Hip Hop Music and Culture

Catalog description

This course examines the evolution of Hip Hop music and culture (Graffiti art, B-Boying [breakdancing], DJing, and MCing) from its birth in 1970s New York to its global and commercial explosion in the late 1990s. Students learn to think critically about both Hip Hop culture, and about the historical and political contexts in which Hip Hop culture took, and continues to take, shape. Particular attention is paid to questions of race, gender, authenticity, consumption, commodification, and globalization.