The History and Rhetoric of Hip-Hop.

Catalog description

On August 11, 1973, a Jamaican-American named Clive Campbell hosted a house party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx with little more than a couple of turntables and amplifiers. Music and cultural historians often regard Campbell’s party as the founding event for what has come to be known as hip-hop. Almost fifty years later, hip-hop thrives as one of the most popular, yet controversial, forms of cultural expression in contemporary society with footholds in music, fashion, art, business, activism, and politics around the globe. We will consider the history, themes, and messages of hip-hop using a rhetorical lens. Through this course, students will gain valuable skill in engaging and evaluating popular forms of cultural expression with academic rigor and Biblical principles. (Open to Wheaton College Summer Institute students only)