These courses examine the development of hiphop in the U.S. and throughout the world. They focus on hiphop’s importance as a cultural, political, technological and artistic resource for youthful expression and representation. The courses examine hiphop’s influence on politics, identity, society as well as creativity, performance, literacy, language and learning, art, performance and dress design. Topics include: dance, linguistics, culture, community, crime and justice, economics, education, family, history, identity, language, politics, sports, race and racism, sex and sexism.

Hiphop is a global phenomenon that influences social and cultural life far beyond the music and entertainment industries. With a powerful ability to spark creative rhyming, music, dance and visual art as well as grassroots communication between youth both locally and internationally, Global Hiphop speaks to the experiences of these groups in their language, and with their voices. Global Hiphop will focus on the cultural, artistic, political and social issues addressed by the international community through hiphop, such as health, education, poverty and social and political conflicts. Hiphop is the language of the world’s next generation and international youth from the townships of South Africa, Maasai Villages in Tanzania, clubs in New York City, to the concert halls of Amsterdam, London and Paris already rhyme about corruption, HIV/AIDS, and civil war, creating a powerful outlet for protest and global recognition. By localizing and vocalizing Hiphop beats into French, Wolof, Arabic, Hebrew, Twi, Swahili, and Spanish, Hiphop is a tour de force that can inspire creativity by providing youth with alternative spaces and venues to create their art, voice their opinions, and educate and empower one another and the world.

Course PDFs