Thanks!

Dear Class of THR 380 Fall 2010-
Thanks so much for an amazing semester. I learned so much from each and every one of you. Please feel free to email me and update me about your work and future plans as you continue your journeys here at KU and move forward to new beginnings. If you have a vision for your life, make it happen. Don't wait. Your experience here at KU is one part of a larger journey. You can do anything that you believe you can do. Your presentations were an amazing example of what types of things are possible when you just step out and think, imagine and do it.
All my best to you- Dr. NHP

Week 15- Got Next? The Future of Hip-hop

From the works of beatbox flautist Greg Patillo to the innovative remixed dance style of the French performance troupe Big City Brains we can see that Hip-hop is not dead. So what does the future of Hip-hop look like? Hip-hop's impact on global popular culture is undeniable. From inspiring social change to re-inscribing negative image of women in the media, Hip-hop reveals the good, the bad and the ugly of all of aspects of society. Where do you think Hip-hop will be in the next 10 years? In your freestyle blog this, reflect on your relationship to Hip-hop and its impact on the world. What does the future hold? You can respond in any way you like narratives, images, sound, etc.

Week 15- Global Hip-hop

This week is a freestyle blog. You can blog on whatever you like. Think about the global impact of a music genre that started in a low income community in the Bronx. Can you think of any other music genre has had as significant an impact on people regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class or disability? Love it, or hate it, Hip-hop has shaped popular culture around the world for both the positive and the negative. As KRS-One says: Freedom is where the work is..." Think about it.

Week 14 - Hip-hop Fashion and Styles of Self-Adornment

This week we are blogging on Hip-hop Fashion and Self-Adorment. In what way do you see Hip-hop influencing the way people present themselves? How has Hip-hop shaped your style? Self-adornment is the practice decorating yourself using hairstyles, clothing, jewelry, etc. Think about the ways that Hip-hop has impacted all of these styles of self-presentation in fashion and the media. How does fashion sample from diverse cultures?

Week 13- Hip-Hop, Politics and Activism

As you blog on key words POLITICS and IDENTITY in relationship to Hip-hop music and culture this week, think about the intersections, overlap, contradictions that occur when presenting one's political views. Some prompts to consider are as follows: In what ways are identities inherently political? Is it possible to separate politics from personal identity? How do institutions and individuals present political perspectives? What types of direct actions do individuals and collectives take to assert political ideas? Think broadly about Hip-hop's impact on the construction and performance of identity in our everyday interactions. How does race, ethnicity, gender and disability shape political perspectives in Hip-hop?

Week 12 Freestyle blog on Hip-hop Theater and Performance

This week please write a freestyle blog on Hip-hop Theater. Based on your experience in American theater, how do you think Hip-hop is changing the content of what we see in American theater and how theater is presented? How is Hip-hop shaping new theater audiences?

Week 11- Hip-hop and Fine Art

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 and notions of "street" and "fine" in their art? How is Hip-hop Arts inaccessibility to the urban working class a contradiction of the street art aesthetic? What part of Hip-hop Aesthetic speak to you (urban blight, braggadocio, call and response, polyculturalism, etc.) in the work of a particular artist?

Week 10-Media, Commodification and Hip-hop

This week's lecture and readings discuss Hip-hop's commodification in the media. How do you see Hip-hop's influence in popular media such as commercials, television, film and journalism (print media)? How is Hip-hop commodified by artists, corporations and/or the media? Think broadly about the different elements of Hip-hop. Do you see Hip-hop music and culture as a product that the media often disassociates from the artists that produce it? Why or why not? Where does the notion of "blackness" figure into this equation? Try to remember to give specific examples in your responses.

Week 9- Hip-hop and Race in American Film

How has Hip-hop's aesthetic shaped American film? In what ways do we see race articulated through a Hip-hop aesthetic? As you explore the readings, audio and visual references, think about the ways in which Hip-hop has influenced the cinematic and storytelling styles. How do you see particular elements of Hip-hop translated into film? How does the race of a filmmaker impact his/her vision if at all? As you watch the films Do the Right Thing, 8 Mile and Hustle and Flow, think about the ways that diverse racial and ethnic groups use Hip-hop as a platform to tell stories.

Week 8- Women, Gender and Sexuality in Hip-Hop

This week, we watched the film Say My Name by Nirit Peled. This documentary presents the voices of many female MCs, past and present, who have contributed to Hip-hop culture. How are particular stereotypes of does gender and sexuality sampled in Hip-Hop? What stereotypes of men and women circulate in Hip-hop culture and how do female MCs manipulate them? As you blog on the key words GENDER and SEXUALITY, think broadly about the ways that Hip-hop culture has the potential to marginalize and liberate men and women from seemingly fixed categories of representation.

Week 7- Hip-hop's Urban Griots

MC's in Hip-hop music are storytellers that follow in the tradition of West African griots. Whether MCs write their rhymes or improvise them on the spot, they become living archives of history that connect the past to the present. As you blog on the key words FLOW and BATTLE, think about the ways that Hip-hop MCs use their storytelling to describe lived and imagined experiences. How does an MCs environment shape his/her style? How does the battle in MCing relate to artistic expression in the other elements of Hip-hop?

Week 6- Physical Graffiti

The term "Physical Graffiti" was used by Sally Banes to describe how breakers and Hip-hop dancers embody many of same style elements of battling such as braggadocio, "getting fame," etc. that are part of Graffiti and MCing. She argues "breaking is a way of claiming the streets with physical presence, using your body to publicly inscribe your identity on the surface of the city..." (Banes 14). This week you will read articles and view films that speak to the history and progression of breaking and its evolution into a global Hip-hop dance practice. As you define key terms this week, EMBODIED HISTORIES and BBOY/BBIRL, think about how gestures of breaking and Hip-hop dance practices can be understood as a physical repertoire of Hip-hop history. As we prepare for midterm, think about how the terms connect to one another as well as other elements in Hip-hop such as graffiti and MCings.

Week 5- Graffiti

This week, freestyle blog about GRAFFITI. Think about its profound influence on Hip-Hop culture.

Week 4- Hip-Hop's Multiculturalism and Polyculturalism

This week in our readings, Robin D.G. Kelley argues polyculturalism, unlike multiculturalism, recognizes that there are problems with simplistically conflating race and culture. Polyculturalism acknowledges the inter-related connections and fluidity between cultures and their intersections. Multiculturalism keeps cultures separated and static--allowing them to relate alongside one another. In the case of Hip-hop in the United States, discussions of "race" often conflate African American identity and culture. However,the history of culture of Hip-hop is often separated from the people that produce it. In defining the keywords of polyculturalism and multiculturalism in relationship to Hip-hop this week,think about the ways that Hip-Hop and Blackness engage these terms.

Week 3- Turntabalism and DJ Culture

This week we are exploring DJ culture and the art of turntabalism. In what ways do DJs remix culture? As you blog on the key words SAMPLING and TURNTABALISM, think about the role of the DJ as a cultural historian. How are diverse cultures sampled and remixed through sound bites in music? How does Hip-Hop enable cross-racial and ethnic exchanges through music sampling? If we think about early Hip-hop and the role of the DJ as central to Hip-Hop, how has this position changed over time? These are prompts to help you think through the idea of sampling as not simply the borrowing of sound bites and remixing them in different musical contexts, but also as and act of historical manipulation and contextualization.

Week 2: Fear of a Black Planet

To date, we have discussed the four elements of Hip-hop,(MCing, DJing, Breaking and Graffiti)and their relationship to regional sounds of Hip-Hop music and culture. We have also began to link blackness as expressed by African Americans as having a specific tie to Hip-Hop culture. As you write about the key words BLACKNESS and HIP-HOP this week, think about the multiple ways that blackness is expressed in the music and culture of Hip-Hop in the United States. Some prompts to consider:
How do you recognize blackness in Hip-Hop if the person expressing it is not racially black and/or ethnically African American? What codes of cultural expression do you identify with Hip-Hop cultural production? Is blackness always a part of Hip-Hop?

Week 1- Introduction to Hip-Hop in Popular Culture

This week, we discussed the beginning of Hip-hop and regional sounds of the music and culture in the United States. Please blog on the key words HIP-HOP REGIONAL SOUNDS within the context of your experiences and interest in Hip-hop. Give us some ideas of how particular sounds of Hip-hop have shaped your perspectives.

Welcome to KU Hip-hop in Popular Culture, Fall 2010

Welcome to KU Hip-hop in Popular Culture. My name is Dr. Nicole Hodges Persley and this is the course blog for the Fall 2010 course. This semester, we will explore the broad influence of Hip-hop music and culture in American popular culture. You will post your perspectives on Hip-hop on this blog each week as part of your participation grade for the course. I look forward to guiding you on this journey as we investigate the multiple ways that Hip-hop influences the way we experience, create and understand American popular culture.
Please join this blog as a follower so that you will be able to post your views each week. You can create a email for this website at gmail or you can use your KU email. You are required to turn in a hard copy of your response to the GTA, Boone Hopkins, each week so that you can receive critical feedback about your writing and understanding of the topics we cover in the course.

Posting start the first week of class and are due on Wednesday. Please post and print a hard copy to class.

Here's to a great semester!
Nicole Hodges Persley