Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought
Platinum-selling, three-time Grammy-winning co-founder of The Roots
Theaster Gates
Artist, archivist, curator, and professor and Special Advisor to the President at the University of Chicago
The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are
BONUS BOOK GIVEAWAY! We are giving away copies of The Upcycled Self to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
Today Tariq Trotter—better known as Black Thought—is the platinum-selling, three-time Grammy-winning co-founder of The Roots, and one of the most exhilaratingly skillful and profound rappers the culture has ever produced. But his story begins with a tragedy: as a child, Trotter burned down his family’s home. The years that followed are the story of a life snatched from the flames, forged in fire.
In The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are, Trotter doesn’t just narrate a riveting and moving portrait of the artist as a young man but gives readers a courageous model of what it means to live an examined life. In vivid vignettes, he tells the dramatic stories of the four powerful relationships that shaped him—community, friends, art, and family—each a complex weave of love, discovery, trauma, and loss.
But beyond offering the compellingly poetic account of one artist’s creative and emotional origins, Trotter explores the vital questions we all must confront about our formative years: How can we see the story of our young lives clearly? How do we use that story to understand who we’ve become? How do we forgive the people who loved and hurt us? How do we rediscover and honor our first dreams? And finally, what do we take forward, what do we pass on, what do we leave behind? This is the beautifully bluesy story of a boy genius’s coming of age that illuminates the redemptive power of the upcycle.
Trotter is one of the most powerful voices in hip-hop and the winner of three NAACP Image Awards and leads the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, joined by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (FAN ’21), co-founder of The Roots.
Trotter will be in conversation with Theaster Gates, world-renowned artist, archivist, social innovator, and professor and Special Advisor to the President at the University of Chicago. Prof. Gates creates work that focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture, and performance.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Event Sponsors
- The Alliance for Early Childhood
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- Baker Demonstration School
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- The Family Institute at Northwestern University
- Family Service Center
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- Francis W. Parker School
- Gorton Center
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- Haven Youth and Family Services
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- Illinois Student Assistance Commission
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- Lake Forest Academy
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- Latin School of Chicago
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- Lycée Français de Chicago
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- Morgan Park Academy
- New Trier High School D203
- New Trier Parents’ Association
- North Shore Country Day
- Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations
- Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy
- Pope John XXIII School
- Rebel Human
- Regina Dominican College Preparatory High School
- Resurrection College Prep High School
- Rogers Park Montessori School
- Roycemore School
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- Stevenson High School D125
- University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
- Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District
- Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart
- Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.)
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