Jared A. Ball has been on the airwaves of KBOO several times; in interviews related to news programming, on airings of Hard Knock Radio, and even on 'guess who's coming to radio??!!' (in a segment on A Tribe called Quest and Phife Dawg). However, we had been wanting to do a full-on episode with him... and at the end of his segment with us we made a commitment to have that happen.
Jared Ball's journalistic and radio experience began to take flight with FreeMix Radio: The Original Mixtape Radio Show, in 2002. Since then, he has produced radio for Pacifica and RapStation.com, was a producer and host with The Real News Network, and was a columnist with Black Agenda Report. He currently is a columnist with the Atlanta Black Star.
While his academic and journalistic resume is extensive, it is ultimately mass organized movements (and a love of hip hop) which drive the work he does. He meshes his time as professor of Media and Africana Studies at Morgan State University (and work as a columnist and lecturer), with producing material for the i MIX WHAT i LIKE! website and podcast (https://imixwhatilike.org). i MIX WHAT i LIKE! utilizes an Emancipatory Journalism model, inspired by Professor Hemant Shah. The purpose of Emancipatory Journalism (EJ):
A) presupposes that inequality and oppression exist and that there are (neo)colonies and colonized populations requiring a form of journalism that is;
B) bottom-up. Central to EJ’s concept of good journalism are the perspectives of those most oppressed, those of members of the communities themselves – particularly those organizing social/cultural/political movements – as opposed to government or business officials and elites and;
C) argues that notions of “objectivity” must be critiqued if not entirely discarded in favor of clearly identified, studied, researched perspectives that advocate radical re-ordering of societies.
With that, i MIX WHAT i LIKE! has been consistent in challenging neo-colonialist identities in politics and popular culture, and examines the material conditions Africans face, in order to find solutions... as well as advocating for histories and narratives which solidly include women and femmes- sadly, something far too few African-centered media do.
Throughout all this we will be honoring the music and legacy of Alwin Lopez Jarreau, the "Acrabat of Scat", who has recently traveled to the ancestors. The day he physically entered this earth was March 12, 1940. His sunset was February 12 of this year. Mr. Jarreau traveled the world many times over, but was said to have always remained humble. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in psychology, and a masters in vocational rehabilitation; but ultimately turned to his love of song as his life-long mission, where he worked with long-time friends such as George Duke. Like Sharon Jones, he entered an industry at an older age which focuses on developing artists much earlier. Maintaining a jazz tradition, he has inspired artists such as Kem, as well as connecting with the generations who grew up on hip hop.
For more information, go to:
https://twitter.com/imixwhatilike
https://www.instagram.com/imixwhatilike/
https://www.youtube.com/user/IMIXWHATILIKE
(image courtesy of imixwhatilike.org)
