Hip Hop Against Sexual Assault Performance Wake Self & Masta Ace

Hip Hop Against Sexual Assault and Performance by Masta Ace & Wake Self
7pm to 9pm
Valicito Room, Student Union
Fort Lewis College
Durango, Colorado

With performance by Wake Self and Masta Ace after lecture.

Free and Open to the Public
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Introductions by – 

Hosted by –

Presenters/Performers

Torie Weiston-Serdan is a scholar and practitioner with over eleven years of teaching and youth programming experience. She received her Ph.D. in Education from Claremont Graduate University at the age of 30 and has dedicated her life and career to teaching and mentoring young people in her community. She does extensive work with community-based organizations in support of their youth advocacy efforts, specializing in training mentors to work with diverse youth populations; i.e. Black, Latinx, LGBTQQ, First Generation College Students and Low-Income Youth.

Lauren Leigh Kelly, Ph.D., is a teacher and researcher in the field of English Education, focusing on critical Hip Hop literacies, critical pedagogy, Black feminist theory, culturally responsive pedagogy, and teaching for social justice. She received her doctorate in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and taught high school English for ten years in New York where she also developed courses in Spoken Word poetry, Hip Hop Literature and Culture, and Theatre Arts. Her work has been published in academic journals and featured in Education Week, Education Update, and School Library Journal.

Wake Self – It’s nearly impossible to describe the intense commitment and passion Wake Self has for hip-hop. He’s shared the stage with countless notable acts, including Dilated Peoples, Blackalicious, KRS-ONE, Eyedea & Abilities, Chali 2na of Jurassic, De La Soul, Del the Funky Homosapien, and Souls of Mischief, DMX, Masta Ace, Mac Miller. Wake’s debut solo album, The Healing Process,was released in 2013 and was met with endless positive accolades. It received over 50,000 hits online and was given a near perfect review in Ghettoblaster Magazine, and made album of the year lists on various blogs. He quickly followed up with his sophomore effort, Good Things Happen to Those Who Wake, which sold out of five physical pressings and resulted in thousands of copies sold. He’s been featured on The Source, Ambrosia For Heads, Sirius XM Shade 45 radio, Sway in the Morning, Ego Trip Land, 2DopeBoyz, HipHopDX, B-Real TV, MTV.com, Respect Magazine, Chuck D’s RAPstation and URB magazine. Provides the Entrance music for MMA Invitica sports fighter Amber “The Bully” Brown. Video for the song “New Mexico” went viral on Facebook with over 25k shares, half a million views and counting. He tours all over the U.S., Europe, The UK and Costa Rica, and will be adding more countries to that list inevitably. In addition to his music career, he’s also active in the community, especially when it comes to leading the way for the younger generations. He represented New Mexico for the international event “The Power Shift” in Washington D.C. amongst leading environmental activist, engineers and leaders of environmental technology and justice. He also provides workshops throughout the southwestern U.S. to help troubled youth and aspiring youth by teaching songwriting, recording and encouraging positive expression as an outlet through music and art. Wake’s mission is clear: Bring light to the injustices happening and have higher standards for ourselves in a positive and progressive way. Stop going along with everything as it is and start questioning why it is this way. In short, “Wake Yourself.”

Masta Ace – Boasting an impressive rap résumé that includes membership in the legendary Juice Crew and a verse on the classic 1988 posse cut “The Symphony,” Brooklyn’s Masta Ace is an underground hip-hop veteran and luminary. Two years after the release of “The Symphony,” Ace released his debut album, Take a Look Around, on the revered Cold Chillin’ label. While not a huge commercial success, the keenly produced album spawned a hit single — and a Yo! MTV Raps staple — with the Biz Markie collaboration “Me and the Biz.” The album affirmed Masta Ace’s rightful place as a significant contributor to hip-hop’s golden age era. Ace returned to the fold in 1993, this time with his crew as Masta Ace Incorporated — which featured Lord Digga and Paula Perry — and dropped Slaughtahouse. The album broke ground by taking the synthesized West Coast sound and filtering it through a hardcore East Coast mentality. The memorable “Born to Roll,” with its tweaked Moog/Kraftwerk bassline, brought Ace some serious commercial attention. In 1995, Masta Ace Incorporated dropped Sittin’ on Chrome, a continuation of the previous album’s themes, chock-full of Jeep beats but with even slicker sound. Using the Isley Brothers’ much-sampled “For the Love of You” for the track “I.N.C. Ride” may have offended some of Ace’s loyal fans, but the song’s catchy vibe made it successful. Also known to release sleeper singles that cannot be found on his albums, Ace dropped one of his finest in 1996 with “Ya Hardcore” — a bumping indictment of fake gangsters. In 2000, Ace released a variety of singles including “Hellbound,” a duet with Eminem that marked 12-plus years of experience in the rap business. Disposable Arts, an album released in 2001, was a well-received protest against watered-down rap with hints that the rapper was retiring. Ace hardly slowed down, however. He returned in 2004 with the conceptual album A Long Hot Summer and, a year later, he formed eMC with rappers Wordsworth, Punchline, and Stricklin. The group’s first album, The Show, was released in 2008. A continued stream of featured appearances, as well as more substantial collaborative works, followed, including Arts & Entertainment (with Edo.G; 2009), MA_Doom: Son of Yvonne (with MF Doom; 2012), and a second eMC album (The Tonite Show; 2015).

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Sponsored by:

Department of Sociology and Human Services
Sociology Club
Criminology Club
Black Student Union
Durango ADAPT
FLC Animal Liberation
Durango Prisoner Letter Writing
Durango Save the Kids
Durango National Lawyers Guild
Durango Peace and Justice

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For more info contact:

Maggie Chamblee  at  mechamblee@fortlewis.edu

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