Hip Hop Beauty Photo Exhibit Comes to Texas Southern

By Odessa Vance, November 13, 2026

Hip Hop Beauty Circa 1973, a traveling photography exhibition, is on view at Texas Southern University through Nov. 20, 2026. It opened Nov. 12, and on Nov. 20 the organizers are mounting their first Hip Hop Beauty Market for TSU student entrepreneurs. The Houston stop is a partnership with the university during Entrepreneurship Week, which runs Nov. 16 to 20, 2026. The organizers, in a Nov. 9 release, call it their final 2026 stop.

The exhibition opened Nov. 12 at 3 p.m. Central Time at the Learning Library Center and remains on view through Nov. 20. Master classes are set for Nov. 19. The Hip Hop Beauty Market is Nov. 20, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the C.S. Lane Building, and a closing reception and panel follow at 7 p.m. at the JHJ School of Business. Texas Southern's own Entrepreneurship Week listing gives some different rooms and times, so check the TSU page before you go.

The partnership runs through the Jesse H. Jones School of Business and the College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences. "The Jesse H. Jones School of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences, and all of our partners are beyond excited to partner with Hip Hop Beauty Circa 1973 during Entrepreneurship Week at TSU," said COLABS Associate Dean Dr. Michon Benson, in the organizers' release. "Thembisa S. Mshaka and Ashunta Sheriff-Kendricks are the kinds of real-world experts who will encourage and inspire our students."

The exhibition includes vintage and archival photographs of Erykah Badu, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Janelle Monáe, and more, with works available for purchase, including photographs by Keith Major.

That pairing is why this one is worth the trip. A hip-hop beauty archive, on the campus of one of the nation's largest historically Black universities, sits next to the first Hip Hop Beauty Market for TSU's own student entrepreneurs, in the same week the school set aside for that work. It puts the culture's visual record in the same place as students who are building businesses, the students Dr. Benson said the founders would encourage and inspire. Houston's records keep getting made, as KAZI's running list of Houston rap releases shows. This stop puts the photographs, and those student businesses, on one campus together.