Reflections

            What a great module offering tremendous amounts of information from a host of different perspectives. By learning about the different elements that inspire hip hop there is a certain level of perspective that is to many unseen. Each week, something new is introduced to allow me a certain level of understanding to a world I have previously never known. Hip hop is much more than what you hear at first, but a multi layered process and vision.

I really enjoyed watching the movie Scratch it illuminated areas of hip hop that I have never been aware existed. The tremendous amount of hours the artists put into searching for vinyl albums was staggering to me, not to mention the amount that still  exist. In an age of iPods, and digital music those that are not familiar with the hip hop genre don’t even consider the arduous work that goes into the creation of new beats.

            I have never correlated the work of a graffiti artist with that of a literary artist. D’Angelo’s piece on the rhetoric contained in graffiti was eye opening to me. I will admit that I have not seen much graffiti in my life other than the occasional piece on the side of a train. The use of such literary elements such as irony, allusion, antithesis, and alliteration just to name a few enhance the meaning behind these literary elements to an entirely new perspective for me English major. As D’Angelo states in the last paragraph that, “we lead our students through intensive and exhaustive rhetoric analyses and that we subsequently get them to use the principles derived from these analyses in their own writing. Conscious and meaningful choices are better than slavish imitations.” Wow! What a powerful statement which is saturated in truth and applicable to a myriad of different areas of study. I printed this selection out to hang on to for my future students.

            As with previous chapters of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, we delve deeper into the history and understanding of the environment and conflicts which perpetuated the foundation for hip hop. The sacrifices of few led to the self-evaluations of some benefitting many in a community plagued with issues. Music can delight the soul, calm the anger, and inspire ability to those willing to open their hearts and minds to listen. The very powerful words at the end of chapter four, “In  the loop, there is the alpha, the omega, and the turning points in between.” (Chang 85)-by Rachel Wacker