Jabari M. Evans is an Assistant Professor of Race and Media at the University of South Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications and a faculty affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
His research examines how Black youth and emerging creators use digital and social media to navigate identity, civic life, and professional aspiration within networked publics. A scholar, educator, and artist, Dr. Evans explores the intersections of race, media, and technology through a cultural studies lens, with particular attention to hip-hop, creator culture, and youth subcultures.
He is the author of Hip-Hop Civics (University of Michigan Press, 2025), which investigates hip-hop-based education as a form of civic learning and empowerment, and Drill Rap, Sex Work, and the Digital Underground (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025), a study of identity, labor, and visibility in the digital economies of marginalized creators. Outside of academia, Dr. Evans has enjoyed a decorated career spanning two decades as a hip-hop performer, songwriter and producer performing and collaborating with Grammy-award winning artists under the moniker of "Naledge" in the rap group Kidz in the Hall.
