For Thursday, 10/22

Prep

  • Due: Annotated Bibliography HW (the deadline will be 23:59 this Thursday, so our Zoom session will be a great chance for you to pose any last-minute questions!)
  • Read Kyle D. Stedman, ‘Annoying Ways People Use Sources’, Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Vol. 2 (2011)

Zoom Session

  1. Review of the Annotated Bibliography HW
  2. Review of the Midterm Exam
  3. Annoying Ways People Use Sources
  4. Q&A: Race, Space, and Place in Rap Music
Forman suggests that this song is ‘perhaps more in line with Gilroy’s expansive, trans-Atlantic visions of rap’s diasporic potential. … the group unselfconsciously articulates an evolving hybrid identity informed by transnational migrations that are actively manifested on local grounds’ (Forman 2012:257, 25).
BDP and the ‘privileging of localized experience’ (ibid., p. 258).
Eazy-E’s ‘riveting’ (but spatially abstract) ‘new hardcore funky model for masculine identification in hip hop’ (p. 259)
‘The closely detailed articulation of spatial specifics (place names and site references, etc.) is still lacking but there is also a rich description of some of the social formations that are spatially distributed and which reproduce the forces underlying the black teen gangster ethos with which MC Eight, and many others, so clearly identify’ (pp. 262-63).
‘The title is formed around a double entendre: it is an expression of spatial solidarity and loyalty to the ‘hood, yet it also refers to the pronouncement of a life sentence and the apparent hopelessness of eternal imprisonment in the city’s streets and alleys’ (p. 263).
‘Displaying pride in his Northwestern roots, Sir Mix-A-Lot provides an excellent example of the organization of spatial images and the deployment of a spatial discourse. … “Seattle Ain’t Bullshittin” is exceptional for the manner in which it communicates a sense of space and place with clarity, sophistication and cartographic detail’ (p. 265).

For Next Time

  • H. Samy Alim, ‘“Bring It to the Cypher”: Hip-Hop Nation Language’, in Forman and Neal (2012). This is not a perfect reading, by any means: it’s long, it’s a bit pedantic, and the author makes a number of what I consider to be dubious claims. But again, I find it useful to engage with provocative texts. It’s okay to read something and think, ‘I don’t think this holds together very well, even if I can’t quite put my finger on it just yet’. Also, the most provocative claims have to do with language, and it’s high time we start thinking about how the language of hip-hop can help or hinder us as we try to employ language in other contexts — academic writing, for instance. If you’ve ever wondered what a linguist might contribute to our understanding of hip-hop lyricism, here’s one answer.