The Power Plant

In conjunction with Vincent Meessen's exhibition Blues Klair, The Power Plant is pleased to present Right On! (1970), directed by Herbert Danska. Described by producer Woodie King as the “first ‘totally black film,” Right On! features the original Last Poets, including Gylan Kain and Felipe Luciano, performing their radical poems on the rooftops and streets of Manhattan. This is not a “studio” film—it is a street film for the people. The performances are sharp, urban, radical, and clearly the beginning of today’s street-cool hip-hop culture.

This film will be introduced by Dr. Mark V. Campbell. His research focuses on exploring the sonic innovations within black music, Black Canadian studies, and the knowledge production of digital archives. Dr. Campbell is a former Banting Postdoctoral Fellow in the department of Fine Arts at the University of Regina and is currently the Principal Investigator in the SSHRC funded research project on Hip Hop Archives at the University of Toronto. As co-founder of the Bigger than Hip Hop radio show in 1997 and founder at Northside Hip Hop Archive in 2010, Mark has spent two decades embedded within the Toronto hip hop scene operating from community engaged praxis as both a DJ and a curator.