Hip-Hop Chess Founder Speaks at Stanford University
Author of Bobby Bruce & Bam Talks Chess, Hip-Hop and Nonviolence at Stanford
Oakland, CA 4/11/16- Three Lions Press is proud to announce the release of a new book, Bobby Bruce & Bam: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess written by Adisa Banjoko, aka The Bishop. This extraordinary book outlines how the of rise of Bobby Fischer, Bruce Lee and Afrika Bambaataa unintentionally converged and influences Hip-Hop, chess and martial arts in America in unexpected ways. It includes a workbook teaching the first 12 lessons people can use to embrace chess as a life strategy tool for school and business. The recently launched website www.bobbybruceandbam.com features a 29 page sampler of excerpts. The book serves as a disruptive blueprint that helps urban kids shift their approach to education, entrepreneurship, and life’s possibilities. The book is available in digital form only on Amazon. Print versions drop April 10, 2016. Adisa Banjoko will speak at Stanford University Monday April 25, 2016 from 4-6 PM. The Stanford Institute for Diversity in the Arts, The Muslim Student Union and the Asian American Students will host “Artist as intellectual, and intellectual as Activist” – A presentation by Adisa Banjoko talking about his work and exploring his new book Bobby, Bruce, and Bam: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess. The event will also be shown on Periscope @hiphopchess .
“I am honored to be speaking at Stanford University. I will be sharing some powerful new video and audio in my presentation that evening. I believe Hip-Hop is leading the way in providing the most meaningful breakthroughs for education in America and the world. Stanford’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts has been consistently hosting authentic conversations about art and activism. I’m very excited.”
Adisa Banjoko, aka The Bishop is a respected disruptor in the space of education innovation. Adisa began his journalism career while still a high school student interviewing Eazy E shortly before the formation of NWA. Adisa went on to become one of the first west coast writers for The Source, RapPages and VIBE among others. He broke some of the first profiles on artists like Tupac Shakur, Del, Mixmaster Mike, DJ Qbert, Hieroglyphics, Master P and many others in the rise of west coast rap in the early 1990s’. Adisa Banjoko is a powerful speaker who has lectured at many universities across the country including Harvard, Lehigh, Oberlin College, UC Berkeley and others. His ideas on chess, rap and martial arts have been seen in Forbes, Good Morning America, Black Enterprise, Ebony and the cover of Chess Life Magazine.
In 2006 after visiting incarcerated youth in San Francisco he created the Hip-Hop Chess Federation (HHCF). The HHCF is a 501c3 non-profit that fuses music, chess and martial arts, to promote unity, strategy and nonviolence. in 2015, the HHCF was invited to teach the staff at the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis on the connections between Hip-Hop and chess. The result was the Living Like Kings exhibit (which broke attendance records surpassing Bobby Fischer's). He and RZA of Wu-Tang Clan (who now serves on HHCF’s Board) spoke to high school youth and incarcerated youth in St. Louis during all off the rage and chaos after the death of Mike Brown. Their efforts illustrated a nonviolent narrative largely overlooked by both mainstream and Hip-Hop media.
Bobby Bruce & Bam: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess outline how this unique fusion came to pass and the lives Adisa Banjoko has been able to change through it. The book highlights his his ideas while in teaching kids in St. Louis with Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, his experiences fighting inner city school violence in The Bay Area and how rap music celebrate chess more than any other form of music on the planet.
To buy the book or download the PDF sampler for Bobby Bruce & Bam: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess now at www.bobbybruceandbam.com !
