This week in my ENGL 125 course on Music and Literature we are looking at Hip Hop. I thought I would make a short song (beat, lyrics, and video) to supplement the readings and songs for the week. While it has been some 11 years since I last recorded myself rapping standard verses, I thought I would give it a go. The track is a short history lesson about some of the roots of Hip-Hop music and culture and it focuses on the four essential elements: graffiti, breaking, DJing, and emceeing. Hip Hop is an improvisational art form that draws from the long history of disenfranchised people repurposing the tools of the master to create new forms of art. I also tried my hand at creating a lyric video with clips and made the most use of the classic Hip Hop documentary Style Wars (1983), which looks at Hip Hop culture during its early days in the 1970s until the early 1980s.
I hope you enjoy it and please do feel free to share the video!
PAUL WATKINS 