Tag Archives: school

The Poet & The Teacher: Hip Hop Classes I’d Like To See

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I'll be Pres-o-dent.

So Dr. Michael Eric “I Use 100 Words When 1 Will Do” Dyson is teaching a class at Georgetown University on Jay-Z this semester. The class entitled “Sociology of Hip-Hop: Jay-Z” focuses on the literary works and genius of our dear Mr. Carter. You know school is fun when Fade To Black is required viewing. (Not for nothing I think State Property could have an entire class in film school devoted to it.) Dyson is no stranger to the wonderful world of hip-hop having written popular yet terrible works on Tupac and Nas and even taught a class at UPenn onTupac. Seriously, Holler If You Hear Me might have been the biggest waste of words on Tupac ever.

Obviously, I’m no fan of Dyson and frankly think his books suck more a** than Jessica Grabbit. I’m also generally against the intellectualization of hip hop. Not because it doesn’t deserve it, but I tend to think that most of the books written about hip-hop by academics tend to be books written by fairly dissociated ninjas trying to sell hip-hop to a bunch of older white fogeys who would never give hip hop a real shot in hell anyway. No matter how much you focus on the poetry and inherent struggle present in SOME of the music, there’s no way to make “Laffy Taffy” an exercise in academia anyway.

But I would take any class on hip hop. Word.Booty. And I do think that people like Tupac and Jay are deserving of some sort of analysis given their accomplishments as people and the medium they chose to use. So despite the teacher, I’m glad these classes exist. And you know what? There are lots of other classes that I think would serve any student population well. Like what? Glad you asked.

Criminal Justice 104: Gucci Mane, DMX, and TI – Rapper Recidvism and the Prison Industrial Complex

This class would study the mentality of rappers who’ve made more money than they know what to do with but somehow cannot stay out of jail for sh*t. Specific blocks of the class would be based on probablity of Gucci Mane returning to jail every year (trick question: 100%) and why DMX seems to LIKE jail. Also, the stupidity of people with the world at their fingertips. See Harris, Clifford “Tip” Required Viewing: Tiny and Toya.

History 376 – The South Rose Again…But Not Like You Thought

This class would look at the South’s meteoric ascent to the top of the mainstream rap landscape with a specific focus on the loss of regionality in hip-hop with every song sounding like a Southern Anthem. New York’s yielding of power to the South would be examined to include an analysis of ASAP Rocky, a rapper from Harlem who seems like a Compton gangbanger who raps likes from Houston. Further discussion into the Southern backlash by northern rappers while making southern rap songs and going to Southern producers for their biggest hits. Required Viewing: MTV Jamz

Psychology 341 – Cam’Ron and DipSet: The Birth of A Nation

This class would look at the influence of The Diplomats on the psyche of America. Cam’ron’s ability to influence an entire nation of masculine dudes to wear pink and purple on purpose. It would also discuss influence of Harlem on hip-hop’s landscape and the DipSet influence in America specificaly from 2001-2006.Required Viewing: All DipSet videos and home video footage of American urban youth during those years

Business 402 – Independent Rap Labels and Trunk Muzik

Focus on No Limit, Rap-A-Lot, Suave House, and the rise of the indy rap labels that spawned a new business model for record companies. Required Viewing: Baller Blockin’, I’m Bout It, Foolish, Choices, Hot Boys

Sociology 119 – The Wire and You

An analysis of the reality versus the fantasy of The Wire and how the representation was a perfect mechanism for illustrating needs for certain social reforms in America’s urban centers. Required Viewing: The Wire…duh

Fashion and Design 224 – From Jansport To The Louis Vuitton Duffel Bag

The rise of the backpack as a fashion accessory of hip-hop artists. The travel bags omnipresent role in hip-hop. The origins of backpack rap and the profession to the to the Kanye West Louis Vuitton backpack accessories and dope boy LV duffel. Required Viewing: MTV Jamz/Sex And The City

Philosophy 843 – WTF is A Wacka Flocka Flame? The Genius and The Prophet

WWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACKAAAAA! ABCDEFGHIJK!!! FLOCKA FLOCKA!!!! WAAAAAAAACKA!!! The life and depth of the worst rapper ever to have 3 straight number one songs? Wacka Flocka – idiot or are we the dumb ones? Is Wacka really a genius? All these questions and more answered. Required Viewing: WorldStarHipHop

Those are some of my suggestions. Good people of VSB, show me what you got. What classes based on hip-hop do you think would be dope in academia??

Talk to me.

-VSB P aka THE ARSONIST aka TANGLE JIG P aka YUNG P DA FLY THIEF aka GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRL HE A 3

link of the week: oversexed…or not

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95?

80?

91?

105?

a couple years ago, i served on a county-wide teen pregnancy prevention board, composed of 30 or so members of social service agencies and nonprofits in the greater pittsburgh area.

we’d meet bi-monthly, eating catered jimmy johns while cementing happy hour plans and discussing new and unique ways to convey “stop f*cking!!!!” to all of the teens in allegheny county.

although i’d usually spend most of my time there devising theories on why women with, ummm, “relaxed” sexual standards seem to be disproportionately represented in social service occupations (my best theory? guilt), i did pay enough attention to be able to recite and recall a few surprising statistics. one in particular stood out above the rest.

the four numbers at the beginning represent the usual answers i receive when asking someone…

“if you had to guess, what percentage of high school students would you say are sexually active?”

obviously, in this oversexualized era of bust-it-babies, club window skeet, lug’s (lesbians until graduation), pregnancy packs, exposed snizzle backfat, and mclovin, those numbers should be astronomical, right? i mean, when we were in school, teachers taught you how to read right…not how to lay pipe. sh*t, nowadays kids are probably running trains in 3rd grade, using the fruit-rollups their 15 year old mothers packed for their lunches as makeshift edible condoms. right?

wrong

the answer (48%) is just more evidence that our perception of us being “oversexed” is a stark contrast to the reality, a concept further addressed in tara parker-pope’s “the myth of rampant teenage promiscuity”, an article published in the new york times debunking a few commonly-held notions.

“there is a group of kids who engage in sexual behavior, but it’s not really significantly different than previous generations,” said maria kefalas, an associate professor of sociology at st. joseph’s university in philadelphia and co-author of “promises i can keep: why poor women put motherhood before marriage” (university of california press, 2005). “this creeping up of teen pregnancy is not because so many more kids are having sex, but most likely because more kids aren’t using contraception.”

although this focuses on teens, i believe that this commonly held idea of rampant promiscuity transcends age. it seems like promiscuous adults assume that everyone else is promiscuous, and, for whatever reason, unpromiscuous adults assume that theyre the only one who arent promiscuous, despite factual data that proving the contrary.

also, despite what many of us would like to believe, sex was not invented in 1998. the few of us who are “gotdamning” every night aint the first, and certainly wont be the last people on the planet to do it. sh*t, baby-boomers are called baby-boomers because there was a baby-boom as a result of all the f*cking our grandparents were doing!!

so, people of vsb, do you agree? is our perception of what’s happening in the bedrooms and bar bathrooms of america deeply flawed? if so, why? what factors have contributed to this line of thinking?

—the champ