With colleagues, friends, and familia – Celebrating the life of Professor Dipa Basu from Pitzer College “where she became beloved as the “Professor of Hip Hop,” inspiring generations of students through her work on the sociology of music, Black popular culture, and the politics of race and ethnicity. She also co-edited the influential book The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture (2006), which brought critical international perspectives to hip hop studies and remains widely cited.

Alongside her academic career, Dipa was deeply dedicated to community work. She worked with young prisoners at HM Prison Feltham Young Offender Institution in the UK and at Camp Afflerbaugh–Paige, a juvenile correctional facility in California, sharing education, meditation, and the uplifting power of art and music. She believed passionately in giving everyone a chance to grow and transform.”