dr. helen quan 2/12/08 - conversation regarding hip-hop

focuses on community and social justice: spend lots of time on the cultural context of identity.
-- example: examine the cultural context of misogyny and violence
-- examine the context of belonging
-- necessity of counterfeit identity
-- ask "why is it necessary to pretend to be?"

talking about identity can be a very uncomfortable thing
-- when most people broach the subject, it's often highly critical and confrontational. why are you listening to this? you are supporting bad people doing bad things therefore you are bad
-- consider that music is a very personal thing
-- music is more than entertainment. we are, to certain extents, defined by our choices
-- we wake up to it, hang out with it, sleep with it, go on dates with it, it comforts us, it's tied to our memories, etc.
-- judgments about industry therefore need to be made distinct from judgments about us.
-- if you want an audience to develop a sensitivity towards these topics, you must first develop a sensitivity toward your audience

students tend to be genuinely curious about culture particular culture that they saturate themselves in. discussion requires the ability to consider critically without alienating.

understanding this requires the recognition that hip-hop does not exist in a vacuum
hip-hop is an industry; it is big business; it is a commodity -- deliberately, consciously produced and marketed BUT consider that in some cases gangster rap had continue to be over-produced despite not being profitable. (other agendas) 1999 statistics indicate that roughly 66% of the market for gangster rap was suburban white kids.
-- consider what is being taught about race relations and "the Other"
-- consider that the music industry is extremely exploitive of young talent
-- targeting of responsibility? artists? industry? consumers?

black noise by tricia rose (one of the first "hip-hop scholars")
hip-hop america by nelson george*
politics and poetics in hip-hop
effective advertisement is that which results in something being implicit and intuitive. that you walk into a "foot locker" and just know that nike is better is the result of a multi-billion dollar campaign.