Dexter Thomas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, and correspondent for VICE Information, got here to DePauw on Tuesday, September 13, and gave a speech titled “Japanese Rap Music and Remixing the Information.”
J.P Olsen, the brand new director of the Pulliam Heart, described Thomas as “a polymath who does all of it very nicely.” Thomas can also be the primary speaker that Olsen dropped at DePauw as the brand new director.
Thomas’ presentation on Tuesday night time addressed his analysis on Japanese hip-hop music, significantly the contribution of a Japanese manga artist named Yutsuko Chūsonji and her collection “Wild Q” to Japanese hip-hop tradition. Thomas referred to as the collection “hip-hop edutainment,” the place Chūsonji taught Japanese folks on the time about hip-hop tradition and vocabulary. Thomas thought-about manga an academic energy like TikTok and any accessible medium.
After the presentation, Thomas confirmed the viewers his virtual reality interview, which was a part of a challenge on VICE Information. Within the interview, the viewers might see a panda and a cat speaking to one another as a illustration of Thomas and his interviewee, respectively, in actual life.
When requested in regards to the motivation behind his choice to make use of digital actuality expertise, Thomas mentioned he needed to persuade his colleagues that the interview needed to be performed that means.
“I noticed [the interviewee] similtaneously the remainder of the world noticed him. I didn’t need to see anyone however that little black cat…That’s how folks work together with one another,” Thomas mentioned.
He added that this type of communication deserved to be handled significantly fairly than be considered as “bizarre folks enjoying in digital actuality.”
In response to Thomas, digital actuality was simply certainly one of many issues that he has performed. He doesn’t have a beat as a result of he’s involved in tradition, which he outlined as “no matter retains you on the sofa and get off the sofa to go do one thing, which suggests the whole lot.”
Thomas additionally shared that he has constructed his profession by doing what he likes to do with no expectation of success. He mentioned that though there are lots of people who’re specialists in Japanese hip-hop music, many who know rather a lot about video video games and nonetheless many who’re well-acquainted with Japanese disco historical past, there are only some folks like him who’re educated about all of them.
“What I am saying is that I had no concept that any of the stuff that I used to be engaged on could be in any respect priceless sooner or later. Nevertheless, wanting again, I can notice that each one the stuff that I used to be into, each time I acquired right into a passion, let me study the whole lot I can about this factor that appears very foolish to different folks…At a sure level, you begin to be in the course of this very, very uncommon Venn diagram,” Thomas mentioned.
Extra details about Dexter Thomas and his works will be discovered at www.whatupdex.com.
