ASSIGNMENT

Write a 4-page research paper and can choose from one of the topics below and must address all components of the artform as it pertains to hip-hop. All papers must have three sources including an online source, a book, and a scholarly journal article. Chicago-style format is required for this paper. Select one of the topics below.

1. Important Female Artists

Consider the increase in the number of female artists who add to the hip-hop genre, and focus your research on their cultural additions. Review the messages that they present in their music, in comparison to the message of male contributors. Use your research to determine if their contributions represent a change in the hip-hop genre, a reinvention of hip-hop or perhaps a new genre of hip-hop that will be led by female artists making their own unique contributions.

2. Social Compass

Select some of the specific claims by hip-hop artists in their music and research the sociological evidence for or against these claims. Review selections of hip-hop music and look for specific, testable claims. As an example, you could test the claim that racial stereotyping leads to an increased number of minority arrests by reviewing minority arrest records from across the country and comparing these numbers to overall arrest records. Test these claims to determine if hip-hop is an effective sociological compass.