ACabrera522

FINAL REFLECTIONS ON WIKIEDU: AFPRL290.26

Hip-Hop and Wikipedia:

Over this past semester, my knowledge of hip-hop and hip-hop culture has greatly improved – but unlike many courses I’ve taken I can attribute much of my learning to myself, though without the class, Wikipedia, and Professor Gaunt’s direction, I wouldn’t have learned about it to the degree which I did. The content I’ve learned through my own research is mostly information relating to the origin of hip-hop – names of artists and managers, dates, key venues and labels, and cultural terms. From the readings assigned, I was most drawn to Joe Schloss and Raquel Rivera’s pieces – Schloss resonated with me in terms of his focus on production and its role in relation to the genre, society, race and gender, since I consider myself to be a (female) producer, and Rivera’s article communicated that Puerto Ricans and other Latinos are overlooked as having a key role in the advent of hip-hop and in the culture, overall.

I feel like people should learn about the origins of hip-hop because even learning the surface details – such as specific artists and DJ’s – helps people learn about the socioeconomic issues that black and brown individuals have faced and continue to face. For example, hip-hop production is unique because of its recycling of samples, but this is necessary for underprivileged individuals who can’t obtain original production or formal training that would allow them to play many instruments, if any at all. This information also allows people to understand the social and class constructs that contribute to the masculinity and misogyny issues within the culture. The study of hip-hop is crucial, since it’s still a very young genre that has evolved and progressed these past few decades. It’s also important for people of color to start gaining the proper credit for their major contributions to American culture through the genre.

This course made me realize that Wikipedia can be an important tool for shaping the history of hip-hop. Though there has been an increase in scholars dedicating their studies to the genre, there is still not enough of them who can get their work out to the demographic of hip-hop fans. Many of these fans are uneducated, often because they simply don’t have the funds necessary to attend college to access these articles and essays – however, a popular and easily accessible platform like Wikipedia can make a difference in this technologically advanced society. We have the power to take what we learn from these sources and transfer it to Wikipedia, either to educate or to help hip-hop progress and shed the stigmas that besiege it.

I don’t think that there was anything that was missing from this class per se, but I do feel like we started getting into the groove during the last few classes. I feel like there was a real and cohesive balance with what we were doing and learning, and the little cyphers and exercises, such as the music swap activity, were great and educational. It was cool having people positively react to my music choices and even introducing them to music they might consider listening to in the future. I was surprised that not many people listened to or even knew Run the Jewels, and I enjoyed seeing someone who listened to predominantly mainstream, radio rap, impressed by underground Latino rapper Wiki. This course was neat and experimental, which was refreshing because I learned more than I usually would in a basic history course - I learned how I could personally change and contribute to history as well.