Prep

• Note that we meet from 3:30-5:30 that day! Attendance is mandatory; in-class presentations are not. If you are presenting, please let me kmow immediately.

In Class

• Attendance
• Oral Presentations for Extra Credit
• Final Thoughts

For Next Time

• Happy Holidays!

Prep

• DUE: Each INDIVIDUAL needs to submit a link to their Story Map by the end of the day, 12/10!
• Francesca Polletta, ‘Storytelling in Politics’, Contexts (2006)
  • Homework: Polletta concludes by offering the example of great works of literature as a model for breaking with familiar storytelling templates (we like familiar templates, but we don’t want stories that conform to them in ways that are too predictable): ‘Great writers don’t write simple stories. They write stories that tap into our expectations and defy them. They tweak familiar plotlines, characters, and situations. They use tropes like irony, ellipsis, and shifting point of view to make what was familiar strange. They let us think we’re hearing one kind of story and then tell us another’ (p. 30). So which rap storytellers can we compare with the great writers? Which storytelling rap songs make good use of, say, irony, ellipsis, shifting point of view, or other devicesin order to make the familiar strange? Post your answers in the #discography channel on Discord.

In Class

• Attendance
• Q&A: When does hip-hop storytelling teach us to think better and see more clearly?
• Story Maps Troubleshooting
• Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Oral Presentations for Extra Credit

Prep

• Parul Sehgal, ‘The Tyranny of the Tale’, The New Yorker (10 & 17 July 2023)
• Video: Review ‘Ghostface Killah Crowns Best Storytelling Rap Song | Complex Brackets’, Complex (20 October 2021). We made some general reference to this video on 2 December, but let’s see if we can’t zoom in on a couple of specific moments this time.

In Class

• Attendance
• Q&A: Is storytelling overrated?
• Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Francesca Polletta, ‘Storytelling in Politics’, Contexts (2006)

Prep

• Adam Bradley, ‘Storytelling’, in Book of Rhymes (Basic Books, 2009). I posted the PDF in the #general channel on our Discord server. And for all the quiet folks: here’s another chance to work on your class participation grade. If you know of a song from the last 10-15 years that supports Bradley’s claim of a ‘non-linear narrative revolution’, post about it in the ⁠#discography channel. Close readings and detailed references to the syllabus are always welcome.
• Video: Review ‘Ghostface Killah Crowns Best Storytelling Rap Song | Complex Brackets’, Complex (20 October 2021). We touched on this video in general last class, but let’s see if we can’t zoom in on a couple of specific moments this time.

In Class

• Attendance
• Q&A: Where have all the storytellers gone?
• Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• TBD

Prep

• William Jelani Cobb, ‘Asphalt Chronicles: Hip Hop and the Storytelling Tradition’, in Cobb, To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic (NYU Press, 2007)
• Audio: Choose one song from among the ones discussed in the Ghostface ‘Brackets’ video below and listen to it carefully (it could be a song you’ve never heard before or one you’re already familiar with). How does it illustrate (or otherwise connect to) an idea in the assigned reading by William Jelani Cobb? Post a brief paragraph in our #discography channel on Discord the night before class and be as specific as possible (which, naturally, also entails citing ‘chapter and verse’ in the assigned reading).
• Video: ‘Ghostface Killah Crowns Best Storytelling Rap Song | Complex Brackets’, Complex (20 October 2021)

In Class

• Attendance
• Q&A: Are today’s rappers simply modern-day griots?
• Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Adam Bradley, ‘Storytelling’, in Book of Rhymes (Basic Books, 2009)
• Audio: TBD
• Video: TBD

CLASSES FOLLOW A FRIDAY SCHEDULE.

Prep

• Gilbert B. Rodman, ‘Race … and Other Four-Letter Words: Eminem and the Cultural Politics of Authenticity’(password-protected PDF), in Forman and Neal (2012)
• Audio: Eminem, ‘Stan’ (2000)
• Video: Adam Neely, ‘Scotch Snaps in Hip-Hop’ (11 March 2019)

In Class

1. Attendance
2. Q&A: Is cultural appropriation always a bad thing?
3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• William Jelani Cobb, ‘Asphalt Chronicles: Hip Hop and the Storytelling Tradition’, in Cobb, To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic (NYU Press, 2007)
• Audio: TBD
• Video: ‘Ghostface Killah Crowns Best Storytelling Rap Song | Complex Brackets’, Complex (20 October 2021)

Prep

• Andrew Nosnitsky, ‘Gray Matters’, Pitchfork (4 March 2013). On the legacy of Houston’s DJ Screw—possibly the most influential hip-hop DJ of this century—and how his impact goes way beyond simply slowing things down.
• Video: ‘DJ Screw and Suc Freestyle’, ScrewdUPClickV2 (14 October 2009)
• Audio: ‘Big Floyd and the Rise of Houston Chopped N Screwed Music’, Switched on Pop (9 June 2020)

In Class

1. Attendance
2. Q&A: Theme
3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Gilbert B. Rodman, ‘Race … and Other Four-Letter Words: Eminem and the Cultural Politics of Authenticity’(password-protected PDF), in Forman and Neal (2012)
• Audio: TBD
• Video: Adam Neely, ‘Scotch Snaps in Hip-Hop’ (11 March 2019)

Prep

• Matt Miller, ‘Rap’s Dirty South: From Subculture to Pop Culture’, (password-protected PDF) in Forman and Neal (2012)
• Audio: Tommy Wright III feat. La Chat and Playa Fly, ‘Gangsta Forever’ (1996). Justin Hunte mentions this track in ‘How the triplet flow took over rap’ as one of the first examples of the sustained use of double-time triplet flow. It also features an opening verse from the underappreciated La Chat, one of at least two great female MCs from that era of Memphis rap (the other is Gangsta Boo of Three Six Mafia). Note: The Boss DR-660, a very budget drum machine, was a staple of early Memphis rap production, particularly in the years 1993-1995; I’ll bring in the unit that I’ve been borrowing the last few weeks. The main sample for ‘Gangsta Forever’ is apparently taken from the Psycho II soundtrack, however, so that suggests that Wright had upgraded his equipment by then (the only samples available on the DR-660 were factory presets). Check out ‘Meet Yo Maker’ from his 1994 album Ashes 2 Ashes, Dust 2 Dust to hear him produce an entire beat on the DR-660. Since this drum machine did not feature a sampler, Memphis producers would take the stock 808 cowbell sound and pitch it at different frequencies to create melodies.
• Video: ‘How the triplet flow took over rap’, Vox (15 September 2017)

In Class

1. Attendance
2. Q&A: What exactly is ‘dirty’ about the ‘Dirty South’?
3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Andrew Nosnitsky, ‘Gray Matters’, Pitchfork (4 March 2013). On the legacy of Houston’s DJ Screw—possibly the most influential hip-hop DJ of this century—and how his impact goes way beyond simply slowing things down.
• Video: ‘DJ Screw and Suc Freestyle’, ScrewdUPClickV2 (14 October 2009)
• Audio: ‘Big Floyd and the Rise of Houston Chopped N Screwed Music’, Switched on Pop (9 June 2020)

Prep

• Davarian Baldwin, ‘Black Empires, White Desires: The Spatial Politics of Identity in the Age of Hip-Hop’, (password-protected PDF) in Forman and Neal (2012)

In Class

1. Attendance
2. Q&A: Was gangsta rap the real conscious rap?
3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Murray Forman, ‘Represent: Race, Space, and Place in Rap Music’, (password-protected PDF) in Forman and Neal (2012)