Mirza Jahic

Professor Deck
EWRT 1B:62z
11/28/2003

Blow, Curtis. <http://rhino.com/Features/liners/72851lin.html>

Curtis starts off by describing where hip-hop and rap originated from and follows ahead
by giving credit to those responsible for this new wave of music. He writes,” Hip-hop is
the voice of a generation that refused to be silenced by urban poverty, a local
phenomenon fueled with so much passion and truth it could not help but reach the entire
world.” This is one of the best descriptions of hip-hop that I have ever seen. The article
goes on to write about individual experiences and descriptions of hip-hop from the
perspective of an admirer. This article has deep meaning similar to the poetry of Langston
Hughes. By this I mean that it was true because it came from an individual living the
struggle and growing with it as the phenomenon kept expanding and progressing. This
will help me a lot as I write my paper due to the fact that it has such deep, emotional
attachment towards hip-hop, its culture that follows, and its community that emerged that
was built upon a dream.

Bogdanov, Vladimir et al. All Music Guide to Hip-Hop: The Definitive Guide to Rap and
Hip-Hop (2003)
This book is pretty much self-explanatory. It contains information about every artist in
the hip-hop industry with information such as historical background, place of birth,
upcoming history (the one thing I am especially interested in) and their struggles to make
a name of themselves. The reason I decided to use this book is because it allows me to
look at the statistics of the upcoming artists. I pay close attention to birthplaces and
historical backgrounds and sure enough, every rapper is related in one way or another.
This will in return help me make a decision about the hip-hop artists and I will be able to
further compare them to Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance.
Diesman, Jill, <http://www.nku.edu/~diesmanj/harlem_intro.html>
Jill simplifies the Harlem Renaissance and helps me understand the key figures during
the Harlem Renaissance era which I will eventually use as a source in order to write my
draft. She mentions important figures such as W.E.B Dubois and Langston Hughes who
have had a very high influence in the expression field, such as getting the message across
using poetry, music, etc.
She mentions “More than a literary movement and more than a social revolt against
racism, the Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture”, this is what is going to be an
important factor when doing the research paper due to the fact that the Harlem
Renaissance and the hip-hop phenomenon have so much in common. They both have
restrictions thrown upon them to control and to disband any self-expression and
possessions, which eventually led to a “new” way of life and which finally gave the black
community credit for rap and/or hip-hop.

Fiero, K. Gloria. “Identity and liberation.” The Humanistic Tradition, Book 6 (2002):
95-111.
This chapter of the book “The Humanistic Tradition” deals primarily with the Harlem
Renaissance and the art that emerged from this particular era. We get important
information about the liberation movements and the quest for racial equality from this
particular chapter. This book will be very useful in general because it explains the history
of the Harlem Renaissance from a poetic, individualistic, musical point of view, similar to
the hip-hop phenomena which will come in quite useful because this book provides
evidence that I can use to back up my thesis which will deal with the similarities between
the Harlem Renaissance and the hip-hop phenomenon.

Kitwana, Bakari. “The New Black Youth Culture”, “Redefining Social Responsibility”
Hip-Hop Generation. (2002) 3-25, 145-151
This book was extremely helpful to me because it explained the whole hip-hop
phenomenon beginning with Jam Master Jay and the beginning of it all. The pages 3-25
deal with the upcoming of hip-hop and with the position that was secured in the heart of
the individuals throughout the world. The pages 145-151 start to explain hip-hop’s
responsibility and place in America while also focusing on the social responsibility that it
owes America. This book is an extremely good source to use because of its very well
written and distinct historical information.

Ranck, John. 8 Nov. 2003 <http://web.simmons.edu/~morrow/hiphopbib.html>

Ranck’s article is a very well written bibliography of hip-hop. His text displays good
research in its ways that it describes hip-hop’s history, origin and the significance of it.
This is important because I will consider specific audiences during the era of hip-hop
establishments. I will also consider the actual first encounters of hip-hip and the
progression into the states, the Bronx and Harlem areas. This article will help me as to
point out the specific details of artists, and the ways that they created the beginning of a
multi-billion dollar business and eventually changed musical art and revolutionized the
world with hip-hop.

The Academy of American Poets, <http://www.poets.org/exh/Exhibit.cfm?prmID=7>

Poets.org is a website dedicated to the appreciation towards American poets. This website
gives specific info on poets during the Harlem Renaissance and a brief description of
their background and the influence they had in or during the Harlem Renaissance. This
website provides information about poets such as Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks,
Claude McKay and others.
I decided to use this website in order to compare and contrast the movement of the black
poets during the Harlem Renaissance and the hip-hop artists that escalated during the hip-
hop phenomenon era. The Harlem Renaissance was based on similar principles as the
hip-hop phenomenon in a way that it wanted a form of self-expression. This website will
help me compare ideas from the poets of the renaissance to the hip-hop artists to see if
there is a clash in similarity.