Cyphers and Verse

In 2005, Anthony “Ant Black” Blacksher and grace jun collaborated as spoken word poet and choreographer to direct and produce evening-length works with a collective of dancers, poets, and musicians. Grounding their work in the scholarship of H. Samy Alim and James G. Spady's concept of hiphopography, they view Hip Hop as a lived process and cultural practice, using their own case studies as Hip Hop cultural creators to tell their stories. Under the auspices of bkSOUL, their works explore the movement, verse, and sound of Hip Hop and implement the practices of call-and-response and cyphering to center community-building. This chapter focuses on three projects. Hip Hop Saved My Life (2009) recreates how Hip Hop culture shaped their identities, memories, and collective voice. Illegible (2015) centers the role of artists in transforming critical scholarship and social protests into social justice advocacy. Get Free (2019) explores different layers and meanings of getting free personally and collectively.