This course explores the political and aesthetic foundations of hip hop. We will trace the musical, corporeal, visual, spoken word, and literary manifestations of hip hop over its thirty-five year presence in the American cultural imaginary. We will also investigate specific black cultural practices that have given rise to its various idioms. Hip hop has invigorated the academy, inspiring scholarship rooted in black musical and literary traditions. We will also assess these sharp breaks and flamboyant versionings of hip hop style that have occurred within the academy.

Because "hip hop" is an ever-expanding area in formation, we will be concerned with the process of research circumscription. How are areas of popular culture to be explored? What research methodologies are useful in the study of popular culture? What are the discursive boundaries of something we can call "hip hop?" To pursue these questions, each student will be assigned to a group responsible for leading one of the weekly discussion sessions with a presentation. The presentation should be conceived to interrogate the readings and viewings; to raise questions and issues around the material and its presentation; and to critique the relationship of the weekly theme, hip hop, and the popular culture we share at MIT and in Cambridge, MA. If you decide to include music in your presentation, you must provide lyrics for the entire class. A good lyric resource is available at The Original Hip-Hop Lyrics Archive.

Requirements for this course will comprise four components: free-write exercise, performance review, group oral presentation, and final paper, as detailed below.


Course Materials

Required Texts

Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.

Perkins, William Eric, ed. Droppin' Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996.

Recommended Texts

Eshun, Kodwo. More Brilliant Than The Sun. London: Quartet Books Limited, 1998.

George, Nelson. Hip Hop America. New York: Penguin, 1998.

Rose, Tricia, and Andrew Ross, eds. Microphone Fiends. New York: Routledge, 1994.

Potter, Russell. Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip-Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism. New York: SUNY Press, 1995.

Baker, Houston, Jr. Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993.


Class Requirements

1. Approximately 50 pages of reading and 2 hours of music/video listening/viewing weekly.
   
   
2. An initial "free write" assignment of 3-5 pages length. 10% of the final grade.
   
   
3. Attend and write about at least one "hip hop" performance in the Boston area. 20% of the final grade. Your assessment of the performance should consider at least two of the analytical paradigms explored in class. A detailed assignment will be posted on the web page.
   
   
4. An Oral Presentation developed with a research group. The group will assemble an hour-long presentation on the topic at hand for that week's session. The presentation should reflect an understanding of key concepts proposed by the readings. It should also build on those concepts, either in consent or dissent, with additional musical and visual materials. Each student will hand in individual research notes for the presentation that develops. 30% of the final grade.
   
   
5. A final paper, of 7-10 pages length, on the topic other than the Oral Presentation topic. The paper should synthesize material covered throughout the semester. The final paper shall account for 40% of the final grade. Proposals for final paper topics are due by second session of Unit 5. The final paper will be due during class time on the last day of classes. No extensions will be granted for the final paper.