Anthony Denaro, MFA, aka YNOT, an international B-boy and Hip-Hop artist, visited the Texas Tech dance program August 23rd- 27th. He taught several classes, led a school-wide artist talk, and set a work to be featured in DanceTech 2022.

YNOT explores the design, sustainability, history, and community of Hip Hop. Through a futurist lens, YNOT's work manifests in dance, typography, music, and architecture. YNOT's reputation in the dance world precedes him. As a B-boy, he's traveled the world extensively, judging battles, teaching workshops, and building cultural awareness. Currently a professor at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, he is crafting a model of community engagement and learning that can dovetail into academic degree programs.

Justin Krall: Alright, my first official question is, YNOT?

YNOT: Tony backwards? You know, it's a name, but it's a philosophy. People called me Tony most of my life, but when I realized, “why not” is “Tony” backwards. I said, yeah, that's very much how I think about things in general. Like, why not? Why can't we do this? Why shouldn't we try as a philosophy?

JK: Have you tried Anthony backwards?

YNOT: For some reason, monotony came to Anthony backwards.

JK: What's your style?

YNOT: There's a lyric from one of my favorite MCs, his name is Jay Electronica. And he says that his style is like a baby grand piano or a shot of Jack Daniels. So, there's some bourbon, or something involved. And a classical musical instrument or something like that is how I might describe my style. But I speak through the language of hip hop.

JK: What can average people, non-professionals, gain from being involved in hip hop?

YNOT: You gain a perspective about an American art from people who have been involved in American society socially and politically. And then the physical aspect of it resembles going to the gym. You know, why do a workout every morning? It resets your body, resets your mind, it gets you to focus on something. The health benefits of moving your body often are good things. And the difference between dance and other physical activities, like movement, or practices done to music, is that the time passes by quickly. You don't realize sometimes that you're doing something and focusing on something so physical like that. And I think it's just a great thing to add to your life or your lifestyle.

JK: What can a professional dancer take away from hip hop?

YNOT: If you work in it, if you seek it out professionally, you gain a network of people. You start to learn professionalism from working with other professionals. It puts you in a different mindset and bracket in terms of the form. When it's not necessarily for fun or for your own personal benefit, it pushes you in a different way. Because it's hip hop, you're going to approach it differently off the bat, because of the history of what hip hop really has been created for. The voice of the voiceless, the anti-establishment, et cetera. You kind of start to ride for those movements. And if you choose to do it professionally, you know that you're going to pay dues in a way, right? As professional hip hop artists, you should really be thinking about how you are filtering that money back into the community. Like other professions, if you benefit off it in a professional way, you should ask yourself, “Well, what am I doing with this professionalism of this particular form? And how am I using it to benefit everybody else who also does this just as hard as I do?”

JK: As a mentor, what suggestions do you have for young or developing artists to navigate their career pathway?

YNOT: Research as much as possible. You don't know everything. You'll probably never will. You should always be researching. You should always cross examine anything that you think you know. Your experiences are valid, no matter how long you've been in the game. You can't think you know it all, even when or if you start being recognized as an artist. If you think that, and that bit of ego helps you to continue and get further, that's fine. But that type of attitude does not always get you very far.