21M.775 - The Fine Print:

Required Texts

HipHop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement by S. Craig Watkins. Boston: Beacon Press, 2005

That’s the Joint! : the Hip-Hop Studies Reader edited by Murray Forman & Mark Anthony Neal. New York: Routledge, 2004

Other readings, listening, and music videos to be distributed via Athena course locker.

Required Ticket to one hip hop concert performance, to be determined.

Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, by Tricia Rose. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1994 Droppin' Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture edited by William Eric Perkins. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1996 More Brilliant Than The Sun by Kodwo Eshun London, Quartet Books Limited, 1998 Hip Hop America by Nelson George. New York: Penguin, 1998Microphone Fiends edited by Tricia Rose and Andrew Ross, New York: Routledge, 1994 Yes, Yes Y’All: Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade by Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn New York: Da Capo Press, 2002.
The ‘Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop by Murray Forman, Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2002 Rap Music and Street Consciousness by Cheryl Keyes, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002 Spectacular Vernaculars : Hip-Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism by Russell Potter, New York, SUNY Press, 1995. Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy by Houston Baker, Jr. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993

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. Two Oral Presentations 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. 30% of the final grade, 15% for each. .

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 email Thursday October 26.