Last week, Prof. Mykaell Riley, director of the BMRU, and BMRU research associate Lizzie Bowes were kindly invited to present at the Transatlantic Rap conference, hosted at the Sorbonne-Nouvelle in Paris. This one-day symposium brought together leading thinkers in literary studies, cultural studies and musicology, from across the UK, USA and Europe. Prof. Riley’s keynote address charted the work of the BMRU to date: from the AHRC-funded Bass Culture project, to the Beyond the Bassline exhibition hosted in collaboration with the British Library, to our current AHRC-funded project EQUALIZE, in collaboration with Young Sounds. His talk gave an overview of our current and previous projects, whilst deconstructing some of the biggest issues troubling the study of Black music in the contemporary age: institutional marginalisation, the rise of AI, and the need for greater transatlantic and international networks of collaboration. The rest of the day featured presentations from scholars working in disparate areas of scholarship, with Lizzie presenting some of her preliminary PhD research on new avenues in musicological and literary analysis of Black-British rap. The conference was a huge success, and we look forward to following up on the new connections and conversations made with attendees and presenters. A huge thanks to the Sorbonne-Nouvelle for hosting us, and to the organisational team – especially PhD student Luna Kondombo – for their kindness and thoughtfulness in putting this event together!
