[media-credit name=’JAKE NAUGHTON/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]Discussing the history and modern mentality of urban music and culture, a self-proclaimed “hip-hop intellectual” spoke to University of Wisconsin students and community members Wednesday at Memorial Union.

Michael Eric Dyson, author of “Know What I Mean” and “Why I Love Black Women” as well as a professor at Georgetown University, spoke as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series.

Addressing the audience in spoken-word form, Dyson integrated verses from popular hip-hop songs to further the points he made about the themes, ideas, struggles and controversies surrounding the art form.

Dyson said hip-hop culture has played an essential role in forming what American culture is today.

“The alleged vices and evils of an art form that is said to be the source of so much … disconcerting identity formation among young people, that it makes them do things they normally wouldn’t do and say things they normally wouldn’t say and be attracted to things that normally would be attracted to, that they glorified and glamorized the under belt, the underside, of American popular culture,” Dyson said in a portion of rhythm-guided address.

Dyson said although many stereotypes of the hip-hop community may be true, those who have recently judged the lifestyle do not realize it has been around for more than 25 years.

“What’s interesting is people getting in late on the debate about hip-hop forgetting that it has been for so long a powerful art form, one of the most intriguing developments in American popular culture, indeed globally, over the last quarter of a decade,” Dyson said.

Hip-hop has given a platform to many individuals beyond well-known contemporary artists.

“It has provided opportunities … to experience upward mobility and craft careers and commission themselves as missionaries in musical fields that they otherwise may not have access to,” Dyson said.

Dyson explained what he said were contradictions between today’s hip-hop artists and great men in American history, including Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton — whom Dyson referred to as “A. Ham.”

Dyson said “A. Ham’s” death was ultimately caused by a gun standoff and his need to defend his masculinity, something prevalent in today’s hip-hop society, adding “the same thing connects ‘A. Ham’ and Snoop Dogg.”

Dyson added that homophobic ideologies did not start in hip-hop, but rather the church, and he believed that Jesus didn’t care if people where gay or not.

He also said women should be recognized for more then their physical appearance.

“I don’t want to reduce the complexity of female identity to their behind, they got brains and souls and spirits and minds,” Dyson said.

UW freshman Sofia Snow said Dyson gave a “smart talk.”

“I just loved how he was basically talking in poetry — it was like an extra emphasis on what hip-hop culture really is,” Snow said. “I was loving all the points he brought up, like talking about the youth and what it really is, how it really is an intellectual artistic movement.”

Snow added that if “people want to criticize the misogyny and the hate and the violence in hip-hop, then they really got to criticize the misogyny and hate and violence in American culture, which started way back when we were founded.”