Television legend Norman Lear, creator of iconic television shows including All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Good Times, will discuss the impact of his work on hip-hop music and culture at a live taping of The Combat Jack Show at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
Television legend and author Norman Lear, creator of a variety of iconic television shows including All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, and Good Times, will discuss the impact of his work on hip-hop music and culture and his recent memoire, Even This I Get to Experience at a live taping of The Combat Jack Show at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Hosted by hip hop culture expert and former music attorney and music executive Reggie Ossé, also known as Combat Jack, the taping will be held on Wednesday, Oct 14 before an audience of select students from the NYU Clive Davis Institute. Dan Charnas, award-winning journalist and author as well as associate arts professor at the Clive Davis Institute, will also take part in the discussion.
“Shows like Good Times and The Jeffersons not only shaped an image of black families but also engaged the nation in an ongoing, honest discussion about race which had a profound effect on hip-hop artists, and that continues to this day,” said Ossé. “I’m honored to have him on the show to talk about his legacy. I’m also looking forward to having this conversation in the presence of the next generation, as we discuss how the cultural depictions of race have evolved and regressed in recent years.”
“Norman Lear had the courage to present American life in all its forms, giving voice for the first time to the stories not only of black families, but to single mothers, adopted children, and many more segments of society that had been previously been obscured in American popular culture,” said Charnas, a former executive and hip hop historian. “Many people we’ve come to regard as icons in the world of hip hop have acknowledged their tremendous debt of gratitude to Lear and the example he set in their formative years.”
Lear’s groundbreaking television series earned him four Emmy Awards, 14 Emmy nominations, a Peabody, the National Medal of Arts, and the Humanist Arts Award. Even This I Get To Experience will be published in paperback on October 27, 2015.
The Combat Jack show is the No. 1 hip hop podcast in the US, featuring interviews with hip hop icons and in-depth conversations about music, news, culture, and race.
Dan Charnas, a full time member of faculty at NYU Clive Davis Institute, is the author of The Big Payback and has written about culture, music, race, and politics for NPR, Complex, Spin, Vibe, Billboard, and Huffington Post, among others.
The event is a closed, student-only taping, but the podcast will be aired on October 19 and can be accessed from The Combat Jack Show website at thecombatjackshow.com.
About the NYU Tisch Clive Davis Institute
The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music provides professional business and artistic training toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree for students who aspire to succeed as creative entrepreneurs in the music industry. The program bears the name of its chief patron and advisor, Clive Davis.
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