Show Notes
For this episode of Within Our Gates I am joined by my comrade Jared Ball to do a long awaited talk on Hip Hop and its politics. We dig into some significant, yet under known projects that looked to deepen Hip hop's connection to the broader movement of Black revolutionary history such as the Black August Hip Hop project, and what this period history uncovered about the issues of the artist/celebrity in liberal capitalist culture in the context of wedding them with political movements. We dig into a rather unseen documentary on the project as well as some other sources. Its a dope episode and frankly one of the first in a series of episodes I plan on doing with Jared on this subject. Looking forward to hearing thoughts! Check out some of these links before the episode drops! Black August Hip Hop Project Documentary My 50th Anniversary Hip Hop Documentary by Jared Ball The Assimilation of Hip Hop, Hegemony, and the Empire State by Shellyne Rodriguez 50 Years, Is There Anything Left Of Hip Hop? Dr. Jared A. Ball is a Professor of Communications Studies and Black/Africana Studies at Morgan State University, author of I Mix What I Like!: A Mixtape Manifesto: https://imixwhatilike.org/2011/07/01/..., The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power, host of iMiXWHATiLiKE!, co-founder of Black Liberation Media, and co-host of Saturdays with Renee: • Saturdays With Renee You can find his work on YouTube at / @imixwhatilikejaredball and / @blackliberationmedia To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber! Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes
More from Within Our Gates
This episode I am once again solo style! Answering (great) questions from my Patreon listeners, and it all kind of ended up being under the hood of Materialist Dialectics and how it can help us look at the arts. Some of it explicit, some of it implicit. Thanks to all who submitted questions! Please send some more responses so we can keep the conversation going!
Peace Comrades! For this episode I have with me Alice Lovejoy to discuss her book Tales of Militant Chemistry: The Film Factory in a Century of War. The book is "the untold story of film as a chemical cousin to poison gas and nuclear weapons, shaped by centuries of violent extraction. Following scientists, soldiers, prisoners, and spies through Kodak's and Agfa's global empires, Alice Lovejoy links the golden age of cinema and photography to colonialism, the military-industrial complex, radioactive dust, and toxic waste. Revelatory and chilling,Tales of Militant Chemistry shows how film became a weapon whose chemistry irrevocably shaped the world we live in today."
For this episode happy to have with me Steven Osuna to talk about the legendary film Memories of Underdevelopment by late Cuban Filmmaker and theorist Tomas Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Alea was a major figure in cinema, and in the development of Cuban cinema and culture in the early days of the revolution until his death in 1996. A prolific filmmaker, cinematic theorist and cultural leader who was one of the founders of the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC). While he made many incredible films, Memories of Underdevelopment is one that is most known, and often is misrepresented here in the imperial core, as a film critical Cuba's socialist revolution. Steven and I look at the film from the revolutionary socialist perspective it was made in and look to challenge the revision that has been attempted towards the film and Aleas legacy overall. Memories of Underdevelopment stands as one of the great analysis of the concept of underdevelopment that comes out of Marxist theory.
For this episode I am joined by Lara Sheehi, someone if you have been paying attention to these anti-imperialist airwaves you have def seen, and if you aren't yet familiar with Lara's work you are def in for something truly substantial, and can't miss this episode. Lara, who is one the true counter hegemonic forces in the world of psychoanalysis helps me untangle questions around the ideas of narrative, and documentation within the imperial nexus and the pernicious liberal project of humanization. I also ask Lara to help me unpack a bit how and possibly why psychoanalysis is popular in Film Studies these days. Its a great convo and Im sure you will ALL enjoy! Lara Sheehi is a Research Fellow at the University of South Africa's Institute for Social and Health Sciences, a licensed clinical psychologist, and the host of the Psychic Militancy podcast. Lara's work focuses on psychoanalysis, the psychic refusals central to liberation struggles and life-making in the Global South, the psychic dimensions of resistance and revolution, and critical Zionism studies. She is co-author with Stephen Sheehi of Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine (Routledge, 2022) which won the Middle East Monitor's 2022 Palestine Book Award for Best Academic Book. Lara is a member of the founding collective for the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism and is on the advisory board for Forensic Architecture. Her new book, From the Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures will be released by Pluto Press in May 2026.
For this episode I am solo! I dive into a Patreon members extended question on Third Cinema and how can we envision it for today. It was a rather capacious set of questions so I felt it would be good to set aside some time to jump into the topic more thoroughly as it connects to a lot my current theoretical work that I am developing. In general I plan on doing these solo episodes once a quarter (at least) and will do at least a section of it focused on listener questions! And don't worry, Ill be back with folks for guest episodes very soon. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber! Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on Patreon and make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes