Lenny Kravitz
Singer-songwriter.
(AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
Musiq Soulchild
Singer-songwriter and Musician.
(File Photo)
Lisa Bonet
Actress
(Photo Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images)
Pharrell Williams
Rapper, singer, record producer, composer and fashion designer.
(Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Erykah Badu
Singer-songwriter, producer, actress and fashionista.
(AP Photo)
Jeffrey Wright
Actor
(Sipa via AP Images)
Lauryn Hill
Singer-songwriter, producer and actress.
(Getty Images)
Macy Gray
Singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.
(Photo by George De Sota/Liaison)
Lupe Fiasco
Rapper, artist, producer and entrepreneur.
(AP Photo/Charles Sykes)
Kanye West
Rapper, singer, and record producer.
(AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
Janelle Monae
Singer-songwriter, dancer, performer, and fashionista
(AP Photo)
Spike Lee
Film director, producer, writer and actor
(AP Photo)
Ben Harper
Singer-songwriter and Musician
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Suzan-Lori Parks
Pulitzer-prize winning playwright.
(Photo by John W. Ferguson/Getty Images)
Colson Whitehead
Author
(Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images for The New Yorker)
Solange Knowles
Singer, actress and model.
(Photo by Ben Hider/Getty Images)
Dwele
Singer-songwriter and record producer.
(Photo by Moses Robinson/Getty Images)
Van Hunt
Singer-songwriter, record producer and musician
(Photo by Marsaili McGrath/Getty Images)
Questlove
Drummer, DJ, music journalist, and record producer.
(Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for ONE Show)
Cody ChesNUTT
Singer-songwriter, composer and musician.
(Photo by Djamilla Rosa Cochran/WireImage)
Raphael Saddiq
Singer-songwriter and record producer.
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Jada Pinkett Smith
Actress, producer, director, author, and singer-songwriter.
(Photo by Bob Falcetti/Getty Images)
Eric Benet
Singer
(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Corrine Bailey Rae
British Singer-songwriter and Guitarist.
(Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images)
Whoopi Goldberg
Comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, producer, activist and talk show host.
(AP Photo)
Hipsters defy categorization. Resistance to conformity — in some cases — puts them on the fringe of American popular culture. Their wide-range of expression (and influences) make them enviable among their peers and a necessity for their art-binging-hipster-loving following. For all their individualism, creative genius, and yes, swag, we chose the following artists who epitomize hipsterism, expanding their respective field and our notion of what it means to be black and an artist.
