Greg Tate is an American author, focusing on African-American cultural theory and writing. He was acknowledged by The Source magazine as one of the 'Godfathers of Hip-hop Journalism'.[1]
An essayist and long time staff writer for The Village Voice,[2] Tate has published widely, with writings on art, music, and culture appearing in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, Spin, Artforum, The Nation, and DownBeat, and Africa-based magazines such as Glendora Review and Chimurenga.
The impact of Tate's writing lies in the seminal productive tensions he navigates between post-structural theory and black cultural nationalism; academia and street culture. Tate has been inspired by black innovators such as Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, George Clinton and the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat . Furthermore, Tate has defied fixed notions about what constitutes authentic black culture, and has inscribed a new radical trajectory that is simultaneously rebellious yet intelligently written.
Now in his 50s, Tate continues to challenge cultural hegemony, writing on everything from hip-hop to YouTube. His books include Flyboy in the Buttermilk, Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience and Everything But the Burden: What White People Are Taking from Black Culture.[3] He is also a founding member of the Black Rock Coalition and the conductor and music director of Burnt Sugar, a band that fuses jazz, rock, funk, and African music in a lyrical, exploratory and improvisational manner.
In 2010 Tate won a United States Artists Fellow award.[4]
This article uses text from the Chimurengal Library under the GFDL