dream hampton

dream hampton (right) in conversation with Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Pop Conference at EMP Museum, 2013.

dream hampton (stylized in lowercase letters, in emulation of feminist author bell hooks, who was an early influence) is a cultural critic^[1] and filmmaker.^[2]

Life and career

hampton is originally from Detroit but has lived between New York and Detroit for most of her professional career. She currently is based primarily in the Detroit area, where her mother and family reside. She is mixed race (her father is African-American, her mother is white). She studied film at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she filmed her neighbor – and recently signed rap artist – Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace for a documentary class. She has since been involved in a series of film projects. She was an associate producer of VH1's Emmy-award winning Behind the Music: Notorious B.I.G. and co-producer of Bigger than Life, the first feature-length documentary on the rapper, directed by Peter Spier. Her short film "I am Ali" was an entry at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival^[3] and won "Best Short Film" at Vanity Fair's Newport Film Festival. She was a co-executive producer of An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (2012),^[4] associate producer of The Russian Winter (2012),^[5] director of the music video "QueenS" (2012) for SubPop artists TheeSatisfaction!^[6] "QueenS" was hampton's music video directorial debut; however, this was not her first time directing. hampton previously directed the above-mentioned "I Am Ali" as well as Black August: A Hip-Hop Documentary Concert (2012).

hampton has written about music, culture and politics since 1990. She was the first female editor of The Source magazine, but is often mistaken for having served as editor-in-chief (Kimberly Osorio is the publication's first female editor-in-chief). She also served as editor-in-chief of short-lived Los Angeles-based Rap Pages Magazine^[7] and has been a contributor to Vibe for 15 years, beginning with its launch 1993,^[8] The Village Voice,^[9] and Spin.^[10] Other publications her writings have appeared in include The Detroit News, Harper's Bazaar, NPR, Essence, and Ebony. Her essays have also been included in over a dozen anthologies, including Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic (2009), edited by Michael Eric Dyson, and Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness (2012), edited by Rebecca Walker.^[11]

hampton collaborated with Jay-Z and served as a ghostwriter on the New York Times bestselling^[12] book Decoded.^[13] She was also reportedly hired in 2009 by Sean Combs to work with him on his autobiography.^[14]

hampton was a member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) and a sponsor of Black August, a yearly tribute concert benefiting political prisoners.^[15] Her film about the event, Black August: A Hip-Hop Documentary Concert, debuted at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 2010.^[16] Many of the film's claims about the history and origins of MXGM and the organization's dealings in Cuba have been widely disputed by other MXGM founding members.

Bibliography

Books

• Contributor, Decoded, Jay-Z,^[17]

Essays

• "D'Angelo: Soul Man", Vibe Magazine, April 2000^[18]
• "Parable of the Writer: Octavia E. Butler, science fiction visionary, 1947–2006", The Village Voice^[9]
• "Dreaming America: Hip Hop Culture", Spin Magazine, November 1993.^[10]

Anthologies

• "Bad Boy", in The Vibe History of Hip Hop, Three Rivers Press^[19]
• "Born Alone, Die Alone", in Born to use mics: reading Nas's Illmatic By Michael Eric Dyson, Sohail Daulatzai^[20]
• "Audacity", in Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness. Edited by Rebecca Walker, Soft Skull Press, February 1, 2012^[21]

Filmography

• Behind The Music: The Notorious B.I.G., 1997, associate producer^[22]
• I Am Ali, 2002, Director^[23]
• Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life, 2007, executive producer
• Black August: A Hip-Hop Documentary Concert, 2010, director^[24]
• "The Russian Winter" 2012, associate producer
• "An Oversimplification of Her Beauty", 2012, co-executive producer^[4]
• "QueenS", 2012. Music video for SubPop artists, TheeSatisfaction!^[6]
• Treasure: From Tragedy to Trans Justice Mapping a Detroit Story,^[25] 2015, executive producer

References

External links

• Official Site
• Official Twitter account
• Blog