Carolina Grassroots to Carolina Classrooms examines how Hip Hop has expressed, shaped, and grown the movement in the Tarheel State. Join Hip Hop Scholars Professor bryon turman and Dr. Kyesha Jennings along with Grammy Award-Winning songwriter Rasheem “Kilo” Pugh. We’ll discuss how Hip Hop Culture has resonated in our state.
Registration is now closed. A recording will be made available following the event.
Presenter Biographies
Kyesha Jennings is an award-winning hip-hop scholar who has worked in academic and non-academic spaces as a lecturer, speaker, writer, editor, curator, project manager, and content creator. As a hip-hop scholar and academic, she has 11 years of experience working in a collegiate setting teaching first-year writing and a variety of literature courses. Her academic research focuses on Black literature and culture in general, but more specifically engages Black women writers, hip-hop studies, hip-hop feminism, and digital media. Her dissertation research is titled "There’s a Lil Ratchetness in Us All: Black Women’s Use of Multiple Mediums to Depict Black Womanhood". She is currently the creative content producer for Durham Parks and Recreation.
bryon d. turman was born in Statesville, NC, and is a double honors graduate of NCA&TSU with a BA in English and an MA in English and Af-Am Literature. In August 2006, Mr. turman designed and is currently teaching two Hip Hop-related courses in the English Dpt. at NCA&TSU: English 209 and English 316. Each course provides students with the opportunity to think and write critically about the various ways that Hip Hop music/culture influences and is affected by global popular culture. He is the recipient of the Aggie Inspiration Award (2016) presented at the annual GALA celebration and the Excellence in Teaching Award (2019) presented by the NCA&TSU Chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success. He has written for several publications including AllHipHop.com, Respectmyhood.com, Yes!Weekly.com and Scratch Magazine and is under contract with Green River Learning to produce his first book, Beyond Music and Culture: How Hip Hop Shaped the Post-Industrial Landscape, due to be released in 2023. He is also a peer reviewer of Words. Beats. Life.—Hip Hop’s only refereed journal and a member of the Black Jedi Zulu Organization (501c3) in NC. turman also serves as the Coach of the 2021 National Champion, NCA&TSU Honda Campus All-Stars Challenge Team. He is an avowed Hip Hop head, father, and educator who is dedicated and determined to ensure that African American trials, tribulations, triumphs, productivity, and creativity are included within the ivory towers of academia.
Rasheem Pugh was born in Newark, New Jersey during the era of disco and Smooth R&B. However, at the age of 12, he fell in love with a new flavor and style of music being born to the world--hip-hop. A new dream was born. By the late 1980's, Mr. Pugh was signed to Mark the 45 King who led the Flava Unit and had debuted on Vicky Martin's Club release Nowhere to Run. 1993 he landed a record deal with Qwest (Quincy Jones)/Warner Brothers along with his partner Vada Nobles created the rap group OCM and released the single, Watch How You Slang. Soon after Qwest Records folded, they continued their musical journey and released their first Pepsi commercial; “I Don't Want It If It Ain't Pepsi”. Mr. Pugh's life would be forever changed in 1996 when he was introduced to Miss Lauryn Hill at which time, he co-wrote eight songs on the Five (5) time Grammy winning album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Since that time, his recordings have sold more than 20 million copies and he has worked with some of the most popular R&B and Pop artists in the world. The list includes notables such as: Faith Evans, Pink, Scarface, LL Cool J, Warren G, Heather Headley, Babyface, CeCe Winans, Aretha Franklin, Dante Thomas, John Legend, Anthony Hamilton, Ghostface, Roberta Flack as well as many soundtracks such as Rush Hour, The Wood, The Bait, Fast and Furious and The King's Ransom. Mr. Pugh, who is also a singing/artist under the name Mr. Magreen finds a way to express what he feels through his own unique style and voice. Mr. Pugh is not only a songwriter/artist, but also a community activist, philanthropist, filmmaker, and painter. He has shared his secrets of success with youth groups and college students throughout the country. He has been a guest lecturer/panelist at Middle schools, High Schools, Colleges, and Universities such as New York University, Montclair State, Clark University, Bennett College and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, A&T University, Saint Louis University, Hunter Elementary, Ragsdale High School to name a few. Mr. Pugh sits on the committee of The African American Atelier. He is a judge of The Black Theatre Repertory yearly talent competitions as well as being a board member of the FP Youth Outcry non-profit for youth based in NJ. Mr. Pugh is the Founder and Executive Director of the Save the Arts Foundation in Greensboro, N.C. In March 2010, he produced the first red carpet, black-tie event that honored visual artists from across the country with the 1st Annual Save the Arts Awards Show. In 2013, the show became bigger being held at the prestigious High Point University, Artists were presented with the prestigious and sought after Save the Arts Award. Painters, sculptors, architects, and photographers are seldom honored for their visual contributions to our global society and to be honored by the Save the Arts Foundation is an experience they will cherish forever. 2013 marks the year Save Arts Foundation created Save The Arts Films (STA Films), which produced its first film (It Takes A Village Pt1 and later pt 2) in partnership with Flowerchild Productions. STA Films has a list of films produced within a short period of time. It Takes a Village 1& 2, Loves Hue, Find My Way, Rooster, Caking Up & Twisted Love with Kingdom Designing Productions. STA also has two plays coming soon, Brown Summer and The Coldtrain. In 2015, Pugh's work, along with his colleagues, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was inducted into the Library of Congress. On October 20, 2015, The Miseducation was added to Harvard University's Hollis system and listed in the bibliography for citation purposes along with other classic hip hop standards as a primary source for the study of Hip Hop. In May 2016 Mr. Pugh graduated with an associate degree in Collision Refinish and Repair restoring Classic Cars. Mr. Pugh's goal for the Triad is to share his love of visual arts and music by opening the Save the Arts Center. The mission of the Save the Arts Foundation is to acknowledge the great works done by many who contributed to the art and design of the world as well as to preserve its future through creating resources and a facility for youth to continue its legacy. In 2019, Save The Arts TV YouTube Channel was launched with partner Nakesha Writes. To date the channel educates and entertains over 5,000 subscribers with more than 800,000 views & growing!