Prep

• Review Samy Alim, ‘“Bring It to the Cypher”: Hip-Hop Nation Language’, in Forman and Neal (2012)

In Class

1. Attendance
2. Q&A: Signifyin(g) 
3. Reading Notes for Next Time
4. REVIEW: Story Maps Proposal Outline Assignment
5. Small Group Sessions

For Next Time

• Kembrew McLeod, ‘Authenticity Within Hip-Hop and Other Cultures Threatened With Assimilation’, in Forman and Neal (2012)

Prep

We didn’t really get a chance to dig into the assignments from Monday. As I announced in class, we’ll do that tomorrow.

• Due: Formulate Your Story Maps Research Question Group Exercise
• Samy Alim, ‘“Bring It to the Cypher”: Hip-Hop Nation Language’, in Forman and Neal (2012)
• Video: Adam Neely, ‘Scotch Snaps in Hip-Hop’ (11 March 2019)

In Class

1. Attendance
2. REVIEW: Annotated Bibliography Assignment
3. Q&A: Scotch Snaps in Hip-Hop (Neely)
4. Q&A: Ciphers, Flows, and Signifiers (Alim)
5. REVIEW: Final Project Research Questions
6. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Kembrew McLeod, ‘Authenticity Within Hip-Hop and Other Cultures Threatened With Assimilation’, in Forman and Neal (2012)

Prep

• Due: Formulate Your Story Maps Research Question Group Exercise
• Samy Alim, ‘“Bring It to the Cypher”: Hip-Hop Nation Language’, in Forman and Neal (2012)
• Video: Adam Neely, ‘Scotch Snaps in Hip-Hop’ (11 March 2019)

In Class

1. Attendance
2. REVIEW: Annotated Bibliography Assignment
3. Q&A
4. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Kembrew McLeod, ‘Authenticity Within Hip-Hop and Other Cultures Threatened With Assimilation’, in Forman and Neal (2012)

Prep

• Murray S. Davis, ‘That’s Interesting! Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology’, Philosophy of the Social Sciences (1971)
• Throwback Video: Robert Glasper: “Jazz is the mother of hip-hop” | JAZZ NIGHT IN AMERICA (19 April 2017). An example of a clearly stated, interesting thesis—and one that’s EXTREMELY arguable.

In Class

1. Attendance
2. Small Group Sessions: Story Maps Final Projects
3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Kembrew McLeod, ‘Authenticity Within Hip-Hop and Other Cultures Threatened With Assimilation’, in Forman and Neal (2012)

Prep

• Adam Bradley, ‘The Artists Dismantling the Barriers Between Rap and Poetry’, The New York Times Style Magazine (4 March 2021). Hip-hop MCs embracing poetry, hip-hop generation poets influenced by hip-hop. Plus the Third Way of spoken-word poetry, or poetry as live performance. And the role of women of colour in creating all this synergy.
• Video: ‘Rapping, deconstructed: The best rhymers of all time’, Vox (19 May 2016)
• Guest Lecturer: History

In Class

1. Attendance
2. Q&A: TBA
3. How to Read Good
4. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Murray S. Davis, ‘That’s Interesting! Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology’, Philosophy of the Social Sciences (1971)
• Throwback Video: Robert Glasper: “Jazz is the mother of hip-hop” | JAZZ NIGHT IN AMERICA (19 April 2017). An example of a clearly stated, interesting thesis—and one that’s EXTREMELY arguable.

Prep

• Shamus Khan, ‘The New Elitists’, New York Times (7 July 2012)
• Jennifer Lynn Stoever, ‘Crate Digging Begins at Home: Black and Latinx Women Collecting and Selecting Records in the 1960s and 1970s Bronx’, in Justin D. Burton and Jason Lee Oakes, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Hip-Hop Music (2018)
• Audio: Your ‘Home Soundscape’, The Brian Lehrer Show (5 October 2022). Kathryn Jezer-Morton, writer of The Cut’s Brooding newsletter, joins to discuss her latest newsletter about music in the home and how it can be used to expand a sense of belonging, and takes listener calls on what they play in their homes.

In Class

1. Attendance
2. TBA
3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Adam Bradley, ‘The Artists Dismantling the Barriers Between Rap and Poetry’, The New York Times Style Magazine (4 March 2021). Hip-hop MCs embracing poetry, hip-hop generation poets influenced by hip-hop. Plus the Third Way of spoken-word poetry, or poetry as live performance. And the role of women of colour in creating all this synergy.
• Video: ‘Rapping, deconstructed: The best rhymers of all time’, Vox (19 May 2016)
• Guest Lecturer: History

Prep

• Andrew Nosnitsky, ‘Classic Material’, Pitchfork (19 November 2012)
• Multimedia: Randall Roberts and Priya Krishnakumar, ‘Rap’s Main Street: the music of  Rosecrans Avenue’, Los Angeles Times (19 January 2018). This isn’t a #storymap, but it’s pretty much the same idea.
• Audio: ‘Kendrick Lamar’s Anxiety Era’, Popcast (24 May 2022) 

In Class

1. Attendance
2. TBA
3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Shamus Khan, ‘The New Elitists’, New York Times (7 July 2012)
• Jennifer Lynn Stoever, ‘Crate Digging Begins at Home: Black and Latinx Women Collecting and Selecting Records in the 1960s and 1970s Bronx’, in Justin D. Burton and Jason Lee Oakes, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Hip-Hop Music (2018)

Prep

• Nelson George, ‘Hip-Hop’s Founding Fathers Speak the Truth’, in Forman and Neal (2012); also available in Forman and Neal (2004)
• Video: Founding Fathers: The Untold Story of Hip-Hop (Ron Lawrence and Hassan Pore, 2014?)

In Class

1. Attendance
2. TBA
3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Andrew Nosnitsky, ‘Classic Material’, Pitchfork (19 November 2012)
• Multimedia: Randall Roberts and Priya Krishnakumar, ‘Rap’s Main Street: the music of  Rosecrans Avenue’, Los Angeles Times (19 January 2018). This isn’t a #storymap, but it’s pretty much the same idea.
• Audio: ‘Kendrick Lamar’s Anxiety Era’, Popcast (24 May 2022) 

Prep

• Alex Gale, The Oral History of “Wild Style”, Complex (2013). Note: I advise watching the movie to the end before reading this.
• Video: Wild Style (Charlie Ahearn, 1982), cont’d

This is actually our agenda from last class, but we only got about halfway through the movie. Let’s slow ourselves down and give ourselves a chance to dwell on this movie and its significance.

In Class

1. Attendance
2. Video: Wild Style (Charlie Ahearn, 1982), cont’d
3. Q&A: The Truths of Fiction
4. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Nelson George, ‘Hip-Hop’s Founding Fathers Speak the Truth’, in Forman and Neal (2012); also available in Forman and Neal (2004)
• Video: Founding Fathers: The Untold Story of Hip-Hop (Ron Lawrence and Hassan Pore, 2014?)

Prep

• Alex Gale, The Oral History of “Wild Style”, Complex (2013). Note: I advise watching the movie to the end before reading this.
• Video: Wild Style (Charlie Ahearn, 1982), cont’d

In Class

1. Attendance
2. TBA
3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

• Nelson George, ‘Hip-Hop’s Founding Fathers Speak the Truth’, in Forman and Neal (2012); also available in Forman and Neal (2004)
• Video: Founding Fathers: The Untold Story of Hip-Hop (Ron Lawrence and Hassan Pore, 2014?)