TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Music Fest is happening this weekend at Curtis Hixon Park.

Ahead of that, Friday night, the festival features a panel discussion, 50 Years of Hip Hop: Past, Present & Future, with the help of the University of South Florida (USF)’s director of the Contemporary and Commercial Music program at the School of Music.

The panel discussion is at 7 p.m. Friday night at USF.

Spectrum News sat down with Kenrick Wagner, who runs the USF program.

He gave a lesson on hip-hop and rap at Grand Bay Recording Studios in Tampa.

“And there’s one other thing that I talk about in my classes,” said Wagner to his students as they prepared for a recording session. “I want you to really focus on how fast you’re able to capture the main idea of the song.”

He also taught techniques from his trade.

Along with the class, Spectrum News listened to a creation by one of the students, Truman Hoang, who goes by his artistic name, Truman VP.

He is the president of USF’s hip-hop club.

Instructor Wagner explained why hip-hop transcends social groups and communities.

“A lot of the things that we say in the music, we say it in the music because in other spaces and places it may not resonate as strongly as it would,” said Wagner. “Unless we have a fly beat behind it.”

During the class, the students gave feedback on each other’s work.

One of the recordings Spectrum News listened to belonged to James Bell. His artistic name is Big Free.

The professor then broke down his thoughts on and lifted Big Free’s track.

“Right, your successes, your wins, your struggles...you have an amazing ability to put all these thoughts together.”

Whether it hits hard or influences in-style, Wagner suggested hip-hop makes you feel good through healing.

“And that’s why one of the reasons why hip-hop exists is because we have to have these conversations in our communities about pain, about struggle, about our culture that we’re afraid to say on the main stage,” he said. “And I feel like hip-hop and rap music have always been an avenue for us to step up and speak out, be brave and do that.”

His students also chimed in for this story.

Truman VP said for him, it is an opportunity to write and express things that are difficult to express otherwise.

“Bringing something from nothing into existence and its full freedom of expression,” said Big Free.

Another student, Vivian Mai, also known as Queen V, said she loved crafting and creating stories with her words.

“The beauty of hip-hop is representation, you know,” said Ahrod White.

What was learned from today’s class is 50 years later, hip-hop is in good hands.