Previously featured in the newsletter, Dr. Courtney Terry, the Hip Hop Museum’s Director of Education, is back to talk with us about an exciting new program called ‘My Camera Is My Weapon’ that will empower youth to pick up their cameras, get creative, celebrate Hip-Hop culture, and put down their weapons.

The Hip Hop Museum: What is the ‘My Camera Is My Weapon’ program?

Dr. Courtney Terry: This is the brainchild of Rocky Bucano, the executive director of the Hip Hop Museum. He is committed to making an impact on students and the community surrounding the Museum. I inherited this idea when I joined the team last year. My Camera Is My Weapon empowers young people and students to use their voices to serve the community. 

When I think about the intersections of photography and Hip-Hop culture, I’m reminded of all the wonderful archival photos from publications like VIBE and The Source magazine. We want to extend that legacy. In this new program, we have connected with famed Hip-Hop photographers like Johnny Nunez. 

THHM: What does the name of the program mean?

DCT: Using the camera as a weapon against voicelessness. Using the camera, which we all have in our possession most of the time. Using the camera as a weapon against the ills in our community. Against voicelessness. Against growing gang violence. 

THHM: Is there a way you envision this coming to life in the Museum?

DCT: We see the inaugural program as a judged competition. We’re going to pull off concurrent programs this summer, one at Dream Academy in the South Bronx and the other at Crystal Ray High School in Brooklyn. We’re in talks with the Museum’s digital team to curate an exhibit for these students.

THHM: Why do you think a program like this is important?

DCT: With Hip-Hop recently celebrating fifty years, we want to empower these students to tell their stories. We can yield more cultural marrow for the next fifty years by allowing students and young people to buy into being members of hip-hop culture.

THHM: Correct me if I’m wrong, but the program’s positioning is a big part of encouraging youth to pick up a camera instead of a weapon. Is that correct?

DCT: Absolutely. For the youth involved in the program, understanding this camera is more powerful than this weapon, especially in the context of Hip Hop. The camera is powerful. 

THHM: I want to close with a non-program-specific question. What does the forthcoming Hip Hop Museum mean to you as someone so deeply invested in Hip Hop culture?

DCT: Seeing this turnaround and seeing so many people in separate regions and places working together is empowering to me as a scholar. When I was in graduate school in Atlanta before the opening of The Grammy Museum, our library housed 2Pac’s estate papers and all these archival images and materials. I had a chance to sit intimately with all that archival material. That’s what I appreciate—being able to go to a location and experience the richness and nuances of Hip Hop culture. I think folks will get the fullness of it once we step into the space.