CSCR 21300 Hip-Hop Cultures

Because of the nature of hip hop culture, there will be a variety of different kinds of sources available. Some will be from the popular press; many from alternative sources; and others from scholarly or academic journals. Because hip hop was ignored by the mainstream for a long time and remains counter to it, special challenges exist when researching the topic. Although terms such as hip hop and rap music will be found, other terms associated with the culture may be more elusive, such as b-boys and  mc'ing.

Since books were written about the music before books were written about the culture, many books about hip hop culture will be found in the music section of the stacks.

These are just a few databases out of many available to Ithaca College students to help you locate peridiocal articles and get started on the research for your project.

• Ethnic Newswatch
  An index to newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native Americans, with full-text of the articles.
• SocINDEX with Full Text
  The major indexing and abstracting tool for finding scholarly articles in sociology and cultural issues.
• Diversity Studies Collection
  Covers a diversity of diversity topics related to social science, history and liberal arts. This collection explores cultural differences, contributions and influences in our global community.
• Academic Search Premier
  One of several general and multidisciplinary periodical databases, especially good for current events and articles related to contemporary life.
• Music Index (online)
  Although primarily an index for articles on classical music, other genres of music are included as well.
• Alternative Press Index
  This is a database that indexes articles from periodicals you won't find in other sources. Unfortunately, this is an indexing service, rather than a full text database, and  many of the articles won't be immediately or quickly available.

Browse over 300 Ethnic & Race Studies journals found online and available to Ithaca College students.

The Hiphop Scholarship from the Hiphop Archive
Hip Hop Index: an overview of the history of hip-hop from the University of Illinois
Rap Dictionary: a select glossary of terms.
Recognize! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture: an online exhibit of photography, painting, graffiti art, film, poetry, and installation art.
ArtsEdge: The Poetics of Hip Hop: lesson plans and other materials related to hip hop, from the Kennedy Center.
The Evolution of Rap Music in the United States: written by Henry A. Rhodes from Yale, includes guidelines for teaching about rap music and hip hop.

Hip hop immortals: we got your kids  (2004, 81 min.) DVD 3107
Hip-hop: beyond beats and rhymes (2006, 61 min.) DVD 3067
Letter to the president (2004, 90 min.) [examines thirty years of political and social aspects of black youth and hip hop] DVD 3691
Rap: looking for the perfect beat DVD 409
The freshest kids (2002, 97 min.) [looks at the history and phenomenon of b-boys. ] DVD 3676
Hip hop poetry jam. (2002, 90 min.) [Vol. 1] DVD 905
Rhyme & reason  (1997, 93 min.) [explores the evolution of hip hop culture] DVD 3230
Hip-hop colony  (2007, 93 min.) [surveys Genge music, a blend of traditional music of Kenya with American hip-hop] DVD 5794
Sierra Leone’s refugee all stars (2005, 80 min.) [documents the journey of six displaced musicians who created a new sound blending African, reggae, and rap music] DVD 1238
Style wars (1983 [some material from 2002 included], 280 min.) [explores the culture of New York’s graffiti writers and breakdancers] DVD 348 CORE
Tongues untied (2007, 55 min.)  [experimental film exploring rap music, street poetry, and a gay  black lifestyle] DVD 3633
Tupac: resurrection (2003, 113 min.) DVD 3106
Tough guise: violence, media, and the crisis in masculinity (2002,105 min.) DVD 277
Do you speak American? (2005, 171 min.) [In this three part documentary on language, episode One includes a segment on hip hop] DVD 2458
Welcome to Death Row (2001, 104 min.) [depicts the rise and fall of a rap music record label] DVD 3105

Hip hop
Rap music

RELATED HEADINGS:
African American youth
African Americans in popular culture
African Americans Music
African Americans Social conditions
African Americans Race identity
Inner Cities United States
Music and society
Popular culture United States
Social Classes United States
Sociology, Urban--United States
Music Social aspects United States

ML3479 : Popular Music - African American
ML3556 : Ethnic Music - African American
E185.86 : African Americans - Social Life

Be sure to search ebrary in addition to the online catalog for additional books that discus hip-hop or rap music and its related subjects, but that might not include hip hop or rap in the title or subject fields.

Here are a few examples of the titles you will find:

• To the break of dawn : a freestyle on the hip-hop aesthetic.
• Know what I mean?: reflections on hip-hop
• The hip hop wars: what we talk about when we talk about hip hop--and why it matters
• Foundation: b-boys, b-girls, and hip-hop culture in New York
• Hip hop matters: politics, pop culture, and the struggle for the soul of a movement
• Shamanism, racism, and hip-hop culture: essays on white supremacy and Black subversion
• Painting without permission: hip-hop graffiti subculture
• Hip-hop turntablism, creativity and collaboration
• The languages of global hip-hop
• New H. N. I. C. : the death of civil rights and the reign of hip hop
• Pimps up, ho's down : Hip Hop's hold on young black women
• Stare in the darkness: the limits of hip-hop and black politics
• Religion and hip hop
• Souls looking back : Portraits of growing up black
• Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation : street politics and the transformation of a New York City gang

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. 2d edition. Macmillan, 2006. Electronic book.

You'll have to come into the library to access the following:
Bynoe, Yvonne. Encyclopedia of rap and hip-hop culture. Greenwood Press, 2006. ML102.R27 B96 2006
Mickey Hess, ed. Hip hop in America : a regional guide. Greenwood Press, 2010. ML3531 .H47 2010
McCoy, Judy. Rap music in the 1980s: a reference guide, Scarecrow Press, 1992. ML128.R28 M3 1992
The African American encyclopedia. 2d edition. Cavendish, 2001. E185 .A253 2001