Week 16- Freestyle Blog- Global Hip-hop

When I lived in Dakar in the summer of 1997, so may young people asked me if I knew Tupac Shakur. His impact on Hip-hop circulated around the world. The image of the late Tupac Shakur's virtual hologram performance at Coachella 2012 posted here speaks to the transformative power of Hip-hop. As you post examples of Hip-hop from around the world this week, think about why people from around the world connect to the music and culture? How does Hip-hop function as a shared language of freedom?

Week 15- Hip-hop Politics and Activism

This week, we are discussing Hip-hop's relationship to politics. Submit a freestyle blog ( audio reference, art image, lyrics, etc.) that reflects your vision of Hip-hop's relationship to politics. Is it possible to separate politics from personal identity? How do you see Hip-hop artists present their political perspectives?

Week 14- Hip-hop's Influence on Theater, Fashion and Performance

This week we are discussing Hip-hop's impact on theater, fashion and performance practices. We can broadly understand "mainstream" and/or "Western" concepts of theater as those that adhere to a linear narrative and plot. Hip-hop Theater often disrupts this linear storytelling to employ other devices such as media, dance, politics, etc as seen in Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights. and Danny Hoch's Jails, Hospitals and Hip-hop. Fashion is also a a theatrical performance. As seen in the work of Kanye West, Nikki Minaj and other MCs, artists choose (and often design) the fashion that they wear. Their performances in videos often require them to act out characters created uniquely for a song, or to engage a character they have created for their brand. Moreover, designers create fashion lines that people can use to perform parts of their identity using particular styles of self-adornment. Theater, fashion and

performance are all tied in Hip-hop. As you blog on the words Hip-hop Theater and Self Adornment, think about the ways that Hip-hop Theater and Fashion incorporate many of the themes and subjects of Hip-hop music and culture. How do Hip-hop Theater artists use the theater space to perform personal narratives of struggle, identity, etc.? How does Hip-hop fashion sample from Hip-hop's elements to construct literal and/ or abstract engagements with Hip-hop aesthetics?

Week 13- Fine Art and Hip-hop: Aesthetics Remix

Hip-hop inspired Fine Art usually contains a particular set of social codes that can be linked to Hip-hop's larger aesthetic which includes the use of Hip-hop language (vernacular, visual, embodied),and engages the dialectic between public and private space. Hip-hop inspired art also engages in what Danny Hoch calls the "reappropriation by hip-hop creators of materials, technology and preserved culture"(2006). When you discuss Hip-hop Aesthetics and Fine Art this week, think about the culture of Hip-hop and the themes Hip-hop artists explore. How do fine artists in Hip-hop create bridges between private and public notions of "street" and "fine" in their art? How do museum and gallery curators ( those that choose what is "art")suggest a sort of "inaccessibility" of fine art works by charging high prices for these works? What contradictions to do you see arise when so called "street art" aesthetic makes it to the gallery and museum space?

Week 12- Hip-hop, Media and Television

This week's lecture and readings discuss Hip-hop's commodification in the media. How do you see Hip-hop's influence (in positive and negative ways) in popular media such as commercials, television, film and print media? How is Hip-hop commodified by artists, corporations and/or the media? As you think about defining key words of commodification and African American culture, think about the ways that corporations and artists commodify essentialized elements of African American culture through Hip-hop in the marketplace.