Martha Diaz

Martha Diaz (MD) is an award-winning Colombian-American social entrepreneur, educator, media producer, archivist, and curator dedicated to advancing educational equity. With over 30 years of experience across the entertainment industry, public arts, education, and academia, she founded the Hip-Hop Education Center in 2010. A global thought leader and community organizer, MD has chronicled and preserved Hip-Hop history through groundbreaking exhibitions, research reports, books, and curricula. She launched the first-ever Hip-Hop Film Festival in 2002 and has produced / consulted on influential media projects. A graduate of NYU’s Gallatin School and Tisch School of the Arts, MD has led archival work for Parkwood Ent. and the Tupac Shakur Estate, among others. 

Rahman Jamaal

Rahman Jamaal is an award-winning writer with a passion for learning that yields exceptional opportunities to impact individuals on a professional and personal level. Before graduating with honors on full scholarship from the University of Southern California with 3 degrees in Cinema-Television, Music Industry, and Communications in the Entertainment Industry, he made international impact as the breakout star of the record-setting 2003 Sundance Film Festival feature "THE BEAT" directed by Brandon Sonnier. His experience with the film inspired him to return to his hometown and use his creative gifts to establish new teaching methods in Redwood City, CA, fueled by his passion for music, filmmaking, community engagement, and social justice. 

Dr. Kristine (Tina) Wright

Dr. Wright is a trailblazing hip hop scholar in academia, creating one of the first hip hop centered Sociology courses at a R1 university in 2000. She is also a noted commentator and has been invited to speak at numerous events to discuss hip hop, race, class, gender, media, youth political mobilization, and social justice more broadly. She has taught for 25 plus years at all levels of the California public school system: K-12, community colleges, California State University and the University of California. Dr. Wright is a trailblazing hip hop scholar in academia, creating one of the first hip hop centered Sociology courses at a R1 university in 2000. 

Dr. Francesca D'Amico-Cuthbert

Dr. Francesca D’Amico-Cuthbert is a multi-disciplinary creative, educator and award-winning historian of American and Canadian Hip-Hop culture, the creative industries, and the music marketplace. She currently serves as Chief Research Officer at the Hip-Hop Education Center where she leads the “Fresh, Bold, So Def” initiative which documents and preserves the contributions and achievements of women in Hip-Hop culture across and beyond the United States through the development of research and Hip-Hop methods, the curation of archives, and the development of educational tools and curricula.

Anthony Pineda

Anthony Pineda is a passionate music educator and advocate for mental health, utilizing the transformative power of hip-hop culture to foster healing and resilience in diverse communities. With over 15 years of experience in the education sector, Anthony has dedicated his career to promoting mental wellness through creative expression, believing wholeheartedly in music's ability to inspire, heal, and uplift.

Marlon Richardson

MC, Producer and Educator UnLearn The World reviews the history of Black Social Justice and Spiritual movements of the 20th century. We will explore communities like the Black Panthers, Nation of God's and Earths and Zulu Nation among others and their influence and impact on Hip Hop Music, culture and ideology from the turn of the century, late 60s to present day. We will discuss how greetings like "peace" and concepts like "Knowledge Of Self" and "Self Determination" made their way into the lexicon and overall ethos of Hip Hop and its artistic elements.

Prizm Chosen

PRiZM, also known as King PRiZM, is an internationally respected Hip Hop Cultural Specialist, educator, and speaker recognized for his ability to transform lives through the power and principles of Hip Hop. A native of the Bronx and lifelong student of all 9 elements, PRiZM is an honored representative of Hip Hop’s values, principles, lessons, and positive transferable qualities. For over 30 years, he has educated, mentored, and inspired others through the transformative power of the culture.He was honored by Hip Hop pioneers with a Cultural Kingship, a rare acknowledgment reserved for those who have mastered the art of teaching the culture’s values, purpose, and real-world application.

Jason "Phatz" Kirkman

Zulu King Jason “Phatz” Kirkman has been a Hip Hop culturalist representing Hampton Roads VA for over 35 years. “Phatz” found his purpose to become a Hip-Hop scholar, historian and teacher as a Chapter Leader (President) of The Universal Zulu Nation Ch. 30. S.F.NZ. One of the position’s primary purposes was to become a Hip Hop historian and teach the history to your chapter and your community. Phatz accomplished this by co-facilitating a Hip Hop education program named E.R. C.A.M.P. where they taught the elements of Hip Hop to the youth from 2004 to 2016. By collaborating with The City of Virginia Beach, E.R. C.A.M.P. successfully organized an eight week Hip Hop summer camp from 2013-2015.

George Martinez

Hon. George Rithm Martinez is a hip-hop political pioneer, cultural diplomat, educator, author, and artist. A former Unsigned Hype in The Source magazine (1996), he became the first hip-hop artist elected to political office in New York City (2002) and is the only one elected in multiple U.S. states, serving in Alaska since 2023. He is the founder of the award-winning Global Block Collective and the founding director of the BITWNOTW Sanctuary Project, a nonprofit dedicated to community healing, nature-based education, and sacred space preservation. Appointed by the U.S. State Department as the first Hip-Hop Ambassador for the Western Hemisphere (2006), Martinez has led cultural diplomacy missions in more than 15 countries.

Defranco Brocks

DeFranco Brocks is a passionate community leader, author, and creative entrepreneur with a lifelong commitment to social impact and cultural empowerment. As the former president of Movement Material Inc. and current Executive Committee Member of Hip Hop Congress, he has championed youth advocacy, arts, and education across diverse communities.

Emile Jansen

Emile YX? is a South African Hip Hop elder, educator, and award-winning changemaker with 40+ years in the culture. In 2024 he received the National Order of Ikhamanga (Silver)—a top civilian honor—bestowed by President Cyril Ramaphosa for contributions to arts and Hip Hop culture. Honors include: Words Beats & Life Award for Best Hip Hop Organization (2010), LeadSA and e.tv South African Heroes Awards (2016), induction into the South African Hip Hop Museum Hall of Fame (2019), and the American Association for Applied Linguistics Distinguished Public Service Award (2022).

Yogi

Yogi Guyadin, known artistically as Y?, is a visionary Artivist, musician, composer, and educator with over 18 years of experience using the arts as a tool for healing, empowerment, and social change. He is the Founder and Omni Director of Creative Expressions, a community-based arts organization dedicated to fostering creativity, resilience, and transformation through trauma-informed, socially conscious programming.

Easy (AD) Harris

Easy A.D. has a singular distinction. He is not a detached observer or keeper of history but a "Living Archivist," a true oral historian whose own lived experience is the very source material he preserves. A co-founding member the Legendary Cold Crush Brothers, Easy A.D. is an iconic pioneer who helped create hip hop in its very beginning in 1978. He and his group developed an explosive style that blended rhyme, rhythm, and spectacle.

Dominique "D-Nick" Stockman

D-Nick has served youth all over the city in Chicago for over 20years spreading his talents to organizations such as, Youth-Guidance, Changing Worlds, & others. D-Nick is most associated with The Microphone Misfitz.The Microphone Misfitz use the pillars of Hip-Hop and their shared dynamics to enlighten and sustain their audiences

Simma Baka

Simma is an educator, counsellor, and social strategist who bridges culture, art, wellness, and learning. Grounded in individual practice, classroom innovation, and work with vulnerable populations, she creates person-centered spaces for healing, growth, and education across schools, youth programs, wellness settings, and museums.A believer in lifelong learning as liberation, Simma empowers young people not just as learners—but as creators, storytellers, and visionaries.

Andrew Wang

Andrew Wang is a music educator, researcher, and advocate whose work explores the intersections of hip-hop, neurodiversity, and inclusive pedagogy. He has co-authored multiple publications with Dr. José Valentino Ruiz, including articles for the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) on hip-hop education, beatboxing for speech therapy, and the therapeutic and advocacy potential of rap. 

James Perry Jr.

Dr. James A. Perry Jr. is a Hip-Hop scholar, higher education leader, and the visionary behind CHILL – A Convergence of Hip-Hop, Identity, and Leadership for Liberation, a framework and movement that reimagines leadership as a creative, cultural, and communal act. With over a decade of experience across equity, student success, and academic leadership, Perry brings a rare blend of praxis and poetry. His research merges critical race theory, Hip-Hop feminism, and spirituality to examine how leadership can be remixed as a collective act of resistance and renewal.

Kelly Glow

​If you don’t usually listen to rap music, that might change once you hear Kelly Glow. Her unique style is fun, funky, and full of energy. Kelly Glow is a genre-defying rapper whose music blends clarity, charisma, and universal appeal. Born in Watts and raised in South Central L.A., she overcame the challenges of urban life with the support of her family before relocating to Atlanta — where her journey as an artist truly began. From performing at the Georgia Dome for 20,000 people to winning a Gospel Choice Award, Kelly’s career spans decades of evolution, growth, and reinvention. Her recent collaboration with producer Zona Simz marks a powerful new era — one where she’s finally found her true sound.

Dawn Smith

Dawn is the Founder of the long-running hip-hop center, J.U.i.C.E, and current Director and Head Disruptor at Whole Life Solutions, offering a non-traditional approach to career transition coaching and relationship coaching for couples in crisis. She brings her background in mental health, habits, and decision-making to support professionals in high-stress industries in navigating major change in minutes a day and has worked with over 1000 couples around the country.

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Antar Fierce

​Antar K. Fierce was born and raised in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York in the early 1970s. His education in art began on the subway platforms of New York City in 1983. Starting out as a graffiti writer, he soon became a devoted documentarian of the artform. In the Fall of 1989 Antar moved to Atlanta Georga to attend Clark Atlanta University. He immediately noticed Atlanta’s version of graffiti was both aesthetically and culturally different. Over the next 30 years, Antar immersed himself in the local graffiti scene.

Manny Faces

Manny Faces is an award-winning journalist, speaker, and cultural strategist who helps organizations remix how they innovate, educate, and uplift by unlocking the untapped potential of Hip Hop culture. He is the host of the acclaimed podcast Hip Hop Can Save America! and author of the Cornel West–endorsed book Hip Hop Can Save America! Inspiration for the Nation from a Culture of Innovation, where he spotlights the often-overlooked ways Hip Hop drives fresh solutions in education, health, social justice, leadership, and beyond.

Pinqy Ring

Pinqy Ring is a rooted and revolutionary Puerto Rican MC from Chicago, decolonizing minds one rhyme at a time as a rapper, Hip Hop educator, mentor, speaker, and U.S. Hip Hop Cultural Ambassador. Pinqy serves as a GrammyU Mentor and a member of the Recording Academy’s Education and Membership Committees, sits on the National Advisory Board for Music Will alongside icons like Wyclef Jean and Darryl McDaniels of Run DMC, and manages and facilitates Hip Hop diplomacy programming in collaboration with the U.S. State Department. With philanthropy as part and parcel of her platform, Pinqy mentors the next generation of creative change agents through culturally rooted programming and radical care. As a mentor, cultural worker, and disruptor, she reimagines a world where youth voice and power are at the center of education and liberation. 

Epee Dingong

Epée Hervé Dingong is an international freelance writer from Paris, France. After earning his BA in journalism from CFPJ he went on to become Editor of French hip-hop publication Radikal Magazine from 1998–2005. As a staff and freelance writer he’s interviewed artists from all over the world. His work has been published in-print and online, in both US and European publications such as Juice Magazine, Radikal Magazine, Tracklist, The Source Magazine, The Source France, Musique Info Hebdo, Lady Caprice Magazine, The Ave Magazine, Mugshot Magazine, www.daveyd.com, www.euromight.com and www.thestarklife.com. Epee is the author of 2 books, "Mixtapelogie" about the history and evolution of the mixtapes in US and he co-wrote "Mapping Black Europe" about black people in Europe. He's currently working on a book essay about Pete Rock and writing his first TV script series.