Phew! I guess my love for chess is not all that geeky after all. It’s good to see events like the Hip-Hop, Chess and Life Strategies: II Exhibition being put together by the Hip Hop Chess Federation.
While Hip Hop in its current form can be criticized for various shortcomings, I still believe that anything that promotes the game of kings amongst young people is a worthwhile effort. And events like this, with well-known (at least amongst hip hop aficionados) rappers like the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA (whose lyrics often use chess metaphors), should attract a crowd that may not normally be attracted to the rather bland world of chess.
Here Adisa Banjoko talks about the founding of the Hip Hop Chess Federation, and reveals “Hip-Hop’s intellectual dirty secret” – complete with a long list of chess-playing rappers.