Song List
Rapsody – 12 Problems, 2020

Goodie Mob – Frontline, 2020

Sampa the Great – Time’s Up, 2020

Babiboi – Molasses, 2020

Common with Black Thought – Say Peace, 2020

Clipping – Pain Every Day, 2020

Future and Lil Uzi Vert – Over Your Head, 2020

Gavlyn and DJ Hoppa – Stepping Stone, 2020

Trippie Redd – Weeee, 2020

Mulatto – In ‘n Out, 2020

5 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font.

– At least 3 bibliographic items.

– References and comparison to 2 songs from the course slides.

One song from the list found below in this module will be examined and deconstructed in detail. The song must be from the provided list.

The paper should be no shorter than 5 pages (excluding bibliography) and must reference 2 other songs from the lecture slides.

These references are meant to draw a connection between the songs on the list all released within the last year and the historical material that is discussed in class.

If you would like to expand on your discourse from Paper 1 you may use the same 2 songs, however remember that self-plagiarism is still plagiarism and it may tricky to avoid.

The continued use of Stingin Like Tabasco is suggested, along with at least one other written reference from the course materials and one print resource of your own choosing.

If you are stuck for bibliographic materials , contact your TA or myself to point you in the right direction.

You may use Genius, Wikipedia, or any other online source if you want but they DO NOT COUNT as one of the above 3.  Genius is often unreliable and Wikipedia is a collection of sources – you are free to use them alongside the others but be sure to double-check anything that you take from there. Remember, as I said for the last paper, “wrong is wrong” and if you include wrong information, no matter where you retrieved it from, you will be penalized.

Deconstruct the song in terms of the parameters as on Paper 1 signification, flow, political content, etcbut locate it in terms of the other two songs.

The grading rubric will be similar to the Paper 1 rubric.

Some Things to Think About
Below are two opinions on Hip Hop from 20 years ago that serve as kinds of predictions. Since you are writing about Hip Hop from “now ” and comparing it to Hip Hop from “then”, read these and think about whether or not you agree.

If you would like to use Greg Tates article Hip Hop Turns Thirty” as a source, I encourage it or anything else from Flyboy 2 , but regardless, meditate on these two quotes from the article before you begin writing.

“What the heck are we celebrating exactly? A right and proper question, that one is, mate. One to which my best answer has been: Nothing less, my man, than the marriage of heaven and hell, of New World African ingenuity and that trick of the devil known as global hyper-capitalism. Hooray.”

“Well tell them how fools thought they were celebrating the 30th anniversary of hiphop..when they were really presiding over a funeral. Well tell them how once upon a time there was this marvelous art form where the Negro could finally say in public whatever was on his or her mind in rhyme and how the Negro hiphop artist, staring down minimum wage slavery, Iraq, or the freedom of the incarcerated chose to take his emancipated motor mouth and stuck it up a strippers ass because it turned out there really was gold in them thar hills.”

Likewise, for a different perspective, any chapter from Nelson Georges Hip Hop America, could be a wise source, but here is a quote from Chapter 16 the final lines of the book – to ruminate on before you begin writing.

“The truth is that hip hop in its many guises has reflected (and internalized) our society’s woes so evocatively that it has grown from minority expression to mainstream appreciation..This thing labeled hip hop has simply been in the middle of much, and nothing at the turn of the century has changed that. The allegiance of its true believers is deep and looks to be lifelong”

“The long-term direction of America, and hip hop’s role in it, will be decided by two very different factors. First, the state of America’s soul. Will a commitment to social justice, to nonpolarizingpolitics and old-fashioned community resurface? If so, such a humanist movement would certainly alter the culture, perhaps spawning a musical movement as optimistic as the golden days of Motown. Don’t hold your breath.”

“One day ..all this fun and fury will seem as antiquated as spats and big bands do to us. The next generation may reject hip hop for the next sweeping cultural trend. And, by the logic of pop culture, they are actually supposed to.  But, whether they like it or not, they’ll know there once was a hip hop America.”