Attitudes and Perceptions in Hip-hop
Beats, Rhyme and Culture is a 4 credit, elective course being taught at George Mason University. Each semester, students are challenged to examine Hip-hop culture as a viable means of academic discourse. The goal of the course can be found at the end of this note.
This semester, we are investigating where people get their views on Hip-hop. WIth knowledge becoming viewed as the fifth element of Hip-hop, we are investigating where this knowledge is coming from. In addition to this online survey, class members will be conducting videotaped interviews with more open-ended questions.
Please take a few minutes and fill out our online survey. The results will be captured in a database and analyzed by students for their final reports. We thank you in advance for your participation.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
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Course Description and Goals: BEATS, RHYME AND CULTURE will examine the history of Hip-hop and the effect it has had on our society. The primary focus of this course is to engage Hip-hop not as a mode of entertainment, but as a medium of communication which impacts, represents, and misrepresents the life experiences of youth (especially inner-city youth) in the United States. The historical, socio-economic, and musical/aesthetic contexts from which Hip-hop emerged will be analyzed. Distinct themes and phenomena that define Hip-hop will be presented and discussed as well. The goal of this course is to have you critically think, write, and discuss the origins, themes, and direction of Hip-hop in the context of contemporary American culture and abroad.