Category Archives: Posts

For Monday, 2 December

Prep

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

For Monday, 25 November

Prep

In Class

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

For Next Time

For Wednesday, 20 November

Prep

In Class

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

For Next Time

For Monday, 18 November

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

For Wednesday, 13 October

Prep

In Class

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

For Next Time

For Monday, 11 October

11/11 Happy Corduroy Day!

Prep

In Class

  1. Attendance
  2. Q&A: If hip-hop is protest music, why is there so much gaybashing?
  3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

For Wednesday, 6 November

In Class

  1. Attendance
  2. Q&A: What do feminists hear when they listen to hip-hop?
  3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time

For Monday, 4 November

In Class

  1. Attendance
  2. Q&A: If hip-hop is protest music, why did so many conscious rappers support the patriarchy?
  3. Reading Notes for Next Time

For Next Time