Young people today donâ??t know a world without hip-hop. Itâ??s simply the “mechanism and medium right now,” said Rafael Casal, and as creative director of the First Wave program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, heâ??s pushing to get this recognized on campus.
“Weâ??re trying to make a shift in the lens through which they see the world,” said Casal, a 24-year-old San Francisco Bay Area native who had been a successful touring emcee and spoken word poet for years when he landed in Madison and in his current job.
Some of the student emcees of First Wave, at its core a bridge between academics and the arts, are putting on an end-of-semester hip-hop show at the Rathskeller on Saturday, Dec. 5. Their efforts are two-fold: theyâ??re using their music as a vehicle for academic inquiry, and theyâ??re also giving Madisonâ??s off-campus hip-hop scene a shot in the arm.