HHM User 9/23/06 8:35 PM

Comment:

BLOGGING PROJECT – February 24, 2010

The notion of Hip-Hop as culture was new to most of you before entering this course. It
became apparent as we went around the room during introductions (on the first day of
class) that each person constructed a personal definition of Hip-Hop through various
interactions with Hip-Hop: friends, television, news media, books, music, fashion, videos,
parents etc. Since that first class, we have continued to spend a considerable amount of
timing learning the history of Hip-Hop culture, likely deepening your understanding of Hip-
Hop. This online assignment attempts to investigate the distance between these two
points.
FIRST:
Between February 24th and April 21st, you will be asked to record ONE observation on
Hip-Hop culture for each class period. Each observation should be tied into some aspect
of current events in America or the world. Ideally, your observation will be related to class
discussion (past or present).
SECOND:
Each week I will post an article under the ‘Handouts’ section of Blackboard. You must
write a 3-5 paragraph response to the essay/article. The following web excerpt is meant
as a guide for your responses:
* The first paragraph presents an observation. In other words, regardless of
whether you read a literary or theoretical text, you should make an
observation about something that strikes you as odd, interesting, plain wrong,
etc. This might entail questions of word choice (particularly when dealing with
poetry), characterisation, logic, atmosphere, meter, etc. You might want to
begin your Response paper with a strong sentence, indicating what you have
noticed, followed by a couple of sentences in support of your observation.

• The second paragraph then explores the consequences that in your opinion need be
drawn from the observation, i.e. the previous paragraph. What conclusions can be
drawn from your observation? This question does not mean that you have to consult
secondary material--a frequently asked question--since I am primarily interested in
your opinion, your thinking skills. Be aware that the general rules regarding
plagiarism, however, do apply also for response papers.
http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~kellerw/teaching/assignments/assignments.html#Response%20Papers

THIRD:
You must respond (i.e. make comments) to 2 blogs a week . . . all blogs can be found on
Blackboard under the icon for Blogs.

GRADING:
You will be graded based on the timeliness of your blog entry (they MUST be weekly) and
the completeness of thought. You may remember a goal of this course is for you to
become conversational in Hip-Hop. Understandably, not everyone may feel comfortable
1
vocalizing their thoughts in class, this assignment attempts to provide an alternative
forum for intellectual debate and collegial discussion.

DATE TITLE BLOGGER NAME

Date of Post Title of Post Name of site. Only if blog is a
response to another blogger.
3/3/2010 “How do you listen to music?”

3/10/2010

3/17/2010

4/7/2010

4/14/2010

4/21/2010

What to hand in:

I will grade these assignments in 2 pieces. The first will be due on March 24 and the
second on April 28th.
You will be asked to cut and paste your blog into a MS Word document and submit via
Blackboard.

Weekly entries must be posted by the due dates above.

Late entries will be frowned upon.
Some interesting blogs from last semester . . .
http://ihhs-does.blogspot.com/
http://ihhs-tinab.blogspot.com/
http://ihhs-newbie2hiphop.blogspot.com/
http://ihhs-lyricam.blogspot.com/
Some interesting Hip-Hop blogs include:
http://poplicks.com/
http://www.nahright.com
http://www.prohiphop.com/
http://www.lynnedjohnson.com/diary/000424.html
http://www.hiphop-blogs.com/hiphop/