Hip Hop in America

Catalog description

Hip Hop, the music and lifestyle, is rooted in African American culture with its origins dating back to the urban life of the 1970s on the streets and in the playgrounds of New York City. This course critically explores the evolution of Hip Hop as a socio-cultural, political and economic movement. Aspects of identity, aesthetics, race relations, gender politics and struggles for social justice are examined as they relate to the impact of Hip Hop on American society. Urban lifestyles and political activism in the Hip Hop generation are discussed in an effort to identify Hip Hop as a means to redefine social responsibility and an urban political agenda in an effort to empower American youth.