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lecture notes: by Michael Moor

Hip Hop culture

n    It is subversive!

n    It is urban.

n    It is anti-establishment.

n    It is representative of an ‘underclass’.

n    It is has post-modern elements.

Hip Hop like jazz before it is almost a way of life or rather a perspective, a statement that has many facets.    

qHip Hop Dance……..

qHip Hop Fashion……

qHip Hop Art………….

qHip Hop Philosophy?

Hip Hop can be seen in a historical context: it draws upon an ‘oral tradition’ in Afro-American Culture.

It can also be seen as linked to the continuing struggle for identity in the USA for Blacks.

Marcus Garvey

Garvey took a Black Nationalist stanceandcalled for a free and
strong Africa and an independent black state in America.His loss of credibility began after he arranged a meeting with the.Ku klux Klan.

Hip Hop often presents an ‘angry front’: Consider in the US the ‘Rodney King’ effect!

Beware of postmodernistic reductions of cultural aspirations!

Hip Hop culture is not black culture, merely an aspect of an aspect of black culture!

Reference material for this lecture

Channel 4 Video: The Hip Hop Years