Fight the Power

Arash Daneshzadeh, Ed.D., currently teaches in the Graduate School of Education at the University of San Francisco and as faculty in the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Penitentiary. Dr. Daneshzadeh is Editor-in-Chief of The Transformative Justice Journal, National Chair for Save the Kids from Incarceration, and co-editor of Understanding, Dismantling, and Disrupting the Prison-to-School Pipeline. Anthony J. Nocella II, Ph.D., scholar-activist, is an editor of the Peace Studies Journal and a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Salt Lake Community College. He is the co-founder of disability pedagogy, terrorization, and ecoability and has published over one-hundred articles and forty books. Chandra Ward, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Her research focuses on democratizing and leveraging technology to address extant urban issues. Ahmad R. Washington, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Development at The University of Louisville. He teaches in the School Counseling program, where he works with pre-service school counseling students as they prepare to transition into the profession.

Don C. Sawyer III: Foreword – Clifton G. Sanders and Nathaniel “N8” Sanders: Preface Acknowledgements – Arash Daneshzadeh, Anthony J. Nocella II, Chandra Ward, and Ahmad Washington: Introduction: The Emergence of the 11th Element of Hip Hop – Anthony J. Nocella II: Chapter One: Interview with Lauren Leigh Kelly – Arash Daneshzadeh: Chapter Two: Interview with Eli Jacobs- Fantauzzi – Anthony J. Nocella II: Chapter Three: Interview with “Mic” Crenshaw – Anthony J. Nocella II: Chapter Four: Interview with Reies Romero – Chandra Ward: Chapter Five: Interview with Katrina Benally – Ahmad Washington: Chapter Six: Interview with Selinda Guerrero – Ahmad Washington: Chapter Seven: Interview with Antonio Quintana – Ahmad Washington: Chapter Eight: Interview with Jared A. Ball – David Michael: Afterword – Contributors – Index.

“This book is a staple for the Hip Hop activist community! Very informative, well written, and educational.”
—SouLyricist, CEO, Acoustic Funk Nation; Regional Coordinator, Save the Kids

“Hip Hop paves the way for us to express ourselves in a healthy, positive manner. Through experiences, we are able to tell our story. Through Hip Hop, our voices are heard.”
—VoiceOfHoney

“This book captures the breath of life, what Native Hawaiians call ‘hā’ and what indigenous Polynesians call ‘manavā,’ or power of the breath, through its interview format. Interviews and life writing take us beyond the pure unmitigated ‘lines of flight’ that Gilles Deleuze couldn’t imagine. Its easy-handed editing allows the distillation of the purpose of hip hop: the unmitigated rapture of soul. The end result is direct impact, not only the perpetually-fresh-rooted-to-a-blues-epistemology by a new generation of hip hop artists and activists, but also the impact of highlighting the dispersal of hip hop to the global south, a movement coalescing on the stolen American continent, Turtle Island.”
—Lea Lani Kinikini, Chief Diversity Officer and Special Assistant to the President for Inclusivity and Equity, Salt Lake Community College

“This volume centers the political organizing and political values that make hip hop not only a music genre but a movement. The interviews in this volume are essential reading for everyone interested in hip hop, activism, or the complexities of resistance to white supremacy, capitalism, and the state.”
—Sean Parson, Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Northern Arizona University

“A book of amazing interviews from powerful radical Hip Hop activists that are movers and shakers for social justice and liberation.”
—Arissa Media Group

“The book is a great step eclectic forward for Transformative Justice! A must read for anyone interested in prison abolition.”
—Lucas Alan Dietsche, Former Co-Poet Laureate, Superior, Wisconsin; Editor, Poetry Behind the Walls; Regional Coordinator, Midwest Save the Kids

“Packed with foundational knowledge about hip hop activism that scholars and activists involved in social justice movements must learn, this book is ideal for those seeking a solid introduction to the cultural power of Hip Hop. A timely collection of fascinating interviews that highlights how Hip Hop has inspired a broad range of social change initiatives such as criminal justice reform, youth organizing, and other socio-political issues plaguing communities across the world.”
—Amber E. George, Galen College