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4.17 The Evolution of African American Music: From Spirituals to Hip-Hop
Bunk
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This linked excerpt was written by Professor Austin McCoy, who regularly teaches a college course entitled “The History of Hip-Hop Culture in America.” After reading the excerpt think back to the Required Sources you read in class and write down, discuss, or simply think about answers to the following questions:
- What are the benefits of historical timelines that identify particular moments in time as points of origin for particular styles of music — for example, the early 1970s, or more specifically the 1973 “Back to School Jam” in the Bronx, as the “Big Bang” of hip-hop?
- What are some of the challenges of constructing these timelines and identifying these moments?
- What are some earlier moments that McCoy highlights as crucial to the development of hip-hop and rap?
It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop. We cannot understand the last fifty years of U.S. history—certainly not the first thing about Black history—without studying the emergence and evolution of rap. Austin McCoy via The Baffler on January 9, 2024