AMS 1005 The Rise of Hip Hop and Rap
Hip hop is now the best-selling genre of all popular music. How did hip hop transcend from an underground music genre to the mainstream of popular music? How did hip hop and rap become a social and cultural force? What are the music and political pillars of hip hop and rap? Students in this course analyze the songs, artists, producers and labels, as well as the sociological, cultural, economic and political conditions that gave rise to this form of music and lifestyle and have fueled its ascendancy to the commercial summit of popular music.
LA