Atlanta Music Icon Jermaine Dupri sits down with Georgia Tech Culture Scholar Dr. Joycelyn Wilson for a deep dive on how Atlanta grew to become a global cultural phenomenon. Through her work as an ethnographer, Dr. Wilson has been able to trace the cultural forces that have shaped the city's unique identity as the thriving epicenter of Hip Hop and R&B. This conversation will be recorded for the Sing For Science podcast and moderated by its host, Matt Whyte.
Join Emory's Center for Public Scholarship and Engagement for a special keynote evening featuring music pioneer Jermaine Dupri and Hip-Hop scholar Dr. Joycelyn Wilson.
Jermaine Dupri is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. He discovered the teen hip hop duo Kris Kross in 1991. He established his own record label, So So Def Recordings in a joint venture with Columbia the following year. Dupri has since signed artists including scape, Bow Wow, Da Brat, Jagged Edge, Dem Franchize Boyz, YoungBloodZ, and Anthony Hamilton to the label. Meanwhile, he worked with Mariah Carey, Usher, Monica, and Nelly to produce a total of 11 chart-topping singles on the Billboard Hot 100. As a recording artist himself, Dupri's debut studio album, Life in 1472 (1998) peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and was supported by the top 40 single "The Party Continues" (featuring Usher and Da Brat) and the Grammy Award-nominated "Money Ain't a Thang" (featuring Jay-Z). His second album, Instructions (2001) peaked at number 15 and was led by his second top 40 single, "Welcome to Atlanta" (featuring Ludacris).
Joycelyn Wilson is known to many as a "hip-hop scholar," but she's actually an educational anthropologist, exploring hip-hop's intersections with innovation, design, and social justice. As assistant professor of hip-hop studies and digital media, Joycelyn Wilson's courses highlight how hip-hop is rooted in innovation and pedagogics and can be used to inspire design thinking, engineering education, and digital and computational media. Wilson received her B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, and a master's from Pepperdine University. She can comment on pop culture stories, Atlanta hip-hop, and hip-hop's intersections with politics and culture. Driven by her roots coming from a family of educators, she believes that culture, hip-hop, and the arts have a way of exposing a person to their gifts and that exposure is the true essence of education. She is also focused on the impact and importance of the upcoming 50th anniversary of hip-hop, and, when asked how Atlanta has influenced the culture of hip-hop, she replied, Atlanta influences everything."