"...but I was cool"
Planet Hip Hop 3 Opening Reception
Curated and Hosted by Jerry Gant

This opening event of Planet Hip Hop 3 will unveil the installation, "...but I was cool," a meditation on the "cool factor" in black male subculture, commissioned by NJPAC and created by three black male artists: Jerry Gant (pictured), Robert Pruitt and Dread Scott. "...but I was cool" responds to historian Orlando Patterson’s assertion that the cool factor accounts, at least in part, for "the sorry state of young black men" in America today. As part of this event, Jerry Gant will also unveil a portrait of Eathon Hall, the late Program Director of Aljira and a highly respected member of the Planet Hip-Hop 3 Advisory Committee.

This event takes place at Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, 591 Broad St., Newark. Admission to this event is free. Tickets will be available at the NJPAC Box Office on the day of the performance. Admission is limited and will be on a first-come, first-served basis.