PeaceOUT World Homo Hop Festival
Encyclopedia
The PeaceOUT Homo Hop Festival, was an annual festival of hip hop music
and culture
created by Lesbian
, Gay
, Bisexual, and Transgender
(LGBT
) people and held in Oakland, California
from 2001 to 2007.
The original event began at the suggestion of East Bay (Oakland) Pride organizer Pete King.Though King was not a fan of hip hop music or culture,he was familiar with the numerous out queer hip hop artists performing in the San Francisco Bay Area and felt the growing scene was an important component of the LGBT arts community.
In June 2001, King approached Juba Kalamka
of the group Deep Dickollective
about his ideas (including naming the event "PeaceOUT") and inquired as to the possibility of organizing the event.Though at first reticent as a result of what he viewed as racial and class antagonism toward hip hop at mainstream pride events,Kalamka eventually relented, which led to the organization of "Cypher 2000:One" by his Deep Dickollective bandmate Tim'm West and London-based DJ Christopher "Mister Maker" Harvey,who founded the Gayhiphop.com website in 2000.
The success of the event led to plans to create a larger scale event in 2002.East Bay Pride sponsored the event until its own dissolution after PeaceOUT 2003,at which time main financial sponsorship and organization was coordinated by Kalamka's micro-label Sugartruck Recordings and Matt Wobensmith founder of the zine and record label Outpunk
and later the Queercorps imprint.
Among the performers who appeared at the festival were Deep Dickollective
, Katastrophe
, Tori Fixx
, God-des, Deadlee
and soce, the elemental wizard
.
Performances from the festival are featured in the documentary Pick Up the Mic
which premiered at the 30th Annual Toronto International Film Festival
on September 11, 2005.
Despite initial plans to continue with PeaceOUT as a bi-annual event following the 2007 festival, Kalamka decided to close the event permanently in July, 2008. The official website is currently maintained as a permanent historical archive of the festival.
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
created by Lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, Gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, Bisexual, and Transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
(LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) people and held in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
from 2001 to 2007.
History
The festival was first held in August 2001 (and was known as "Cypher") as a part of the East Bay (Oakland)LGBT Pride and continued annually through 2007, switching to a bi-annual schedule commencing in 2009. There have also been other related festivals held in New York City PeaceOUT East, London, England PeaceOUT UK, and Atlanta, Georgia PeaceOUT South.The original event began at the suggestion of East Bay (Oakland) Pride organizer Pete King.Though King was not a fan of hip hop music or culture,he was familiar with the numerous out queer hip hop artists performing in the San Francisco Bay Area and felt the growing scene was an important component of the LGBT arts community.
In June 2001, King approached Juba Kalamka
Juba Kalamka
Juba Kalamka is an African American bisexual artist and activist recognized for his work and founding member of homohop group Deep Dickollective and his development of the micro-label Sugartruck Recordings....
of the group Deep Dickollective
Deep Dickollective
Deep Dickollective was a black and queer hiphop group based in Oakland, California that helped launch the homohop genre of openly queer/LGBT artists including the PeaceOUT World Homo Hop Festival.-History:...
about his ideas (including naming the event "PeaceOUT") and inquired as to the possibility of organizing the event.Though at first reticent as a result of what he viewed as racial and class antagonism toward hip hop at mainstream pride events,Kalamka eventually relented, which led to the organization of "Cypher 2000:One" by his Deep Dickollective bandmate Tim'm West and London-based DJ Christopher "Mister Maker" Harvey,who founded the Gayhiphop.com website in 2000.
The success of the event led to plans to create a larger scale event in 2002.East Bay Pride sponsored the event until its own dissolution after PeaceOUT 2003,at which time main financial sponsorship and organization was coordinated by Kalamka's micro-label Sugartruck Recordings and Matt Wobensmith founder of the zine and record label Outpunk
Outpunk
Outpunk enjoys the distinction of being the first record label entirely devoted to queer punk bands.The label was run out of San Francisco and began as an extension of Matt Wobensmith's fanzine, Outpunk. Outpunk ran for seven issues, from 1992 till 1997, with contributions from queer punks such as...
and later the Queercorps imprint.
Among the performers who appeared at the festival were Deep Dickollective
Deep Dickollective
Deep Dickollective was a black and queer hiphop group based in Oakland, California that helped launch the homohop genre of openly queer/LGBT artists including the PeaceOUT World Homo Hop Festival.-History:...
, Katastrophe
Katastrophe (rapper)
Rocco Kayiatos, best known by his stage name Katastrophe, is an American hip-hop rapper and producer.Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, he began competing in poetry slams in 1997. After winning the 1998 Youth Speaks poetry slam, he went on tour with Sister Spit's Rambling Road Show tour. By age...
, Tori Fixx
Tori Fixx
Tori Fixx is one of the first openly gay hip hop artists, and also produces music for other noted queer performers. He is based in Minneapolis.-Career:In the mid-90s, he DJed at parties for Prince at Paisley Park Studios in Minnesota....
, God-des, Deadlee
Deadlee
Joseph Lee, better known by his stage name Deadlee, is an American rapper and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. The musician, who is of Mexican American and African American descent, launched his career back in 2000. In 2002, he released the critically acclaimed debut album 7 Deadlee Sins...
and soce, the elemental wizard
Soce, the elemental wizard
Soce, the elemental wizard is a New York City-based rapper and producer and one of the rap scene’s openly gay MCs.-About Soce:...
.
Performances from the festival are featured in the documentary Pick Up the Mic
Pick Up the Mic
Pick Up the Mic is a documentary film, released in 2006, which profiles the underground LGBT hip hop scene and homohop, which is a subgenre of hip-hop that includes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rappers, DJ's and hip-hop artists. The film was directed by Alex Hinton.The documentary had...
which premiered at the 30th Annual Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on September 11, 2005.
Despite initial plans to continue with PeaceOUT as a bi-annual event following the 2007 festival, Kalamka decided to close the event permanently in July, 2008. The official website is currently maintained as a permanent historical archive of the festival.
External links
- Chovin, Neva (September 10, 2003). "They're here, they're queer and they homohop." San Francisco Chronicle
- Phat-Family.org organization exploring hip-hop music and LGBT identity
- Pick up the Mic documentary about the Homo Hop scene