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