admin@elementz.org

CREATIVITY IS A SUPERPOWER

Hip Hop is a rich creative culture comprising of four elements: DeeJaying, or “turntablism”; rapping, also known as “MCing” or “rhyming”; Graffiti painting, also known as “graf” or “writing”; and “Break Dancing,” hip-hop dance, style, and attitude that is a movement many describe as “postural semantics.” A fifth element, “knowledge of self/“Consciousness,” is often added to the list of hip-hop elements, particularly by socially conscious hip-hop artists and scholars.

THE EVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED.

Advancing authentic Hip Hop Culture is a critical aspect of the mission of Elementz. As technology and the consumption of entertainment and information shifts dramatically, cultural content becomes increasingly vulnerable to dilution. The ramifications of that effect can impact the potency of any art form, particularly one as relatively young as Hip Hop. Therefore, we are focused on moving the culture forward in a meaningful way and empowering the next generation of cultural leaders.

ON A MISSION

Elementz is Cincinnati’s premier Hip Hop Cultural Art Center. Founded in 2002 as a direct response to the killing of Timothy Thomas, a young black man, and the social unrest in Over-the-Rhine that followed, Elementz was created to give voice to young people in the urban core and to disrupt the status quo, encouraging positive change in the community through civic engagement.

Today, Elementz embraces and leverages the richness of Hip Hop Culture to continue to help the young people we serve be catalysts of change and to engage in creative futures. We work to intentionally Preserve, Protect and Advance Hip Hop as art, culture and a global economic and creative force, while helping our young people prepare for the creative workforce by providing academic and social-emotional support as well as exposures to generate opportunities for future success.

Exposing our Youth to the Creative Economy

2023

ANNUAL IMPACT

Number of Students Served

(and counting)

Number of School Partners

(and counting)

OUR PEOPLE

DAMIAN HOSKINS

Executive Director

Creative, visionary, teacher/life-long learner.

LELA

RANKINS

Director Of Operations

Creative, visionary, teacher/life-long learner.

CAMILLE

JONES

Sr. Program Manager

Creative Futures

Dancer, creative problem solver, brilliance personified.

NOAH

HAWES

Program Coordinator

EMCEE, musician, producer, comedian.

DE'ARISS

HOPE

Content Coordinator

Filmmaker, DJ, master communicator, cool.

Where YOUTH BELONG.

Shared values is at the core of all we do in Hip Hop Culture. Elementz is committed to ensuring that Hip Hop Culture, and the artists that embrace and embody it, exercise their power and intentionally engage in collaborations, partnerships and initiatives that does not allow for exploitation. Instead, All members and stakeholders, artists and staff are committed to ensuring that the organization and constituent art forms are valued as authentic, rich, complex and evolutionary.