Hip-hop course at 宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 puts fresh spin on a cultural movement

阿宾顿,爸爸. — 嘻哈学者和自由式MC Justin 德感觉 will teach a 夏季课程 at 宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 that examines the genre’s history and its cultural, economic, social, and political impact. 他将邀请费城地区的艺术家参加, and students will have the opportunity to participate in cyphers — a circle of performers and spectators. 

三学分课程, "INART 126N/AFAM 126N: The Popular Arts in America: The History of Hip-Hop," will go beyond the music and take a deep dive into the foundations of the movement and where it stands today. 

"我们将集中讨论为什么嘻哈音乐在20世纪70年代初出现, 是哪些年轻人促成了它的出现, and what that tells us about the transnational forces that were at play,德森索说. “它始于纽约市的加勒比移民, so we will start there with big picture questions and place it in a transnational context."

德感觉, 2003年从阿宾顿毕业的人, will explore hip-hop as an American and worldwide movement. 

“We will explore who we are as Americans and humans and place it within the African American oral tradition and the diaspora,他说. “我们有陷阱、黑帮和所有这些不同的外流. How did these brilliant people like Tupac and Eminem make it their own? We need to think about its different faces and how it's reborn."

阿宾顿 students can see 德感觉 in action on April 15 at Common Break when he will host a wellness rap cypher for National Poetry Month. 

这是德森索的爱好之一, 他说, is digging into what hip-hop teaches students about who they are as citizens and as humans. 

“There is this global web of hip-hoppers who stay in communion with each other, and there’s a whole universe of archives that tells the story,他说. “我们将一探究竟. Harvard and Cornell universities have hip-hop collections with photos, 党传单, 信件和涂鸦. How can we use this to deepen our understanding of what hip-hop is? We can look at some things in this course that haven't been examined before."

Growing up less than an hour from hip-hop ground zero in the Bronx, most of 德感觉’s friends in his diverse Long Island neighborhood were graffiti artists and breakdancers. 

“我不会画画, 我不跳舞, but a foundational element of hip-hop is spoken word using rhyme,他说. "I was good at playing with language so I could tell stories, 吸引一群人, 进行政治和社会辩论. 嘻哈音乐具有治疗和社区元素. 这很有趣，但它也很强大."

He eventually packed up his hip-hop and freestyle MC skills and enrolled as an 英语专业的学生 在阿宾顿, where a course on African-American oral traditions inspired him to dig into the roots and culture of hip-hop. 

德感觉 attended graduate school at New Mexico State University and Buffalo University, where he designed and taught courses on hip-hop and American society. 在布法罗, he co-authored a book chapter on Ice-T with Greg Dimitriadis, 一位被称为嘻哈人种学之父的教授. 

He taught English and African American studies for several years at Penn State Berks, including a course on critical approaches to hip-hop while hosting cyphers in his office.  

“We would meet at the table of hip-hop, and the language was incredibly powerful,德森索说. "Students were trying to puzzle through their ideas with someone as a sounding board. 这里成了他们的安全之地. There was a lot of emotional, social, and personal work done there."

德感觉 and a Penn State colleague were awarded a 图书馆 of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources grant in 2020, 他正在和乔纳森·怀特合作写一本书, associate teaching professor of history at Penn State Allegheny. It will examine hip-hop's role in strengthening American democracy through storytelling and using its archives to think more deeply about America's challenges.

Career and person moves during 德感觉’s life have been eased by his connection to hip-hop. 

“在新墨西哥州和布法罗, I worked at a life transitions program for young adults with intellectual disabilities, 嘻哈帮我和他们建立了关系,他说. "I'm 42 now, and everywhere I go, I look for freestyle MCs and rappers. 我就像一把瑞士军刀."

看看 易胜博娱乐分校的其他特色课程.

关于宾大阿宾顿 

易胜博娱乐分校提供了一个负担得起的, accessible and high-impact education resulting in the success of a diverse student body. It is committed to student success through innovative approaches to 21st-century public higher education within a world-class research university. 有3个以上,100名学生, 宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 is a residential campus that offers baccalaureate degrees in 25 majors, 速成硕士学位, 本科研究, 施赖尔荣誉学院, NCAA三级田径和更多.