Polaris Prize nominee and Hamilton hip hop artist Lee Reed performs in Guelph on Jan. 24.
OPIRG-Guelph is hosting the event, which is intended to "strengthen our collective consciousness and stoke the fires of courage and clarity needed to protect the planet," organizers said in a news release.
The free takes place at Silence on Essex Street.
"Hosted by OPIRG-Guelph as a lead-up to the organization’s annual Rebel Knowledge Symposium, the event also features a short film screening of Trouble: Prelude to a Disaster, and a book launch of Inhabit: Instructions for autonomy," said the news release.
The event kicks off with a screening of Trouble: Prelude to a Disaster, a short, provocative anti-capitalist film on the climate emergency. Trouble is produced by subMedia, a grassroots media collective which aids social struggles through the dissemination of radical films and videos.
"Lee Reed is Canadian hip hop’s oldest and grumpiest radical left loudmouth, and a respected veteran of the nation’s indie music scene. From mouthpiece for the legendary punk-hop greats Warsawpack and throughout his solo work that followed, Reed’s musical legacy remains committed to the fight for a better world: voicing anti-oppressive, anti-capitalist politics through Hip-Hop, and sound-tracking and signal-boosting the efforts of communities and organizers struggling on the frontline for social and environmental justice.
"A 2019 Polaris Prize nominee, and a proud new member of the Strange Famous label roster, Reed shows no signs of slowing down in his old age, as he continues to create some of the most relevant ‘revolutionary’ hip hop this side of 1989."
Doors open at 9 p.m., the film begins at 9:15 p.m. and Lee Reed performs at 10 p.m.
