Hip Hop on My Mind Hip Hop On My Mind is a blog on various topics in Hip Hop Culture and Rap music. The blog aims to educate and get discussions going on the various topics. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 14 0 2 94

Articles from Hip Hop on My Mind

Hip Hop Class Discussion: Graffiti 2008-03-08 21:45:00 In the class, students are put into groups to lead discussions on various things like the elements of Hip Hop Culture. A few weeks ago, the class had a discuss on Graffiti. I did not know much about it. I liked the discussion. I learned a lot about this element that day. It wasn't until recently that I felt that I should share some of the materials from the discussion with all of you. I also found some info outside of the discussion. Enjoy. Shout out goes to the group who put this discussion on.Here is a video about a place in my hometown, New York City. This is what I call great art.Great stuff right? Well, there is always a bad side to everything good.This is a great documentary on Graffiti called Style Wars. R.I.P. Tony SilverHe speaks about Style Wars and more.Here is some more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GraffitiYou can check out more great art at: http://www.graffiti.org/ ...

Book Critique: Hip Hop Matters 2008-02-24 14:55:00 This is the second assignment in the Hip Hop Culture class. The class had to finish the text and write a critique. Check out my critique below:From “Fad” to Field of Study Rap music has been around for almost 30 years in America. It has done a lot of things like going global and uniting people for a cause. Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement (2005) by S. Craig Watkins takes a look at this powerful movement. The book is a timeline of the music. It talks about the beginning of the music with the first successful record in 1979, Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” and ends with the music and culture becoming respected by many scholars. Watkins did a lot research for the book that included scholarly, trade, journalistic publications, interviews, newspaper articles, magazines, interviews and more. He creates a great picture of this movement that keeps moving, but he could not fit everything into one book. There are a lot of stren ...

Chuck D Interview 2008-02-12 11:07:00 Well after months of a lot of drama and confusion, I got the video. :-)I really want to thank SkidTV for all of their help. I also thank Chuck D for giving me the chance to interview him.I am glad to share this interview with all of you. Chuck D is a very wise man. I hope all of you get sometime out of this.As promised, my interview with Chuck D. Enjoy!!! ...

Mixtape Spotlight: HaVic 2008-02-07 00:33:00 This is the post where I showcase a mixtape I just release. Wreaking HaVic Vol. 1 features HaVic, a Rapper from the Dominican Republic. This is his first mixtape. I am glad to have the opportunity to get involved with this mixtape. I am really happy with how it turned out. The stand out tracks are: "Robbery Part 1" and "Born to Win." I really enjoy the whole mixtape. HaVic knows how to pick beats and other Rappers to do tracks with. Listen to and download this FREE mixtape below:Check out the rest of my FREE mixtapes: http://dj-daddy-mack.tripod.com/mixtapes.html ...

My Hip Hop 2008-01-28 22:14:00 So, I am enrolled in my school's first Hip Hop Culture class. I really like the course calendar, the text (Hip Hip Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement By: S. Craig Watikin), readings and the make up of the class. It is really diverse. Within the first week, we already had an assignment. It was called "My Hip Hop." The directions were the following: "Students are asked to consider their relationship, thoughts, and ideas about hip hop culture. The assignment is two-fold. First, students will present a visual image, film clip, television clip, or website that extends or challenges course themes. Students have five-minutes to present their chosen material and to discuss why they selected this representation. Second, students need to hand-in a one single-spaced page paper covering, in a more formalized manner, the same ground as the oral presentation."I was impressed with the presentations so far. I only had two problems. One was deciding between the ...

Internet/College Radio Vs. Commercial Radio 2007-12-29 14:26:00 Internet, college and commercial radio are very powerful tools that can make or break an artist. When I was going up, I use to listen to commercial radio a lot. Hot 97 in my hometown, New York City, was the station. Power 105 came into my sight in high school. I discovered internet and college radio when I came to college. Commercial radio is not what it used to be. Internet and college radio is the way to go for listeners, artists and labels.When I came back to New York City for this past Christmas, I tuned to Hot 97 then Power 105 on my iPod. I heard some of the same records over and over. I also heard singles from three years ago. I started to wonder: why artists like Lupe Fiasco and Saigon are not being played? Why only singles are being played?Hot 97 claims to be the place "where Hip Hop lives." This might have been true many years ago, but it is not true now. Hip Hop is the people. The people do not want to hear the same things over and over and/or from many years ago. If people ...

Hip Hop Is Dead? 2007-11-09 22:37:00 On May 18, 2006, NaS announced the title of his next album after a performance. The album was called Hip Hop Is Dead. It was not set to be released until December 19th, 2006, but it started a big uproar. At first, I did not have an opinion on the issue. I was on an online forum that is about Hip Hop. The people on the forum talked about it a lot over the summer. I stayed away from those threads. I did not hear much about it in New York City. When I arrived at Skidmore in the Fall of 2006, I started to research interviews and anything related to NaS on the subject Hip Hop is dead. I do not agree with the idea that Hip Hop is dead, but I do agree with NaS’ message in his album. A lot of people mistake Hip Hop for Rap. The media is an example of this. KRS-One said it best, "Rap is something you do, Hip Hop is something you live.” Hip Hop is a culture. It has four main elements. The elements are B-Boying, MCing, DJing, and Writing. B-Boying is known as breakdancing. MCing is known as ...

Welcome to "Hip Hop On My Mind" 2007-11-09 22:30:00 Play this video.Read this interview to get a general sense of how I feel about Hip Hop Culture and Rap music: http://cms.skidmore.edu/news/qa.cfm?passID=479 ...