This page lists the assigned readings for each class session, along with films and videos (some of which were viewed in class, and some presented in separate evening screenings) and audio recordings.
Required Texts
Watkins, S. Craig. Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780807009864.
Forman, Murray, and Mark Anthony Neal, eds. That's the Joint!: the Hip-Hop Studies Reader. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. ISBN: 9780415969192.
Recommended Texts
Baker, Houston, Jr. Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780226035215.
Dyson, Michael Eric. Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip Hop. New York, NY: Perseus Books Group, 2007. ISBN: 9780465017164.
Eshun, Kodwo. More Brilliant Than The Sun. London, UK: Quartet Books Limited, 1999. ISBN: 9780704380257.
Forman, Murray. The 'Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780819563972.
Fricke, Jim, and Charlie Ahearn. Yes, Yes Y'All: Oral History of Hip-Hop's First Decade. New York, NY: Da Capo Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780306812248.
George, Nelson. Hip Hop America. New York, NY: Penguin, 2005. ISBN: 9780143035152.
Keyes, Cheryl. Rap Music and Street Consciousness. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780252072017.
Perkins, William Eric, ed. Droppin' Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1995. ISBN: 9781566393621.
Potter, Russell. Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip-Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism. New York, NY: SUNY Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780791426265.
Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780819562753.
Rose, Tricia, and Andrew Ross, eds. Microphone Fiends: Youth Music and Youth Culture. New York: Routledge, 1994. ISBN: 9780415909082.
| UNITS | TOPICS | VIDEOS | READINGS | LISTENING |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 (3 sessions) | Introduction and overview | Wild Style (Charlie Ahearn, 1983) |
Watkins. Prologue, Introduction, Chapter One, Nine, Epilogue (pp. 1-55; 229-259). Hall, Stuart. "What is this 'Black' in Black Popular Culture?" In Black Popular Culture. Edited by Gina Dent. Seattle, WA: Bay Press, 1992, pp. 21-33. ISBN: 9780941920230. Dyson. 'This Dark Diction has Become America's Addiction" and "It's Trendy to be The Conscious MC." pp. 40-87. SupplementaryPerkins. "The Rap Attacks: An Introduction." pp. 1-45. Potter. "Introduction." pp. 1-23. Krims, Adam. "Music Analysis and Rap Music." In Rap Music and the Poetics of Identity. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 17-45. ISBN: 9780521632683. | |
| Unit 2 (3 sessions) | Dance |
The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy (Israel, 2002) Everybody Dance Now (documentary for PBS series Dance In America/Great Performances, 1991) SupplementaryRhyme and Reason (Peter Spirer, 1997) |
DeFrantz, Thomas. "The Black Beat Made Visible: Body Power in Hip Hop Dance." In Of the Presence of the Body: Essays on Dance and Performance Theory. Edited by Andre Lepecki. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004, pp. 64-81. ISBN: 9780819566126. Hazzard-Donald, Katrina. "Dance in Hip Hop Culture." In Forman and Neal, pp. 505-517. Banes, Sally. "Breaking." In Forman and Neal, pp. 13-20. SupplementaryGilroy, Paul. "Exer(or)cising Power; Black Bodies in the Black Public Sphere." In Dance In The City. Edited by Helen Thomas. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1997, pp. 21-34. ISBN: 9780312174545. Thompson, Robert F. "Hip Hop 101." In Perkins, pp. 211-219. | |
| Unit 3 (2 sessions) | Graffiti, fashion, and visual culture | Style Wars (Tony Silver and Harry Chalfant, 1983) in class |
Austin, Joe. "Taking The Trains: The Formation and Structure of 'Writing Culture' in the Early 1970s" and "The Walls and the World: Writing Culture, 1982-1990." Taking the Train: How Graffiti Art Became an Urban Crisis in New York City. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2001, pp. 38-74, and 227-267. ISBN: 9780231111430. Wimsatt, William Upski. "Suckers Don't Last a Minute: Good Rhyme, Bad Theory" and "Hip-Hop is Supposed to Eliminate Itself." In Bomb the Suburbs. New York, NY: Soft Skull Press, 1995, pp. 145-155. ISBN: 9780964385504. Specter, Michael. "I Am Fashion: Puff Daddy Packages His World." The New Yorker. September 9, 2002, pp. 116-127. ( SupplementaryFerrell, Jeff, and Eugene Stewart-Huidobro. Chapters 2 and 4 in Crimes of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9781555532765. Romanowski, Patti, and Susan Flinker. "Graffiti." In Fresh: Hip Hop Don't Stop. Edited by Nelson George. New York, NY: Random House, 1985, pp. 29-54. ISBN: 9780394544878. Flinker, Susan. "Fashion." In Fresh: Hip Hop Don't Stop. pp. 55-78. | |
| Unit 4 (3 sessions) | Sex and sexuality | Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes (Byron Hurt, 2005) |
DeFrantz, Thomas. "Hip Hop Sexualities." In Handbook of the New Sexuality Studies. Edited by Steven Seidman, Chet Meeks, and Nancy Fischer. New York, NY: Routledge Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780415386487. Keyes. "Daughters of the Blues: Women, Race, and Class Representation in Rap Music Performance." pp. 186-209. Dyson. "'Cover Your Eyes as I Describe a Scene So Violent': Violence, Machismo, Sexism, and Homophobia." pp. 91-122. SupplementaryRose, Tricia. "One Queen, One Tribe, One Destiny." In Rock She Wrote: Women Write About Rock, Pop, and Rap. Edited by Evelyn McDonnell and Ann Powers. New York, NY: Cooper Square Press, 1999, pp. 312-317. ISBN: 9780815410188. |
Lil' Kim. Hard Core. Big Beat / WEA, 1996. Ndegeocello, Meshell. Cookie. Maverick, 2002. |
| Unit 5 (2 sessions) | Anarchy and activism | Rhyme and Reason (Peter Spirer, 1997) in class |
Watkins. Chapters 5, 6, and 7, pp. 143-205. Kitwana, Bakari. "The Challenge of Rap Music from Cultural Movement to Political Power." In Forman and Neal, pp. 341-362. McPherson, Lionel K. "Halfway Revolution: From That Gangsta Hobbes to Radical Liberals." In Hip Hop & Philosophy. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2005, pp. 173-182. ISBN: 9780812695892. Watts, Eric K. "An Exploration of Spectacular Consumption: Gangsta Rap as Cultural Commodity." In Forman and Neal, pp. 593-609. SupplementaryKelley, Robin D. G. "Kickin' Reality, Kickin' Ballistics: The Politics of "Gangsta Rap" in Postindustrial Los Angeles." In Perkins, pp. 117-158. Allen, Ernest, Jr. "Making the Strong Survive: The Contours and Contradictions of "Message Rap."" In Perkins, pp. 159-191. Chuck D with Yusef Jah. "Prelude to Public Enemy" and "Gangs." In Fight the Power. New York, NY: Delacorte Press, 1997. pp. 57-94, and 241-262. ISBN: 9780385318730. Rose. Chapter 4, pp. 99-145. Lipsitz, George. "The Hip Hop Hearings: Censorship, Social Memory, and Intergenerational Tensions Among African Americans." In Generations of Youth: Youth Cultures and History in Twentieth Century America. Edited by Joe Austin and Michael Nevin Willard. New York, NY: NYU Press, 1998, pp. 395-411. ISBN: 9780814706466. George. "Black Owned," "Where My Eyes Can See," "Capitalist Tool," "Too Live," and "Da Joint." pp. 56-75, 97-113, 154-175, 178-192, and 208-210. |
The Coup. Steal This Album. Dogday Records, 1998. Dead Prez. Let's Get Free. Relativity, 2000. |
| Unit 6 (2 sessions) | Misogyny and feminism |
Nobody Knows My Name (Rachel Raimist, 1999) Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme (Kevin Fitzgerald, 2000) |
Watkins. Chapter 8, pp. 207-227. Collins, Patricia Hill. "Is the Personal Still Political? The Women's Movement, Feminism, and Black Women in the Hip-Hop Generation." In From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2006. pp. 161-197. ISBN: 9781592130924. Morgan, Joan. "Hip Hop Feminist." In Forman and Neal, pp. 277-282. Pough, Gwendolyn D. "My Cipher Keeps Movin' Like a Rollin' Stone: Black Women's Expressive Cultures and Black Feminist Legacies." In Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press, 2004, pp. 41-74. ISBN: 9781555536077. Dyson. "Nappy-Head Ho's, Worse than Bitch Niggaz." pp. 123-151. SupplementaryRose. Chapter 5, pp. 146-182. Rose, Tricia. "Never Trust a Big Butt and a Smile." In Forman and Neal, pp. 291-306. Guevara, Nancy. "Women Writin' Rappin' Breakin." In Perkins, pp. 49-62. Ro, Ronin. Gangsta: Merchandising the Rhymes of Violence. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780312143442. Boyd, Todd. "A Small Introduction to the 'G' Funk era: Gangsta Rap and Black Masculinity in Contemporary Los Angeles." In Am I Black Enough For You? Popular Culture from the 'Hood and Beyond. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1997, pp. 60-81. ISBN: 9780253211057. |
Hill, Lauryn. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Sony, 1998. Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die. Bad Boy, 1994. |
| Unit 7 (2 sessions) | Realness |
Dyson. "'How Real is This?' Prisons., iPods, Pips, and the Search for Authentic Homes." pp. 1-37. Thompson, Stephen Lester. "Knowwhatumsayin'? How Hip-Hop Lyrics Mean." In Hip Hop & Philosophy. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2005. pp. 119-132. ISBN: 9780812695892. Miyakawa, Felicia M. "Introduction" and "History of and Theology of the Five Percent Nation." In Five Percenter Rap: God Hop's Music, Message, and Black Muslim Mission. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2005, pp. 1-37. ISBN: 9780253217639. | ||
| Unit 8 (2 sessions) | Globalization | Resistencia: Hip-Hop in Colombia (Tom Feiling, 2002) |
Condry, Ian. "A History of Japanese Hip Hop: Street Dance, Club Scene, Pop Market." In Global Noise: Global Noise: Rap and Hip Hop Outside the USA. Edited by Tony Mitchell. Middlebury, VT: University Press of New England, 2002. pp. 222-247. ISBN: 9780819565020. Osumare, Halifu. "Beat Streets in the Global Hood." In Power Moves: The Africanist Aesthetic in Global Hip Hop. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, pp. 61-104. ISBN: 9781403976307. Bennett, Andy. "Hip-Hop am Main, Rappin' on the Tyne: Hip-Hop Culture as a Local Construct in Two European Cities." In Forman and Neal, pp. 177-200. | |
| Unit 9 (2 sessions) | DJ'ing and musicality | Scratch (Doug Pray, 2001) |
London. "Transmaterializing the Breakbeat" and "Virtualizing the Breakbeat." pp. 13-25; 67-77. Explore Battle sounds |
The Roots. The Roots Come Alive. MCA, 1999. West, Kanye. The College Dropout. Roc-a-Fella, 2004. |
| Unit 10 (1 session) | Mediation and science fiction |
Schumacher, Thomas G. "This is a Sampling Sport: Digital Sampling, Rap Music, and the Law in Cultural Production." In Forman and Neal, pp. 443-458. London. "Motion Capture," pp. 175-193. SupplementaryLovink, Geert. "'Everything was to be done. All the adventures are still there.' A Speculative Dialogue with Kodwo Eshun." | ||
| Unit 11 (2 sessions) | Whiteness |
Jails, Hospitals, Hip Hop (Mark Benjamin, Danny Hoch, 2002) SupplementaryBlack and White (2000) Bulworth (1998) 8 Mile (2002) |
Ross, Andrew. "Hip, and the Long Front of Color." In No Respect: Intellectuals and Popular Culture. New York, NY: Routledge, 1989, pp. 65-101. ISBN: 9780415900379. Taylor, Paul C. "Does Hip Hop Belong to Me? The Philosophy of Race and Culture." In Hip Hop & Philosophy. Chicago, IL: Open Court, 2005, pp. 79-91. ISBN: 9780812695892. Watkins. Chapter 3, pp. 83-110. SupplementaryHoare, Ian. "Mighty, Mighty Spade and Whitey: Black Lyrics and Soul's Interaction with White Culture." In The Soul Book. Edited by Ian Hoare, et al. New York, NY: Dell Publishing, 1976, pp. 117-168. ISBN: 9780440580140. |
Eminem. The Slim Shady LP. Interscope, 1999. Beastie Boys. To The Five Boroughs. Capitol, 2004. Gym Class Heroes. The Papercut Chronicles. Fueled by Ramen, 2005. |
| Unit 12 (2 sessions) | Underground |
Usher, Carlton A. "Underground Hip Hop Culture" In A Rhyme is a Terrible Thing To Waste. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, Inc., 2005. ISBN: 9781592213184. Explore Underground Hip Hop and Hip-Hop Linguistics |
Aesop Rock. None Shall Pass. Def Jux, 2007. Eyedea and Abilities. E&A. Epitaph, 2004. |
