We’re proud to announce that on Saturday, May 2nd, we’re bringing the Hip-Hop & Comics conversation to The New School!
This special Free Comic Book Day program is being presented by the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium, and will bring together an incredible group to discuss Hip-Hop & comics’ parallel evolutions, shared artistic influences, and more related topics.
Depth Of Field editor Patrick A. Reed will moderate, and a visual presentation will accompany the conversation.
The panelists:
Eric Orr is the creator of “Rappin’ Max Robot”, the first-ever Hip-Hop comic book. A graphic designer, illustrator, graffiti artist, and visual innovator, with a 40+ year involvement in Hip-Hop culture, Orr’s work has been exhibited and published around the world. In 1984, he became Keith Haring’s only collaborator on installations in the NYC subway system.
Jazzy Jay is a DJ and producer whose career began in the ’70s as a DJ for Afrika Bambaataa and the Universal Zulu Nation. A true originator, Jay worked alongside many of rap music’s most iconic musicians on seminal records by the Jazzy Five and T La Rock, and many others; and been featured in films including Beat Street and Scratch.
DJ Johnny “Juice” Rosado is best known for his work as producer and DJ for artists such as Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, Slick Rick, Leaders of the New School, and DMC, but that only scratches the surface of the man’s CV – he’s an award-winning composer and turntablist, engineer, musician, b-boy, graf writer, MC, educator, and all-around Hip-Hop legend.
Ed Piskor is the writer and artist of the acclaimed Hip-Hop Family Tree series from Fantagraphics (serialized online at boingboing). He also created the comic Wizzywig, and collaborated with the legendary Havey Pekar on The Beats: A Graphic History, Macedoina and American Splendor: Our Movie Year.
Ytasha Womack is a journalist, filmmaker, and commentator who has written extensively about Hip-Hop, African-American culture, science fiction, and other related topics. She is the author of Afrofuturism: The World Of Black Sci-Fi And Fantasy, and the creator of the multimedia sci-fi saga Rayla 2112.
Matthew Rosenberg is the co-founder of Ashcan Press, and the head of publicity for Black Mask Studios. He is the writer of Ghostface Killah’s 12 Reasons To Die comic series, and co-creator of Ghostface’s 36 Seasons album.
This program takes place Saturday, May 2, 2015 at 6pm at The New School University Center, 63 5th Ave., Room L104 (on the lower level). It’s free and open to the public, but space is limited, so make sure to show up a little bit early!
[Special thanks to Fantagraphics and Forbidden Planet NYC for their assistance in assembling and promoting this program.]