Amanda Seales ‘edutains’ the Hofstra community
Amanda Seales explains West Coast gangsta rap and provides historical context for the contributions of African Americans throughout the music industry as well as their accomplishments in the hip hop genre. // Photo courtesy of Matteo Bracco / Hofstra University.
As the lights dimmed in the John Cranford Adams Playhouse, the crowd’s anticipation intensified as they awaited the riveting entrance of Amanda Seales. The evening of Thursday, Sept. 14, was unlike any other on Hofstra’s campus. Faculty, students, guests and community members all gathered to see the comedian, actress, producer and creator host her one-of-a-kind show: “Smart, Funny, & Black.”
Best known for her iconic role in HBO’s “Insecure” as Tiffany DuBois and her stand-up comedy show “I Be Knowin’,” Seales graced Hofstra’s stage with her extraordinary comedic talent. As the creator and host of the variety game show “Smart, Funny, & Black,” Seales combined culture, education and entertainment to “edutain” the audience on racism and culture.
While Seales is a comedian, she is also a visionary who graduated from Columbia University with a master’s degree in African American studies. The event was presented and sponsored by numerous Hofstra departments, organizations and clubs, including the Hofstra Cultural Center, UMOJA Scholars LLC., the Africana Studies Program and Student Government Association.
Katrina Sims, a professor of history and faculty-in-residence, assisted in organizing the event. She originally thought of the event in the summer of 2019 when she attended several concerts and events in an attempt to immerse herself in the New York City culture. The show’s call-and-response moments were “reminiscent of southern Black church services, like those I attended as a young person at Mt. Zion Progressive Baptist Church,” Sims said.
It also brought on waves of nostalgia, as Sims recalled, “Saturday mornings waking to my momma grooving to Guy’s ‘Yearning for Your Love’ and Anita Baker’s ‘Sweet Love’ as she cleaned and shed the worries of the week before we all gathered at my auntie’s house where adults played spades and the kiddos played until we collapsed from the sheer excite of being together.”
“When I created ‘Smart, Funny, & Black,’ I had in mind that we are in an education space because I believe that education can lead to our liberation,” Seales said. She introduced the show by explaining that it was a space for cultural elevation and celebration where the audience is both entertained and educated, hence her coining the phrase “edutainment.”
According to Sims, she immediately knew that “the Hofstra community would benefit from experiencing the show. While we are an academic institution that appropriately centers lecture-style programs and events, I think it is necessary to prioritize moments of levity, leisure and upliftment. And that is what the ‘Smart, Funny, & Black’ show offered us, if only for an evening.”
Throughout the show, Seales explored Black history, culture and experience through a variety of hilarious jokes, edutaining games, and lively dances and songs. She began by introducing the “fams” that create the logo of ‘Smart, Funny & Black.’ “Just like Hogwarts have their houses, we have our fams,” Seales said.
She identified four fams: Rebel Fam, Woke Fam, Fly Fam and Cultcha Fam. The audience was ecstatic and participated in a call and response, where they repeated the motto of each fam after they were introduced. The mottos: “We fight!” “We read!” “We rep!” and “We vibe!” represented each individual of the Black community (listed respectively of each fam), from those who engage in activism to those who inspire innovation. “I also created this show because the reality is that we, as a Black community, need to remember that we are a community,” Seales said.
Lawson Kidd (right) and Renelle Wilson (left) battle in “Blebates” to determine who will be crowned the “Master Blackspert.” // Photo courtesy of Matteo Bracco / Hofstra University.
A highlight of the event was the participation of two Hofstra students – Renelle Wilson, a sophomore television production studies major, and Lawson Kidd, a junior political science major – who competed to be admitted into “The Illustrious League of Master Blacksperts.” Wilson and Kidd competed in three rounds of games.
The first round, “‘Splain It,” required contestants to explain topics on Black culture to the audience. Topics included old-school rap, crunk, hip-hop soul, West Coast gangsta rap and funk. Kidd ‘splained old school rap, saying, “Old school rap set the foundation for literally everything. Everyone [has seen] and [used] it for the last 50 years … It’s the origins. It’s the beginning. It’s the end.” After his explanation, the crowd sang along with Seales to Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five’s song “The Message.”
To ‘splain hip hop soul, Wilson recalled a memory that much of the audience related to. She asked them to remember when it was the weekend, and “It’s nine o’clock in the morning, and your mom will knock on your door and turn your lights on, and you start hearing ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ on the radio … We have Michael Jackson and everything we put into cleaning time to make it a good time.” By popular vote of the crowd, Wilson won “‘Splain It.”
Next was “Blebates,” or, as Seales clarified, “Black debates. These are the conversations that happen in your group chat, the conversations that really are not that important but [that] we are very serious about.”
The question for the “Blebate” round was, “Who would you vote for president, J. Cole or Kendrick Lamar?” Despite the air of humor, Seales utilized the topic to discuss the upcoming election year.
“Even though it [election candidates] may not be exactly who we want to vote for, we have to remember that we are not voting for an individual. We’re voting for a path. This is not going to be the election where we solve America. We’re not even close to that,” Seales said. “But what we are in the process of doing is creating opportunities for people like y’all [college students] to radicalize, to get educated and to get informed and to get together because it’s going to be you all that continue to take this country in the direction that you want it to go to.”
In his winning argument, Kidd defended Lamar, stating, “I gotta tell you, Kendrick Lamar should already be president. I mean, who could really bring people together in such a way like he did?”
In part three, “Black Facts,” each contestant was graced with a partner to help them answer questions about Black history and music. Kidd was joined by Jasmine Sellars, a senior journalism major, while Wilson was accompanied by Kathleen “Kat” Mars, a sophomore political science and criminology major. At the conclusion of “Black Facts,” Kidd and Sellars had the greatest number of correct answers; thus, Kidd was crowned the Master Blackspert.
Seales’ ability to create a welcoming community and provide a memorable evening of edu-tainment was appreciated by the audience.
Tameka Kendrick, a Hempstead resident, heard of the event from a coworker at the Roosevelt Public Library. “Being able to connect with a wide audience and deliver factual information while keeping it interesting makes learning fun!” Kendrick said. “It’s important to remember [and] share Black history through multiple lenses so that it’s not forgotten and to inspire our youth to continue to strive like those who came before them.”
To join the conversation, participate in upcoming events, or start edutaining, Seales advised the public to visit her website, amandaseales.com.
