Dr Jared Ball
Industry: Media Justice
Location: Washington DC

Dr. Jared A. Ball, Editor in Chief of the Words Beats Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture, is Assistant Professor of Communications Studies at Morgan State University.  He hosts Jazz & Justice Mondays 1-3p  EST on DC's WPFW 89.3 FM Pacifica Radio. Ball is also the founder and creator of FreeMix Radio: The Original Mixtape Radio Show, a hip-hop mixtape committed to the practice of underground emancipatory journalism.  He and his work can be found online at voxunion.com. 

Mr. Jason Nichols
Industry: Teacher and Musician
Location: College Park, MD

Jason Nichols is a Doctoral student in American Studies at the University of Maryland-College Park (UMD), where he also earned a Master’s Degree in 2006. Nichols teaches courses in African American Studies at UMD and was recognized with a Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005.  In addition, he is an emcee who has garnered international praise.  He was featured in the January 2007 issue of The Source magazine, an AND1 mixtape, and on the Tavis Smiley show. He is currently the Managing Editor of the Words Beats and Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Ms. Karlena Walker
Industry: Marketing and Communications
Location: Prince George's County, MD.

Karlena Walker is a graduate in Print Journalism and African American Studies at the University of Maryland-College Park (UMD) where she is currently a Marketing Assistant in Stamp Student Union, Campus Programs and Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy.  Walker is co-host of TRS Radio on 88.1 WMUC-FM, a UMD radio station.  Walker is Assistant Managing Editor of the Words Beats and Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Ms. Jovette Gadson
Industry: Community Development/Urban Planning
Location: Ashburn, VA

Jovette Gadson is a Project Manager with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) focusing on community outreach and technical assistance to grassroots nonprofits.   She is pursuing her professional interests in event planning as Stage Manager for THEARC Jazz Series and Conference Planner for Words Beats and Life.  She is also an emerging writer with a passion for creative non-fiction and poetry.  Gadson is the Copy Chief of the Words Beats Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.


Mr. Cory Stowers
Industry: Graphic Arts
Location: Washington, D.C.

Cory Stowers is the Creative Director for Words Beats and Life and the Words Beats and Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.  He also teaches graffiti and mural classes for Words Beats and Life in the D.C. Urban Arts Academy.


Mrs. Yahsmin Mayaan Binti BoBo
Industry: Non-Profit Sector
Location: Pittsburg, CA

Yahsmin Mayaan Binti BoBo, Community Activist of ten years, writes on diverse subject
matters from international politics to urban arts. She is now a Senior Editor of Illume and West Coast Marketing Director for the Words Beats and Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture. By day, she coordinates an after school program just outside of Oakland, CA aimed to serve African and Latino American youth.

Ms. Muslimah Bilal
Industry: Public and Community Health/Non-Profit Organizations
Location: College Park, MD

Ms. Bilal is a Bachelors candidate in Public and Community Health at the University of
Maryland, College Park where she also is a candidate for obtaining a certificate in African-American Studies.  Meanwhile she is pursuing Pre-Pharmacy prerequisites to be admitted into Pharmacy School. Bilal is an active member of Strange Fruits, an organization catered towards young women, where she also flourishes as a poet. She is the Senior Editor for the Words Beats and Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Ms. Luci Murphy
Industry: Vocalist
Location: Washington, D.C.

Luci Murphy is a native of Washington, D.C. where she is a vocalist who often leads group singing, but “sun-lights” as a medical interpreter of Spanish and English. She has a long history of community activism, especially working with children at-risk. She has visited Lebanon to observe Palestinian Refugee Camps, China just before the normalization of relations with the U.S., Brazil for a grass-roots organizing conference, and Cuba to oppose U.S. travel restrictions. Murphy is Copy Editor for the Words Beats and Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Ms Rosetta Thurman
Industry: Non-Profit Sector
Location: Washington, D.C.

Rosetta Thurman has worked in the nonprofit sector to support youth development organizations for the last six years.  She is a lover of hip-hop music and believes in its transformative power for today's youth.  A writer and poet, she holds a Bachelor's degree in English from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.  Thurman is Copy Editor of Words Beats and Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Mr. Mazi A.E. Mutafa
Industry: Non-Profit Management
Location: Washington, D.C.

Mazi Mutafa, alumni of the University of Maryland-College Park and brother of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. is the co-founder and Executive Director of Words Beats and Life (WBL), a hip-hop non-profit committed to transforming individual lives and communities through the elements of hip-hop culture.  WBL operates the Benning Park and Nicholas Orem Urban Arts Academy, two youth artist incubator program in Ward 7 of the District of Columbia and Prince Georges County, MD for a total of 65 youth ages 7-18.  WBL also publishes the Words Beats and Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop, DC’s first and only global journal of hip-hop culture, of which Mutafa is the Marketing Director.    

Mr. Kelali Dogbe
Industry: Public Policy
Location: Fairfax, VA

Kelali Dogbe is a full time Graduate student in Public Policy at George Mason University. He is also co-founder of NjNc Entertainment, which is a booking agency based in Greensboro North Carolina. As a Lyricist, he has been featured on NorthStar Production Groups Volume 1 Compilation and has performed in Virginia and North Carolina. As a journalist, he has published opinion editorials for heavycontact.com. He is a Research and Marketing Intern for Words Beats and Life.

AUTHOR BIOS

Dr. Daudi Abe
Dr. Abe has been teaching “Hip-Hop Theory and Culture” at Seattle Central Community College in Seattle, Washington for three years.  He attended Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California from 1988-1992 and served as a hip-hop DJ on “The Hype Show” on radio station KSCU from 1991-1992.  After teaching grades K-8 for eight years at Zion Preparatory Academy in Seattle, Dr. Abe enrolled in the Ph.D. program in the College of Education at the University of Washington.  Since completing his degree in 2004, he has taught several hip-hop based courses in the Seattle area, including work with the Upward Bound program.  Most recently Dr. Abe has written journal articles and presented at several professional conferences regarding the use of hip-hop culture as formal academic curriculum.       

Dr Clyde Woods
Dr. Woods is an Assistant Professor of Black Studies at the University of California,
Santa Barbara. His work focuses on African American regional political economy, blues and hip-hop epistemology, and social movements in the Mississippi Delta, New Orleans,
Southern California, East Texas, and in the Baltimore/Washington region.  He has taught at Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Maryland.  His first book was Development Arrested: Race, Power, and Blues in the Mississippi Delta. The second edition of this work includes an examination of New Orleans and Katrina Time. A new work on Los Angeles and the Watts and South Central Renaissances is near completion.

Mr. Eric Jenkins
Eric Jenkins is a Ph.D. student in Speech Communication at the University of
Georgia, after receiving his masters in the same field from the University
of Texas-Austin. His research focuses on the possibilities for politics in a
consumer and commodity-saturated culture. His love for hip-hop often serves
as a focal point and foundation for this exploration. The exploration takes
Eric into the study of Marxism, cultural studies, poststructuralist theory and media theory.

Mr. Hari Jones
Hari Jones is the Assistant Director and Curator of the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, D.C.  As a U.S. Marine in the late seventies, he became familiar with Marine Corps slang.  Jones is a native of Oklahoma where he was tutored by elders who knew from which Africans they came.

Ms. Tori Arthur
Tori Arthur came to Washington, D.C. in May of 2000 to further her career in journalism.
She received a MFA in Creative Writing from American University in May of
2006.

Ms. Monika Grzywnowicz
 Ms. Grzywnowicz currently resides in Poland. She is a Graduate student at Institute of British and American Culture and Literature, University of Silesia. She is in the process of writing her Master’s Thesis titled Black Feminism and Its Representation in Afro-American Literature and Contemporary Female Hip-Hop.  Her main fields of interests include African American literature and culture, all aspects of hip-hop, feminisms, gender studies, and LGBT Movement.

INTERVIEW BIOS
Jeff Chang
Jeff Chang has written extensively on race, culture, politics, the arts, and music. His first book, Can't Stop Won't Stop, garnered many honors, including the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award.  He was a founding editor of ColorLines magazine, and a Senior Editor/Director at Russell Simmons' 360hiphop.com. In 1993, he co-founded and ran the influential hip-hop indie label, SoleSides, now Quannum Projects.  Chang received a bachelor's degree from California State University, a master's degree in Asian American Studies from UCLA and published scholarly articles on culture and race relations in Hawai'i and Los Angeles. He has lectured at dozens of colleges, universities, festivals, and institutions in the U.S. and around the world.  Chang has edited an anthology entitled Total Chaos: The Art & Aesthetics of Hip-Hop, due in February 2007.

Amiri Baraka: