates into my art just so flawlessly
and just without trouble
and so a lot of people ask me,
"Oh, it must be really hard
to take concepts from math and physics
and translate them on the page."
Not at all...
It actually helps a lot. It really does.
- Adey Assefa: Miona is brilliant.
"Brilliant" is the word I think about
when I think about Miona.
- Miona Short: I don't fit the mold of the physicist in a lot of ways.
You know, most people have not met
black women who have gone into this field.
So I can understand the surprise,
but I also am excited by the surprise,
because it means that I'm rupturing something
in their brains,
I'm rupturing their ideas of what a physicist looks like,
what an astronomer looks like.
And you know...
that's me.
That's me.
♪ ♪
- We're going to do this! Okay. [laughing]
- Tiffany Ike and her sense of humor: um...
- [laughing]
- Tiffany Ike, the queen of puns. [laughing]
- Oh, my gosh, yes.
Tiffany is a goofball.
Always writing and saying puns that are terrible.
Terrible puns.
Really terrible puns. I can't--
I can't express that enough. [laughing]
[chuckling] - I should size my mouth up for shoes,
'cuz I won't stop putting my foot in it.
I want to buy us matching shoes
just so we can be 'sole' mates.
In Wisconsin, there's so much cheese,
but no one is smiling.
Uh, we're going to stop. [laughing]
There's quite a few. [laughing]
My name is Tiffany Ike
and I'm in the eighth cohort.
Eighth co, great co.
I'm from Houston, Texas.
My major's psychology and communication arts,
with a certificate in digital studies.
I'm definitely the story-teller of the cohort.
People know that if you wanna hear a story from me,
you gonna have to sit down for a little bit.
I will give you all the funny details through the journey
just to get to the destination.
Sometimes people just want the destination.
I'm not the person to go to. [laughing]
I came in here solely spoken word, solely poetry.
I honestly don't write poetry as much,
as I've kind of moved back into that short story.
- Gia Euler: Typically, a First Wave student
does not only have one talent.
They have several.
♪ Right before I close my eyes
♪ I see the sun
♪ High up in the sky
♪ El-Shaddai up in the sky
♪ As I lay right here tonight
♪ I cross my heart and hope to die
♪ I cross my hardened hearts don't survive
♪ So I pray I don't survive
♪ So I'll be made into a new life
♪ When the sun comes
Jasmine will yell "Deandre"
and then the lights come up.
And that's when you start your monologue.
Ball & Chain was a play that I wrote and directed.
And then when he says, "Iso, Iso, it leads you off to this."
It is a play about a boy named Deandre Washington.
- Deandre Washington: But what you're describing is not me!
What they're afraid of is not me!
- Tiffany Ike: He's a basketball player.
And it kind of breaks down
black men's masculinity, ally-ship,
what it means to survive
in a society that doesn't want you to exist.
- Deandre Washington: Can everybody just leave me alone about this draft?
What about my dad? [sighing]
Look, I don't care what he say!
It's my decision. I choose.
You act like I gotta do whatever he says, like
[men speak in unison] he taught me everything.
- And the way in which I write tends to have
a lot of symbolism, a lot of repetition,
a lot of, like, puns and things of that sort.
- Money is better.
- Deandre Washington: Jimmy.
- Money is saved. - Deandre Washington: Jimmy!
- This is your fast break.
- Deandre Washington: Jimmy, I can do this at any time.
- It's like, it'll go right over your head
unless you've actually sat down and talked to her about, like,
some of the deeper meaning behind
the names of the characters,
or why the staging was a certain way
or why some type of movement happened.
- Don't shoot, don't shoot.
- It's just all...
There's so much meaning to it and it just blows your mind.
It's brilliant, brilliant.
[audience cheers and applauds]
- It was really something I was really proud of,
and I hope to continue creating things like that.
[cheers and applause]
- Shasparay Light: I wanna give up, but then I remember
someone needed this poem.
Someone forgot that they were fighting
for more than just their life.
This art is activism.
This is a reminder-- even to myself--
so
you may be tired of hearing black poems,
but art was meant to interrupt!
And the work will never be done!
[cheers and applause]
- Adey Assefa: First Wave started out
as mainly a spoken word artist program.
- But we do have dancers.
We have graffiti artists.
We have DJs.
- Willie Ney: It's become much more
like a multicultural arts program.
- Rain Wilson: Rappers, singers,
singer-songwriters,
visual artists.
So, we have someone that comes in as a poet
and then they connect and get interested in dance.
[breathing with exertion]
- My name is John-Paul Alejandro.
One, two, three, four.
I am part of the 7th cohort of First Wave.
I'm originally from the Bay Area of California.
My major is dance,
and I have a certificate in digital studies.
- And you're bringing your upper--
kind of, like, with the arm.
- Chris Walker: This is a man who love dance
probably as much as you love breathing in and out.
Okay? [laughing]
You need to breathe in and out to survive.
I believe John-Paul needs to dance to survive.
- I got really involved with spoken word in high school.
Believe it or not, I got admitted into UW-Madison
as a biology major.
And it's, like, crazy to think
that I went through all these majors
and ended up with dance.
- He came in with minimal amount of dance experience
but just had a love and passion for dancing.
[medium tempo hip-hop music]
- All the professors know that
I was not technically trained
in contemporary or modern dance and ballet.
But once I found that appreciation,
I was able to put myself in those spaces
and really thrive and exist.
It just makes me feel great.
There's a moment in music in any music I listen to that
I just close my eyes
and I let my body just do its thing.
- Chris Walker: He is highly regarded
by the faculty in the dance department and by his peers
as a genuinely loving, sweet, nice person.
But apart from that
he
he works
he works hard.
He works hard and demonstrate growth.
Semester after semester, year after year.
What else could you ask for?
♪ ♪
["Tampa" by Zhalarina Sanders]
- Uh.
Yo!
♪ I come from that flirty dirty
♪ That scurvy dirty where the curry's purty
♪ Eatin' hotdogs in the church parking lot
♪ My daddy four wheeler in three parking spots
♪ You better come off that eggs and ham
♪ And that turkey bacon on a lemon square
♪ And that futuristic, that county fair
♪ We got women flippin' burnt hair
♪ But it's simple like a new day
♪ Or Kool-Aid when the crew's paid
♪ And everybody lookin' on a Tuesday
♪ For a girl name Keisha who do braids
♪ We got fold out chairs in the back seat
♪ I'm headed to my sister track meet
♪ Red Lobster biscuits and applesauce
♪ I got bologna burnin' on a gas stove
♪ And I been at the center of a city full of heat
♪ You can tell them babies laughing
♪ By the way they show they teeth
♪ Now if you lookin' for a party just head out to the street
♪ Right down in Tampa
Uh!
♪ And if you catch me lookin' decent
♪ Ridin' cleaner than the mug
♪ My daddy got sent away so the hood just showin' me love
♪ Grandpa gave me his chain
♪ 'Cuz gold is about as thick as blood
♪ Down in Tampa
Uh!
♪ Where the sun shinin' so bright it'll put you to sleep
♪ Ain't no point in bringin' crabs
♪ ''cuz our cookouts at the beach
♪ Don't come up in my momma house
♪ Actin' like you cannot speak
♪ Right down in Tampa
♪ Now, it's too much fight in a crack dog
♪ Too much night in a black doll
♪ But when girls look like black dolls
♪ They drip swagu and mac sauce
♪ We got Welfare for the well's fair
♪ Disrespecting your Ivy League
♪ Come home for a holiday
♪ Now what's a college degree to these collard greens?
♪ We Georgia peach, New York Giant
♪ Havana, Cuba on the nightstand
♪ Ybor City, casket drop to
♪ My tattoo artist, my hype man
♪ And Imma see you at choir practice
♪ Imma see you at Purple Passion
Yo! ♪ Imma kill Trell
♪ The next time his ex- come round and he funny actin'
♪ I been at the center of a city full of heat
♪ You can tell them babies laughing
♪ By the way they show they teeth
♪ Now if you lookin' for a party
♪ Just head out to the street
♪ Right down in Tampa
Ever since I was younger,
people would be like "Yo, Sis...
You gonna be my secret weapon, Sis..."
They not expecting a woman to
have this much flow, be this good!"
And I'm like, "You're right, they're not.
It doesn't seem like you expected it either!"
Women are in hip-hop
and we do it well.
We do it really well!
We do it better than a lot of other people.
[laughing]
♪ Listen
♪ Imma Florida orange
♪ I storm in the morn
♪ And perform with a chorus of horns
♪ I was born in the corn
♪With a form that's quiet in the cold but'll swarm in the warm
♪ Nappy roots, nappy roots, nappy roots
♪ Three times in the mirror
♪ Ride slow with my li'l cousin holding the car door
♪ Let my mix tape bang out your ears
♪ Every other month is hurricane season
♪ We po', we black, we ain't leavin'
♪ Confederate flags on the ceiling
♪ But them white folks eating out the hands of my grandma every holiday season
♪ Barefoot Goyaming Still toe jamming
♪ To Tom G you can find me
♪ Playing basketball in flip flops
♪ In the middle of the street
♪ Now, I been at the center of a city full of heat
♪ You can tell them babies laughing
♪ By the way they show they teeth
♪ Now if you lookin' for a party
♪ Just head out to the street
♪ Right down in Tampa
Listen!
♪ Now if you catch me lookin' decent
♪ Ridin' cleaner than the mug
♪ My daddy got sent away so the hood just showin' me love
♪ Grandpa gave me his chain
♪ 'Cuz gold is about as thick as blood
♪ Down in Tampa
Yeah!
My name is Zhalarina Sanders
and I'm a member of the fifth cohort.
I'm from Tampa, Florida.
I currently have a degree,
a bachelor's degree, in psychology,
and I am in a master's program.
It's a counseling psychology master's program.
["Who Want It" by Zhalarina Sanders] ♪ Abybay
♪ Spittin' pork shoulder like it's Labor Day
♪ If my bars ain't carbs or
♪ All the good proteins and fats
♪ You can't take me out the punchline, Li'l Daddy
Man, I started writing raps
♪ 'Cuz waiting for some juice is Hella whack
younger than I probably remember.
I want to say it was like seven or eight,
♪ Who want it?
♪ I put my life up in this track
♪ It's finally apparent
- audience: ♪ That I had to go and lose my life to get it back
- Who you see on stage is, like, who I am 24/7
but, like, tamed.
Like, I contain it.
And the stage allows me to be able to, like,
be fully that,
or be that in a way that is productive.
It's productive on stage.
It's not necessarily productive in a meeting,
so I try, I try to find ways to channel that energy,
but I've always been like that since I was, like, very little.
♪ ♪
I'm writing an album right now.
[rhythmic bass]
The counseling program has, like, allowed for me to
essentially have a conversation on a song with people.
One of the biggest things that I've learned
is that people suffer. Period.
It happens, it's a part of life.
A lot of the time, arguably most of the time,
when we suffer, we do so quietly and alone.
And I want to be
the enemy of that
with my art.
So I'm working on
the completion and the release of my album.
And I'm also working on
the tour of my one-woman show.
Oh, Romeo!
Horatio been acting mad-funny, though.
I know your daddy died and the honey broke,
but you had to kill the whole fam and the money flow.
[audience laughing]
- Chris Walker: The show she did
at the end of her undergraduate career,
Rose Gold,
moved through diverse characters
and it's very powerful.
- So, the name of my play is Rose Gold
and it is a 70-minute play in hip-hop theatre
that explores black motherhood, mental health,
specifically what it means to be
black and woman at the same time
in this country.
And there are five characters
and I play all five.
- Let that monster in your house
may call mama, too!
- I would kill him before he ever--
- You would hold her down and take turns.
- How could you say that? [sobs]
How could you say that to me?
It is very hard.
It is also a lot of fun. [laughing]
- Adey Assefa: Zhalarina is one of those people that
I think everyone admires.
She is true to her values,
true to her goals,
and very determined and hardworking
and compassionate,
just like one of the most compassionate people I know.
- I think just having a conversation with me
humanizes hip-hop for people who
have that sort of preconceived notion
of what it means
to live and engage and practice the culture of hip-hop.
♪ I'm just a wolf who smiles and speaks politely
♪ Angles on angles on angles
♪ I'm just a wolf who smiles and speaks politely and...
[audience cheers]
Uh!
♪ 'Cuz everything around me
is broken
Because I'm a graduate student,
white people call me articulate all the time.
I have locs.
I rap.
I'm a rapper.
And that intersection of identities
confuses and pleases people
who have this understanding of hip-hop that is warped.
♪ Gravity won't bring me to the ground.
[claps] ♪ Uh, uh!
♪ I think that--
- Deshawn McKinney: Dealing with all these things
in a space that doesn't really understand you,
I think that's where a lot of the challenges come in.
And how do I explore, say, my blackness
in this very white space that's UW-Madison?
How do I bring my culture into this space that's UW-Madison?
- Prootester: We're outnumbered. - Crowd chants: Hands up, don't shoot!
- We have hearts. We have purpose.
No one can take that away from us.
No one will ever take that away from us.
- Hands up, don't shoot! Hands up, don't shoot!
- Miona Short: Activism is certainly important in First Wave.
It is our third pillar.
- It is basically using your voice
to talk about things that matter to you
and that matter to others.
- You just want to do it justice.
You don't want to overstep and tell someone else's story.
But truly connect to how you feel
and what you want to see be better.
- First Wavers do a variety of things on campus
and in the community.
- Rain Wilson: They do their research
when we get a performance gig request,
and they take that information, channel it through their art,
and then they go into the community
and feed the community.
♪ Black soldiers marching one by one
♪ Hurrah, hurrah
♪ Black soldiers marching one by one
♪ Seems to be the only time we're allowed to hold a gun
♪ And they all go marching on
- As a rule, so as that we remain responsible
to the subject matter that we are presenting,
99% of First Wave performances
are followed by an audience talk back with the artists.
- There are a lot of conversations
that are really difficult to have.
- Chris Walker: It is important for us,
significant, to create that space,
to engage around
this idea, this subject matter,
this uncomfortable truth.
- Art is a lot more universal of a language
so you can reach people through a poem
and bring people in
to then sit at the table and have this dialogue.
- Black people are dropping off the sky like flies.
No, like bodies! No, like flies!
No, like cats and dogs! No!
No, no! Black people are worth less than them.
So, dropping off the sky like bodies--
No, like stars.
And no one is wishing on them.
Black boy has skin like the night sky.
Carries the world, and wears it as a hoodie
- Nia Scott: I believe activism can show up in different ways.
Just like how art has many different mediums
so does activism.
My name is Nia Scott
and I am a member of the eighth cohort.
Eight co, great co!
The "Blank for Yourself" series
is a 25-part series
that explores black identity in Madison.
The premise of the "[Blank] For Yourself" series
is that the title was a phrase that
each person had to complete.
So they would fulfill the word,
a word of their choice with the [blank.]
Some people chose "Care for Yourself,"
"Love for Yourself,"
"Heal for Yourself," "Hurt for Yourself,"
"Lust for Yourself."
[bell dings]
- So, I chose the phrase "Lust for yourself."
And I think about this a lot.
I think about the things we do
for those that we have crushes on,
our lovers, our people.
And if you really
start diverting that energy towards yourself,
in terms of what you give them, what you feed them,
how you care for them, the patience you have,
that it completely revolutionizes your life.
- Nia Scott: It suddenly became a motivational series.
People saying this is why
I persevere for myself
because of X, Y, and Z.
And I was like, "Wow, so incredible."
I feel that art is a great vehicle of
finding yourself and growth,
and all of those things.
- For me, activism wasn't...
I wasn't really able to wrap my head around it
until The JVN Project.
["Raise the Bar Cypher" by John Vietnam]
- Chris Walker: Yeah, if I could talk about John Vietnam,
just for a second.
- Zhalarina Sanders: John V. Nguyen.
And he went by his stage name as "John Vietnam."
[deep voice] - R Production.
- ♪ This hip-hop activist
♪ Spits everything he has to give
♪ Consequently "dope" would be an understated adjective
♪ Whack MCs will try to diss
- He was a native of Chicago
and came to UW-Madison as part of the fifth cohort,
so he was my cohort brother.
- Fifth cohort, legendary cohort.
John Vietnam worked--
I didn't even know he had insomnia,
but he worked constantly.
There was always a poem to review,
always an idea to go over.
- Adey Assefa: I think if you were around John you were like,
"I got work to do,"
or like, "I really-- I have to step my game up."
- I remember watching his demo tape
and being so jealous because he had
four things he was amazing at
and he shot it all himself.
Like, this man did everything.
I was so jealous
I'm like, "How the hell am I in accord with this man?"
- And so, he was the dude that finished an album
in the same semester that he got a 4.0
and volunteered at a community center somewhere in the city,
but didn't tell anyone because he was, like, just humble.
["If a Minute Would Reverse" by John Vietnam]
- ♪ We need change But change starts wit' you
♪ We gotta work on ourselves
♪ Even though I know it's hard to do
♪ If I could wind time so a minute would reverse
♪ Then fix decisions and revisions
♪ With a minute to rehearse
[solemn drum machine beat]
- Zhalarina Sanders: I started a Google document in my dorm,
and put The JVN Project at the top.
There was a lot of conversation at the time
of people trying to figure out
what to do to honor his memory,
and just celebrate his life and legacy.
♪ ♪
[upbeat hip-hop music]
So now The JVN Project is a non-profit organization
that seeks to use hip-hop as a tool of empowerment.
Our work is inspired by the work
or the life of a First Wave student
and when The JVN Project was started,
it was started by First Wave students.
JVN Day is a hip-hop festival
that happens every year
around or on
the anniversary of John's passing.
It is a cluster of things,
but the intention of this festival
is for people to
celebrate the power of hip-hop,
and how much good
has been done and can still be done
with the genre and the culture of hip-hop.
Our flagship initiative is the One Life workshop series
which is in all of the high schools,
and some of the community centers in the city.
That's an after-school program
where students can come and learn how to write
or have a space to write creatively.
They can write poems.
They can write raps.
They can write short stories.
But that space is for them.
- Adey Assefa: I can't say enough about
how impactful that's been
to our community and to the Madison community.
She made sure that his legacy continues to live on
with the thing that he was most passionate about
which was hip-hop,
using hip-hop as a tool for a change.
♪ ♪
-Danez Smith: Beating each other into hospital beds and caskets.
Our punches were like sirens.
Our kicks, off-key pianos
and grandma was screaming like broken dreams dropped
from the hands of children
'cuz she already knew
that fists never had anything good to say
until we was all dropping like flies.
When I first showed up into Madison,
I wrote a lot of poems about other things in the world.
I would give you 8,000 poems
about whatever was on CNN at the time,
but I didn't really know
how to say something about myself.
So, part of my journey in First Wave
was learning how to become comfortable
laying bare my own story
so that others could see it,
and so that I could even see it in a new way myself.
My most recent work is a collection called
Don't Call Us Dead
which centers around thinking about mortality
and how it manifests in the black body two different ways.
How it makes tradition and economy and sport
out of the murder and suffering and oppression of black people.
And the other strain in the book thinking about mortality
is thinking about queerness and my sexual history
and also my diagnosis with HIV.
In 2014, I was diagnosed with HIV,
and a lot of the poems just sort of center around
my, like, sort of dealing with touching my mortality
in this new and a little unexpected way.
["it won't be a bullet" by Danez Smith]
I'm not the kind of black man who dies on the news.
I'm the kind who grows thinner and thinner and thinner
until light outweighs us.
Family gathered around my barely body
telling me to go
toward
myself.
[applause]
[cheers and applause]
- Gia Euler: I feel that a lot of our First Wavers,
whether they want to or not,
are kind of thrown into
being the educators
of a variety of different things on campus.
♪ ♪
- What I love about this program is that we're quite outspoken.
And so, when we do not like something,
we will let you know.
- On megaphone: Understand that
in order for this campus to improve
it needs to improve for everyone.
- Crowd: Yeah! Whoo! - Now, I...
- John-Paul Alejandro: You best believe
First Wave students are there
willing to stand and charge,
willing to protest,
willing to walk down streets,
willing to hold up signs
because at the end of the day,
this is what we do.
- We have a lot of faculty who let us know,
"Hey, I'm teaching this class.
"We'd love to reserve a couple of spots
"for First Wave students
"because we really want those students in our class.
"They move the conversation.
"They really get people to think.
"They're not afraid to kind of
"put something out there that maybe people are thinking,
but not able to say or articulate."
- Like, hey, what you just said, was low-key sexist.
And not okay."
"Hey, what you just did was fetishizing Asians.
Maybe you shouldn't do that."
- Help them to know what white privilege is.
Help them to understand what,
what sexism is and how it plays a part in their life
and how they can break that chain.
These students are just doing some marvelous things.
And for to be happening in Madison...
I think Madison,
more than many other places,
needs it desperately.
♪ ♪
- Wisconsin is wonderful, Madison is beautiful.
It's an awesome city and it has a lot to offer.
A lot of us experience
significant culture shock and homesickness.
- Gia Euler: It can be challenging for a lot of our students of color
and underrepresented students, including
our LGBTQ and transgender students.
It can be a big adjustment.
- Patrick Sims: There's a set of experiences
that are different for students
who come from historically underrepresented backgrounds,
or what we call our "students of color."
Individuals who are transgendered,
individuals who are part of LGBQ community.
Those groups, on average,
had less favorable experiences.
- Danez Smith: This is a very tough place to be a student of color.
I'm from the Midwest.
I'm from St. Paul
which is about as Midwestern as you can get.
You know: we're like 'hotdish' and you know... [laughs]
We're like 'hotdish' and like negative 30 degree weather.
And I feel like I know the Midwest
and even I had a culture shock when I came to Madison.
- The racial climate is kind of unbearably difficult
and the students rely on one another
and kind of the support system to stay here.
- I still feel out of place.
I have people that I'm close to
and that's been good enough for me
but belonging here,
that's a strong word for what I feel.
- I've certainly felt misunderstood
and I've dealt with micro aggressions and things.
The being in class and alright it's time to form groups
and everybody turns away from you
and you're the one left sitting there,
or nobody sits by you in lectures.
- Jamie Dawson: Like, I'm from the south
and people always love to talk about it,
especially up here.
Up in the north, they love to talk about
how much the south is racist
and you don't want to live there,
but there's the same problems up here.
They just wear different coats and different masks.
- Rain Wilson: The struggle that some of these students have,
being called "nigger,"
being pushed around,
put off the bus, being spit on,
being in classrooms with professors
who need so much more knowledge and heart
around how to work with students that don't look like them.
- And that's the world that we're in!
Where I have to go to a class and defend why my life matters,
as if it's a discussion,
as if basic rights are a discussion.
- Zhalarina Sanders: And then, after you tell somebody
you're in Wisconsin from Florida
the first thing they say is, "Why? Why here?"
There are tons of universities in warmer climates.
You know, what I say is,
"I was accepted into a program here at the University
that's the only one of its kind."
So it's like building this narrative and this interest
and they're like "Oh, what's the program?
That's the only one of its kind?"
I say "Well,
it's a hip-hop and urban arts learning scholarship program."
And one time when I was sharing this,
my Lyft driver was really quiet after that,
just didn't respond.
Interest was deleted.
It just...
The conversation stopped.
And after about probably the longest two minutes
I've ever experienced in a car,
he said "Well, yeah,
I guess they're letting anything into universities these days."
- Patrick Sims: I think culturally speaking
some of our students of color
have a difficult time adjusting
because there's a cumulative experience, right?
So there are things that may have happened
before they set foot on campus
or things that read in the paper or see on television
that give pause or reason for concern.
And we're now away from home, our family infrastructure.
And I don't necessarily know
if there are people who will have my best interest
at heart, first and foremost.
So there a sense "You kind of have to fend for yourself"
and that can be incredibly challenging.
[laughs] - Straight-up, we are some activists.
And you know, even--
I know that there's an assumption
that we should be docile and,
you know, be grateful.
Like everyone says, "Be grateful for what you are given."
But if we don't even challenge things
within the university or within our division
or within our program,
how can we expect to change the world, right?
It's necessary for us to speak up for ourselves.
Because if we don't, who will?
- Mackenzie Berry: So, the First Wave program is under review.
- They're pausing applications for a year for the scholarship.
- This is not about any lack of fiscal resources
for the scholarship programs themselves.
A hiatus in the recruitment, not the program,
but in the recruitment for the program is a good thing
because it finally gives us the time to actually plan.
- I think it's a really good time to really revisit that,
go back to our mission
and think about what it is we're trying to do.
- Willie Ney: Which to have that year off is, is, I think,
was probably a big mistake.
There's a trust level, "Is it really real?"
"Hey, is it real?"
"You didn't have it last year," you know.
- The program is definitely continuing.
I mean, there's no doubt about it,
but it is simply to pause
and put in criteria that makes sense for us.
I think there's an opportunity to better capitalize
on the resources that our faculty represent.
- If they did take away the hip-hop elements,
I would not be surprised.
- Patrick Sims: You know,
so that's one of the more debated pieces.
Personally, I don't see it changing,
but I think there's a conversation to be had
about the degree to which we actually can meet that.
- That wouldn't be First Wave.
That's...
I can't express that enough.
That is another program that's probably great and awesome,
but I would recommend a name change
because the entire point of First Wave was hip-hop.
- I think, if you're going to have folk
expect that outcome you need individuals
who are professionals in that field
doing that kind of work,
so really amazing artists who are on the cutting edge.
I think I can say that
categorically we aren't hip-hop heads, right?
So we're having to build a case
to attract individuals who have that expertise
and will want to enter an academic setting
to continue that work right.
That's the conundrum.
- They themselves, the First Wave students
are the future academic leaders of hip-hop studies,
hip-hop arts.
There's no one to train them in those forms.
So they are the DJs, they're the rappers,
they're the MCs who will become professors, right?
- Michael Penn: Just don't take the hip-hop away.
Don't strip it of what it was, what it is,
what it should remain.
Don't erase it.
- Miona Short: When Rock'n'Roll first came out,
it had limited social value in an academic space
because people who ran academia
just didn't understand it, just didn't get it
and I think as hip-hop approaches its middle age... [laughs]
right now,
I think it's time for academia to recognize
what a valuable asset
this art is.
- Patrick Sims: The concern, the angst is real.
I hear it.
And at the end of the day
it is in service of strengthening program
to position us to be the best.
And we're good right now.
We're darn good right now.
And in some ways that's a blessing and a curse
all rolled into one
because the work is stellar, and stellar as it is,
I know it can be ten times better.
♪ ♪
- As the former artistic director of a program,
I'm very proud of what we were able to accomplish
in those early years.
And how the program has continued to evolve and grow
in the two years since I've left.
What we have is a program of international recognition.
- John Paul Alejandro: I have no regrets.
First Wave has given me
a lot more than I thought I was going to get
and being able to thrive in the field that I am in,
I have to thank First Wave for that.
- Tiffany Ike: I think the biggest thing I've learned a lot about
is what it means to be in friendships, relationships,
like, all the "ships."
- ♪ Whoo-oooo-ooo
- Yes.
- Zhalarina Sanders: Like, I met people in Wisconsin
that I would likely send an invitation to my wedding
[laughs] before a blood relative.
Okay!
♪ ♪
- Gia Euler: I never get tired of seeing the talent.
I'm jealous of the talent [laughing]
that our students have.
- Adey Assefa: And the creativity.
I mean all of that is just...
[exhales audibly]
- Deshawn McKinney: Folks like Danez Smith,
who literally just won every award ever.
- So yeah, my new book
is nominated for the National Book Award, which is crazy.
- I've won big scholarships recently for grad school,
the Truman Scholarship and the Marshall scholarship.
Winning those meant a lot for me
'cuz I did it not just for me
but for the larger communities
both on campus and beyond.
I'll be going to
the London School of Economics and Political Science
to get a degree,
a master's in Social Policy and a second degree
in something as yet to be determined.
- Don't be surprised if you are voting for him
as president one day.
♪ ♪
- The JVN Project achieved 501(c)(3) status
on May 10th, 2017.
So now we are a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization
recognized by both the federal government
and the State of Wisconsin.
- Miona Short: The connection that we have to Danez,
you know, the connection that we have
to Rina's success in doing The JVN Project.
The connection that we have to Deshawn,
living in London now,
the connection that we have
to Deshawn receiving the Marshall scholarship.
You know, it's such a communal celebration.
- Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!
- First Wave is a part of hip-hop history.
You can't write the story
without talking about First Wave
because it's made its way into higher education
and so it's forever a part of that.
- I can't imagine what the university
or what Madison would be
without the voice, the loudness,
the brilliance of First Wavers.
- Miona Short: I'm so proud!
I'm so proud because we are doing such great things.
We're doing great things here
and then, we leave
and we fly.
Like, we so fly. [laughs]
You know what I mean?
- We are... - First Wave!
["Raise the Bar Cypher" by John Vietnam]
[deep voice] - R Production.
- ♪ This hip-hop activist
♪ Spits everything he has to give
♪ Consequently "dope" would be an understated adjective
♪ Whack MCs that'll try to diss
♪ It always ends in tragedy
♪ Many rhyme my craft, but only half can pass the mastery
♪ Seek balance That's a prophecy
♪ After I rock 'em probably
♪ Never comprehend
♪ If only I could say immodestly
♪ Need time to write
♪ Know which beats rhymes with light
♪ Try to sell me a dream I don't believe all the hype
♪ The differences in rhythm
♪ Here to spit with precision
♪ Every syllable I fit in
♪ Just to pick this higher vision
♪ I got fire where the chest is
♪ Every verse is cardiac
♪ Every scripture went and trippin' truth
♪ And that's the artifact
♪ From analog to digital
♪ MPC to mp3 juxtapose my dreams
♪ What I wish to be my memories
♪ Spit to flip the typical
♪ Deliver quick and critical
♪ Hey, just grip the mic until I manifest the spiritual
♪ No time to sleep I'll miss the beat
♪ Make history on microphones
♪ Born to be a legend
♪ And this test to check the chromosomes
♪ Deeper the roots then the sweeter the truth
♪ This is hip-hop speaking for who needed the proof
[background vocals] ♪ Da da-da-da da
♪ Da da-da-da da
- Hip-Hop U was funded in part by
Bill and Jan DeAtley,
Joe and Mary Ellyn Sensenbrenner,
Evjue Foundation,
American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation,
Wisconsin Arts Board,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.