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Justin Bua    

Award-Winning Artist, NAACP Image Award Winner, Author

Justin BUA is an award-winning artist, author, speaker, and entrepreneur renowned for his distinctive urban art style. BUA is internationally celebrated for his best-selling collection of fine art posters, including "The DJ," which remains one of the most popular prints ever produced.

BUA has contributed significantly to various media and art projects. He designed the opening sequence for MTV's "Lyricist Lounge Show," and worked on EA Sports video games "NBA Street" and "NFL Street." His creative reach extended into directing as he helmed the Ovation documentary on DMC, titled "Walk This Way." His contributions to the visual aspects of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s documentary "On the Shoulders of Giants" earned him an NAACP Image Award and a Telly Award. Further expanding his influence in media, BUA created the animated series "Urbania" and hosted the Ovation TV series "American Revolutionaries."

In June 2013, BUA pioneered an online educational venture with ArtistWorks, marking the first instance an artist launched such a platform. This initiative offers a comprehensive curriculum and a unique one-on-one video exchange feature, enabling students globally to engage directly with BUA. His commitment to education and art continues to manifest in various forms, including his keynote addresses at significant events like the annual Diversity Days, where he leverages his platform to inspire and motivate attendees. BUA's recent art exhibits include notable venues such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Pop International Gallery in New York. His presentations are appreciated for being innovative, informative, and healing, with a capacity to engage and inspire audiences of all ages. BUA's published works, including "The Legends of Hip Hop" and "The Beat of Urban Art," are notable for preserving the cultural authenticity and power of Hip-Hop.

Speech Topics

Hip-Hop: The Culture of Oneness

Urban Artist BUA's visual account of hip-hop's ability to break down boundaries, bridge racial and social divides, and recreate the meaning of race world-wide. Discussion covers social, cultural, political, and art "wars" during Reganomics, the politics of MC and breakdance "battles," the local reclamation of public space against corporate ownership, and the means through which mainstream culture follows underground movements.

Rising: The Omnipotence of Persistence & Determination

Urban Artist BUA inspires and motivates his audience with a discussion on overcoming obstacles, jumping hurdles, and the power of persistence and determination. Through his visual art, BUA shares his personal, yet universal struggle to "make it big" in the face of an absent father, discouraging teachers, imposed racial categories, industry nay-sayers, and consistent encounters with the word "no."

The Identities & Ideologies of Hip Hop (The Beat of Urban Art)

Through sharing his visual art and personal story growing up in NYC during the 1970's and 80's, Urban Artist BUA explores the social, cultural, and political identities and ideologies birthed by the most powerful culture of our time: hip hop. Presentation includes discussion of New York City's history, including the social effects of Reaganomics, as well as the psychological backlash of absent fathers, new displays of masculinity and "hardness," the cultures of B-boys, B-girls, MCs, and their battles, cultural ownership vs. corporate ownership, "ghetto marquis," the melding of funk, punk, and the inner cities, and hip hop's gift to the world—a culture of "one-ness."

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