Fifteen Bay Area ensembles pay homage to Grammy award–winning, iconic artist Lauryn Hill, lending their unique, creative voices to songs from her timeless soul and hip hop album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Reinterpreting the classic record from start to finish, they create a musical cross-pollination ranging from jazz undertones, hip hop, Latin rhythms, and high-energy. UnderCover Presents: A Tribute to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill reflects on gender in unique ways while also responding to ongoing curatorial inquiries into the viability of hip hop at a contemporary arts center. We ask ourselves how we can embrace its rapidly changing form as it takes new shape across the domestic landscape and is transposed within international bodies. Clas/sick Hip Hop is our vehicle.

This year, Clas/sick Hip Hop, explores gender norms in hip hop culture, celebrating the presence and impact of femininity in a subculture that has historically been characterized by hyper-masculinity and violence. Dance performance Opposing Forces, with artist Amy O’Neal, responds to society’s binary frameworks through dance styles like breaking and cyphering. UnderCover Presents: A Tribute to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, spotlights the work of the iconic artist whose first solo album shaped a woman’s perspective on everything from relationships to life in the hood, in a genre and industry dominated by men. Sixteen Bay Area ensembles pay homage to the Grammy award–winning iconic artist by lending their unique, creative voices to the classic songs we know and love. Be there for the return of Clas/sick Hip Hop. Move and be moved.