By the time I got to Harvard, I feel like I knew who I was, and my job there was to throw as much against the wall as possible, to see what would stick.
There’s certainly a lot of noise in the hip-hop world now [that] I don’t pay active attention to, but to the extent that I represent some flavor of what’s happening in hip-hop – it’s subconscious.
Knowing that “me” is inextricably linked to blackness, [I try to enjoy] the process of expanding beyond the expected boundaries set by existing culture, norms and media.
As I’ve submerged myself in news of the revolutions sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, I wanted desperately to feel part of what was going on. And then it hit me: This is what white people were doing to me after Obama was elected!
I work in comedy, journalism, media, and technology, many of which don’t have a lot of black faces in visible positions. I walk through Brooklyn with a surfboard. It’s fun to challenge and expand people’s expectations.
My family life and early political life – being exposed to the news constantly, being enrolled in an Afrocentric education program, and doing the extracurriculars I did – played a huge role in me finding my path.
I care about the diversity of the mindset of the people creating our future, and the windows through which we see it, and the tools we use to build it.
![Baratunde Thurston Quote - There’s certainly a lot of noise in the hip-hop world now [that] I don’t pay active attention to, but to the extent that I represent some flavor of what’s happening in hip-hop – it’s subconscious.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/theres-certainly-a-lot-of-noise-in-the-hip-hop-wor-683x1024.jpg)
![Baratunde Thurston Quote - Knowing that “me” is inextricably linked to blackness, [I try to enjoy] the process of expanding beyond the expected boundaries set by existing culture, norms and media.](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/knowing-that-me-is-inextricably-linked-to-blacknes-683x1024.jpg)
