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A large percentage of class time will be devoted to listening, both to “rap” and to its musical precedents and influences. There are also some very good films, both commercial and documentary about Hip Hop style and culture which the class might view Also, depending on funding and availability there may be a limited number guest lecturers and demonstrations. No previous musical knowledge or experience is required for this course Course Objectives : This course is a lower division general education course designed to fulfill the Arts and Humanities, compartment of the Subject Explorations G. E. Requirement.
More specifically the course objectives are: To examine the roots of Hip Hop culture, the economic, social, and political conditions in which it developed and the cultural context in which it still exists. To gain a familiarity with the names and personalities of Hip Hop’s most important pioneers, promoters and artists. To examine various “musical” aesthetics or values and discuss how they may or may not apply to “rap. ” To acquire the appropriate vocabulary necessary to analyze or criticize “rap” as purely music. To discuss the effect the record industry, technology, ND the media have had on Hip Hop culture and vice-versa.
To discuss and think critically about the role that Hip Hop and other forms Of popular music may have in documenting, creating, or solving the social, moral and political issues of our time. To point out corollaries between Hip Hop and other styles of African American music and entertainment and to view how these styles have historically been commercialese and appropriated as symbols of youthful defiance by both whites and blacks. In fact, the course will view Hip Hop as part of a recurring cycle of African American styles that have been appropriated by the music industry and white pop culture.
Required Textbook : Garrett, Glen deed. Hip Hop Samples; A Historical Anthology Other Recommended Reading: Change Jeff. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, New York: Picador, SST. Martin’s Press, 2005 Fricke, Jim, and Earn, Charlie, des. Yes, Yes Y ‘all: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip Hop’s First Decade, New York: Dad Capo Press, 2002 Keyes, Cheryl L. Rap Music and Street Consciousness. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002 Light, Alan, deed. The Vibe History of Hip Hop. New York: Random House. Neal, Mark Anthony, and Murray Forman, des. That’s the Joint, the Hip Hop Studies Reader.
New York: Rutledge,2004. Perkins, William Eric, deed. Dropping’ Science, Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996. Top, David. The Rap Attack: African Jive to New York Hip Hop. New York, south End press, 1984 Exams and Assignments : This course requires a midterm, a final exam, and a final project. The final exam is worth 50% of your final grade and the midterm and final project account for 25% each. The midterm and the final are multiple choice, objective tests. You can expect about 100 questions on he final exam and about 50 questions on the midterm.
The Objective Questions at the end of each chapter of the text will serve as a study guide for the exams as well. Lectures are intended to reinforce the reading but may also include exam information not included in the text.. Each student will need 2 controls, form 882, during the course of the semester. Final Project For the final project students may work either alone or in groups of less that five. The idea is to produce a newspaper editorial, an essay, a CD review, a feature article for a trade magazine, a work of graffiti art, or perhaps even a horn video or audio.
The project should reflect a great deal of detail, extra research, and critical thought about one of the more controversial subjects suggested by the class lectures, or the text (you may use the Questions for Further Research, Thought and Discussion at the end of each chapter as a resource. It should examine several sides of the same issue and present the rational for different points of view.. Extra Credit: Students may be awarded extra credit points for making particularly astute or insightful comments during a discussion or lecture.