Respect the Technique: Last Night a DJ Saved my Life
About this Event
The conference is 3 days of panels, interactive workshops, performances, film screenings, and networking. Attendees connect across disciplines, share research and creative work, and engage with conversations shaping Hip Hop culture today.
Conference Theme
Respect the Technique: “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life”
The conference highlights the artistry, innovation, and cultural impact of DJs and producers across generations and global contexts. From the origins of Hip Hop to the digital age, DJs and producers have shaped sound, community, and cultural movements in profound ways.
https://youtube.com/shorts/xtzITkoSb88?feature=share
Conference Hotels:
The two conference hotels offering special conference rates for November 13-15, 2026, will be
- Hotel Nell: $189 per night, plus taxes (411 New York Ave NE, Washington, DC)
- Email Contact: [email protected]
- Room Code: HOWARDHIPHOP26
- Suggested Subject Line: HOWARD HIP HOP STUDIES CONFERENCE ROOM BOOKING
- Contact Number: 202-990-4844
- - $199/night + taxes (1201 K Street NW, Washington, DC)
*Our Friday evening reception will be at Hotel Nell this year.
Hip-Hop Studies minor website:
https://youtube.com/shorts/H1cPsiKjecU?feature=share
Registration Fees
The Hip Hop Studies Conference is an independent, community-driven event and is not sponsored by the university or supported by external funding. Each year, the conference is made possible through grassroots fundraising efforts and registration fees.
Your registration has allowed us to provide conference bags, badges, and programs; support sound and lighting for performances; contribute to travel costs for keynote speakers; and include breakfast and lunch as part of your registration.
All conference organizers volunteer their time and labor, and 100% of registration revenue is reinvested into hosting and sustaining the conference each year.
By registering, you are not only attending—you are actively helping to build and sustain this important space for Hip Hop scholarship, creativity, and community.
Friday
🕑: 06:30 PM - 09:00 PM
Opening Reception
Saturday
🕑: 08:00 AM - 09:00 AM
Registration and Breakfast
🕑: 09:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Conference Welcome and Opening Session
🕑: 10:30 AM - 11:45 PM
Concurrent Panels & Workshops
Info: Explore how DJs preserve Hip Hop’s past & shape its future in two panels and one workshop offered during this session.
***Living Archives: Mixtapes, Memory & Cultural Preservation examines Gangsta Grillz, mixtape archiving, & DJs as custodians of cultural history through memory, practice and community.
***Queen Js: She Saved the Culture re-centers women DJs through the history of the Mercedes Ladies. Scholar and filmmaker Tewodross Melchishua Williams joins original member Dbora “Baby D” Meyers to explore women’s innovation, leadership, and influence through archival materials and firsthand testimony.
***AI, Assistive Tech, and the Future of Inclusive DJing, led by Courtney Willis of Spin the Spectrum, offers live demonstrations and strategies for teaching autistic and neurodivergent DJs. Discover how adapting instruction to sensory, communication, and motor-planning needs can strengthen technique, expand access, and honor Hip Hop’s roots.
🕑: 12:00 PM - 01:45 PM
Concurrent Panels
🕑: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Lunch
🕑: 03:15 PM - 04:30 PM
Concurrent Panels & Workshops
Info: Discover how DJs connect communities, carry cultural messages, & introduce new sounds across borders in two panels & a workshop.
***Hip Hop Beyond Borders explores African rap, algorithms, and governance; South African DJ oral histories from apartheid to streaming; Hip Hop as a tool for community storytelling; and the internet’s role in shaping Iranian Hip Hop.
***Moving the Message: Platforms, Media & Cultural Storytelling examines DJs as journalists, cultural gatekeepers, & storytellers. Presentations connect music & message with cinema, Black church worship, the legacy of King Sun and D-Moet, and fifty years of fashion behind the turntables.
***From Origin to the Unknown, facilitated by Jace of The Residency, traces DJing’s history & the selectors who brought regional sounds to new audiences. Two DJs guide attendees through regional scenes, arriving in the Pacific Northwest to spotlight artists with national, regional, and global reach. The workshop culminates in a live mixtape.
🕑: 04:45 PM - 06:00 PM
Concurrent Panels & Workshops
Info: Explore DJing as a source of knowledge, a model for navigating change, * a means for student connection in one panel and two workshops.
***Teaching the Technique: Pedagogy, Listening & Knowledge, examines DJs as educators and archivists. Speakers explore listening, cultural memory, classroom practice, identity, belonging, resistance, and curation for social change.
***Last Night a DJ Saved My Life. Tomorrow, DJ Thinking Might Save Our Future, led by Manny Faces, turns digging, listening, reading the room, and remixing into strategies for collaboration and adaptation. Guided exercises help participants apply DJ thinking to their work and communities.
***The School Cypher Summit, led by Kareem McQuilkin, uses La Reezy’s lyrics and a cypher challenge to introduce Transformative Social and Emotional Learning. Educators explore identity, agency, belonging, problem-solving, and curiosity, leaving with tools to amplify student voice and build supportive school communities.
🕑: 07:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Conference Performance Showcase
Sunday
🕑: 08:30 AM - 09:30 AM
Registration and Breakfast
🕑: 09:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Opening Plenary
🕑: 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Concurrent Panels & Workshops
Info: Explore Hip Hop’s creative future, community power, and classroom possibilities in 2 panels & 1 workshop.
***Hip Hop’s Next Remix: AI, Art & Technology examines race and technology, graffiti and DJing’s analog roots, social media remix culture, Lupe Fiasco’s TextFX AI experiment, and connections between lyricism and protein design.
***Last Night a Deejay Saved My Life, Again explores how DJs sustain Black communities through crisis & uncertainty. From Club Quarantine and Pass the Mic to protests and grassroots gatherings, panelists consider music for healing, resistance, advocacy, cultural preservation, and belonging.
***GO SHE-J!: Amplifying Girls’ Voices Class Playlist Curation, led by LaToya Parker, shows educators how collaborative playlists can strengthen student voice, critical literacy, and social-emotional learning. Through song selection, lyric analysis, sequencing, and reflection, participants begin planning lessons that connect Hip Hop, girls’ empowerment, and ELA skills.
🕑: 12:00 PM - 01:45 PM
Concurrent Panels & Workshops
Info: Explore Hip Hop’s power to nurture care, challenge exclusion, & preserve knowledge in 2 panels & 1 workshop.
***More Than Music: Hip Hop, Healing & Survival examines knowledge as a survival resource, DJ Premier’s eco-spirituality, memory and care, D-Nice’s Club Quarantine, and DJing as mindfulness in Hip Hop therapy.
***Claiming Space: Black Women, Queer DJs & Hip Hop explores race and masculinity in the Kendrick–Drake beef, Black women’s self-definition, DJing as Black feminist worldmaking, Black queer DJs’ resistance, and Noname and Little Simz’s curatorial decolonization.
***From Turntables to Technology, led by software engineer Tatiana Johnson, uses SpinConnect to explore ethical tools for archiving, artist discovery, and community connection. Participants consider how to protect mixtapes, stories, techniques, and regional sounds, leaving with design principles for technology that keeps Hip Hop’s cultural legacy in the hands of the communities that created it.
🕑: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Lunch
🕑: 03:15 PM - 04:30 PM
Concurrent Panels & Workshops
Info: Explore the DJ’s foundational role in Hip Hop and turn technique into knowledge through 1 panel & 2 hands-on workshops.
***Respect the DJ: Hip Hop’s Roots, Craft & Legacy examines problem-solving, breakbeats and healing, the DJ’s cultural authority, scratching’s declining presence in rap, Atlanta bass, and algorithms as gatekeepers.
***Sankofa Sounds, led by Adofo Ka-Re, connects breaks, sampling, movement, & memory through listening & a live DJ demonstration. Hear soul, jazz, funk, and gospel transformed, then begin curating a short set using selection, sequencing, and transitions to create energy and tell a story.
***The Architect’s Blueprint, facilitated by Justis Lopez, Pinqy Ring, and Martha Diaz, introduces DJ competencies in the National Hip-Hop Education Guidelines Index. Explore mixing, sampling, turntablism, and digital workflows as classroom tools, contribute feedback, and leave with practical teaching strategies and access to the DJ framework. No DJ experience required.
🕑: 04:45 PM - 06:00 PM
Concurrent Panels & Workshops
Info: Discover how DJs keep Black musical history alive & create soundscapes for learning, reflection, & growth in 2 workshops.
***Time Traveling Through Turntables: How DJs Keep Black Music Alive Through Sampling, led by Imani J. Wallace, explores sampling as remembrance and citation. Through musical analysis and live listening, trace connections between earlier genres and contemporary Hip Hop. Spoken-word artists Lyrical Faith and Storyteller Gordon connect DJ practices to poetry through discussion, archival examples, and performance, revealing how remixing preserves stories while creating new possibilities.
***From Rocking Parties to Empowerment: DJs, Digital Technology & Mixtapes, led by Raphael Travis, explores mixtapes as tools for education, therapy, and community change. Demonstrations with DJ and MIDI controllers, digital audio workstation, and mixtape examples introduce an empowerment framework. Leave with strategies for curating meaningful sonic journeys for yourself and others.
🕑: 06:15 PM - 06:45 PM
Closing Conference Cypher
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00 to USD 81.88
