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Hip-Hop Digital Essay: The Evolution of Hip-Hop into the Modern Era- By Matt Scott

Trinity College

Digital Essay: The Evolution of Hip-Hop into the Modern Era (Essay #2)

Matt Scott FYSM 212: Introduction to Hip-Hop Professor Markle Due: 12/15/19

Looking back at the history of hip-hop, and the rich culture surrounding the art form, it’s clear that the roots of the genre have been stripped down to almost nothing over the years. I believe hip-hop is an art form, a mix of breaking, DJing, and MCing all coming together under one roof with emphasis on the sound and rhythm of the music, created in black communities as an outlet. In its early days, hip-hop lyrics weren’t preaching any particular message, but the movement and its impact on communities sent a powerful message. The movement was about bringing together communities, stopping violence, and inspiring a generation of youth – and its impact on black culture was positive and powerful. Today we see the art form being used to promote violence, the disrespect of women, drug abuse, and other negative messages that are at odds with hip-hop’s origins. It is now about making money, selling records, and gaining popularity at all costs. The popularity of hip-hop opened the door for many talented black artists and created new opportunities for a community of people who have been mistreated at every turn throughout history. I think the new era of hip-hop has had a negative impact on the art form itself, and it puts a bad label on the community. Without its core principles, hip-hop loses what made it special. When all the lyrics are just hollow and meaningless words, it leaves you with something that’s not hip-hop at all, but just a way to make money. In this essay I’m going to be looking at five hit songs from top artists from each decade, starting with Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rappers Delight” and ending with Migos’s “Bad and Boujee”. The purpose of this essay is to show the evolution of hip-hop from its roots in the Bronx through the present day by exploring the lyrics and message behind each song.

Hip-hop without the other forms of creative expression tied to it is a way of mixing lyrics and beats to convey a meaningful message about the culture and community from which it emerged. If you take away the powerful message of justice and equality that many true hip-hop songs convey, you’re left with a money hungry industry doing whatever it takes to sell records. When hip-hop is being fueled by money, and not by meaning, we see the most damage being done to the community of people the art form represents. This era of hip-hop is hurting the image and meaning that hip-hop once stood for, but there’s still hope for hip-hop moving forward. If we can go back its roots, to some of those early songs from the 80s, 90s and into the early 2000s that represent the true ideals behind hip-hop, there is a chance for the industry and genre to regrow with its strong roots back in place.

Work Cited “Song Lyrics & Knowledge.” Genius, https://genius.com/. Chang, Jeff, and DJ Kool Herc. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: a History of the Hip-Hop Generation. St.Martins Press, 2008.

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The Day Hip-Hop Changed Forever

A s a person who loves history, I'm one of those people who can spot a historical moment as it's happening—both as a participant and as an outside viewer. So, to be two years older than what we consider to be the birth of hip hop and to grow up with it like a sibling is a fortunate feeling because I got to witness a lot of firsts. Every time I’ve experienced these seismic shifts, I've taken note of where I was because music is a polaroid of memory—a song, a melody, an album is classic because you know where you were the second that you heard it. Sometimes, this shifting of paradigms was to the benefit of hip hop and sometimes, unfortunately, to its detriment. But nothing could’ve prepared me for the moment when hip hop, as I knew it, changed forever: the 1995 Source Awards.

The ’95 Source Awards was a funeral in hip hop’s history, and I don’t say that in hindsight. I knew it walking into the Paramount Theater in New York City that day on August 3, 1995, and I knew it running away. And when I say running, I'm not exaggerating. I was running for my life—it felt like the creative version of Apocalypse Now .

Hip hop was created as a rejection of the opulence of Studio 54 culture, a direct result of Black people historically being edged out from places of social mobility and of consistently being the “have nots.” But by the time the 90’s rolled around, hip hop was slowly turning into the very thing that it was once against.

Method Man and RZA of the Rap Group The Wu-Tang Clan speak at The Source Awards in August 3, 1995

In 1992, Dr. Dre released The Chronic , and what really made that album notable was that it signaled the first push toward the rock-star lifestyle in hip hop. While Nirvana at the time was rejecting all those things that hair metal rockers stood for—all the women, the money, the drugs—and deep-diving into nihilism, The Chronic , while not blatantly representing opulence, was the blueprint that Sean Diddy Combs listened to and made the new standard.

In the people's eyes, The Chronic was the first album by a credible producer and emcee that didn't have to pander to a very safe, we-come-in-peace formula that your grandma was singing along to. Snoop Dogg burst on to the scene as an incredible, promising new emcee and Dre became God at producing. They put big numbers on the boards, dominated MTV, and once New York saw that this was the golden ticket, suddenly everyone fell in line. Questionable compromises were made, and many acts felt cast aside, including The Roots. (We ultimately made the decision to move to Europe for two years of our record deal because of The Chronic ’s effect.) Art was one thing, but survival became more important—and by any means necessary.

Read More: How Rap Became the Sound of the Mainstream

That was the mentality with which everyone was walking into the Paramount Theater in ‘95. Just a year prior at the first-ever, untelevised Source Awards, tensions were already building between Tupac and A Tribe Called Quest, not just further cementing the East versus West Coast rivalry, but also dividing New York into two—a sinister foreshadowing. And that’s exactly how the theater was split up, too: If you were facing the stage, the right side is where all the winners were, which was basically anyone two degrees to Combs. They looked shiny, which is kind of a thing that we didn't know that we had to do. In the middle was the other territories: the South, the Midwest, and the West Coast. So they were already defensive because they're in New York, and well, we were a bunch of pricks and looking at them in a very arrogant sort of way. And then on the left side were, I would say, the have-nots—New York-centric hip-hop; the people that would eventually become the grumpy old people that complain that hip hop is dead.

The first person that I noticed was Nas. As I saw him walk in, I noticed he was wearing a very peculiar red, white, and blue Tommy Hilfiger shirt. It was 4-XL—I think I could fit into that shirt, and I’m a big guy—and Nas was drowning in it. He made his way to his seat on the left side of the theater, four rows ahead of me, and sat down.

The big question of the night was who was going to get crowned for Rap Album of the Year. Would it be Nas’ Illmatic or Biggie’s Ready to Die ? Having received a rare five-mic rating from The Source for Illmatic , Nas was the gold standard. It seemed like it could’ve been his night. But the momentum that Biggie had since his album came out was undeniable, and as he began to sweep one award after the next, Nas sank lower and lower into his seat as the night went on.

I was very familiar with Nas’s heartbreaking, defeated body posture, living in my low self-esteem back then. To this day, I wish I would have gone up to him and said, “Do not let this moment determine your future.” Because by the end of the night, I instantly knew that he was going to throw away everything, this whole night, and now do it: compete with Biggie. It wasn't until I spoke to Nas’ former manager, Steve Stoute, and he gave me his account of that moment, that it was confirmed to me. Nas felt dejected, like the last year was a total waste, and the result of that night was, in part, the release of his second album It Was Written . And while it was Nas’s most successful record that had his most successful single, it came at a cost. Nas was open for business—adjusting his music so people who embraced The Chronic and Ready to Die would also embrace him.

Literally one by one, everyone realized that they had to compromise. And I don't mean compromise as a four-letter word because nothing comes before your survival when you're a Black person. Often, Black people hate when rap critics, who are mainly white, are quick to use the term “sellout,” as if Black people aren't in a constant rat maze of fight or flight all their lives. Because yes, even your art might have to be sacrificed. And that realization, and the hopelessness that followed, was why the Source Awards was one of the most depressing days of my life. I didn’t know if I had a future.

Later in the night, as they were about to hand Dr. Dre the award for Producer of the Year and Snoop Dogg gave his infamous “East Coast ain’t got no love for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg” speech , none of us were sitting in our seats anymore. The energy, at that point, was reminiscent of old-fashioned Western barroom brawl. All I remember was I grabbed my date, and said, “We’re leaving right now.” And we ran for our lives. The second we heard “Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg,” I thought, ”We're all going to die.”

At the time, it wasn't even hyperbole, but in a metaphorical slow way, I was right. The hip hop that I knew, loved, embraced was gone, and that night, the hourglass turned over. But as I was running out of that place, there was this one guy in the street that came up to me, and said, “Yo, take this.” He put the cassette in my hands, and it said D'Angelo, Brown Sugar . Now, normally, I never took demos, but I just put the tape in my pocket and kept running. When I got back to my hotel room, and listened to just how good the cassette was, I sat there and realized that I had a chance to be on this record, and I didn't do it. I had to make music with this guy.

I don't think it's a coincidence that, on the day that I thought the culture was ending, I would meet the very person I would wind up creating Voodoo with, another paradigm shifting masterpiece—for us. That was my introduction to him—a rebirth, on what I felt was ultimately hip hop’s funeral.

—As told to Rachel Sonis

The best video essays of 2020

Creators continue to push the envelope of criticism on YouTube

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For the last few years, video essays have gained more and more prominence on YouTube . With more and more creators choosing a video essay — or video essay-inspired — format, there are video essays about almost any topic you want to learn more about.

To discuss what makes a video essay one of the best of the year, let’s first break down what a video essay was in the year 2020 . There’s more gray area between formats than it initially may seem, especially given how many videos that lack an essay structure take on an essay aesthetic. We used the following criteria for this list:

The video must be scripted. Momentary improvised asides are fine, especially if they come in the form of voice over added in editing, but the video must otherwise follow a written script.
The video must have a thesis, and that thesis must be more than “this is good” or “this is bad.” The thesis should concern the impact of the subject matter, not just its content. This means no straight reviews (like La’Ron Readus’s review of Candyman ), no commentary/discussion videos (like Sherliza Moé’s series on cultural appropriation in the Star Wars prequels and Avatar: The Last Airbender ), no lore recaps (like My Name Is Byf’s meticulous archival works of the Destiny 2 lore), and no straight-up histories (like Sarah Z’s retelling of the infamous DashCon).
The video also shouldn’t be a documentary (like NoClip’s documentary about the making of Pyre ). The focus should be a subject from an analytical standpoint, not an interview standpoint.
But this doesn’t mean the video should necessarily aim for pure objectivity; personal video essays are, in fact, a thing.

This isn’t to say the excluded videos aren’t great. On the contrary: the ones mentioned above absolutely rule. Defining the parameters of a video essay, though, puts the videos discussed here on an equal playing field. When you watch, you know you’ll come away understanding the subject matter, and likely how art and society impact each other, a little better. Almost all of these videos contain spoilers, so watch at your own risk — but most can be enjoyed regardless of your familiarity with the subject matter, too.

1. “In Search of Flat Earth,” Dan Olson (Folding Ideas)

Dan Olson of Folding Ideas has been a video essayist for years, helping solidify the medium on YouTube. “In Search of Flat Earth,” though, is his masterpiece to date. The video is shot beautifully, with loving and reverent shots of nature that not only contribute to the video’s content and concepts, but also capture a sense of still beauty. If the video seeks to claim that flat earthers feel powerlessness in the face of the government and science, the way this video is shot makes the claim that maybe our powerlessness can be good, actually. But “In Search of Flat Earth” isn’t just a response to flat earthers; it’s also a response to Olson’s contemporaries who have made videos trying to convince flat earthers that their ideas are wrong. “In Search of Flat Earth” argues that flat earthers, and people with similar mindsets, can’t be logicked out of their mindsets — which turns into a surprise, mind-blowing third-act twist.

2. “The Satirical Resurgence of Reefer Madness,” Yhara Zayd

Yhara Zayd is somewhat of a newcomer to video essays, posting her first, “The Remake That Couldn’t: Skins U.S. ” in June 2019. Her catalogue of work has boomed in 2020, making selecting a video to feature difficult; her work is consistently standout, mixing analysis with dry comedy and heavy aesthetics. In a landmark year for marijuana legalization, “The Satirical Resurgence of Reefer Madness ” feels especially timely and important, but it’s also just a delight to watch. The video is not just a look into a criminally underrated musical starring Kristen Bell, Alan Cummings, and Ana Gasteyer. It’s a look into the real 1936 propaganda film of the same name, how the laws around marijuana criminalization were formed, and the deeply racist roots of anti-marijuana campaigns. Zayd’s soft but direct voice and distinctly internet-culture-informed humor make the video consistently engaging and fun while never shying away from what makes Reefer Madness so worthy of a campy parody musical.

3. “The Strange Reality of Roller Coaster Tycoon,” Jacob Geller

Roller Coaster Tycoon is a nostalgic classic — but what can it teach us about death? A weird amount, as Geller explains in “The Strange Reality of Roller Coaster Tycoon .” This video opens with the sentence, “There is at least one roller coaster designed specifically to kill you.” The “Euthanasia Coaster,” Geller explains, was never made, but would effectively kill a rider in just about a minute. As he breaks down the rituals around death, he winds his way around curves and loops, masterfully bringing the audience back to the game at the core of the video: Roller Coaster Tycoon . In just over 18 minutes, Geller’s analysis breaks down how the game allows for meaningful struggle in its mechanics — which the video essayist notes are similar in their coding to a roller coaster — while allowing for monstrosities, lethal roller coasters that bring your virtual park-goers to their grave. A roller coaster is meant to scare us, meant to spike adrenaline, meant to put the fear of death right in us, but fun! Geller’s discussion of Roller Coaster Tycoon shows just how much coasters, real or virtual, say about how we deal with death.

Disclosure: Jacob Geller has written for Polygon.

4. “ CATS ! And the Weird Mind of TS Eliot,” Maggie Mae Fish

Cats may have come out in 2019, but Maggie Mae Fish’s video essay on it came out in March 2020, so early into what the rest of the year would become. It was a small, but wonderfully unhinged blessing for video essay lovers who needed something bonkers to keep us afloat during quarantine. Fish’s performance background is in comedy and improv, notably working with Cracked before starting on her own video essays. Her writing and performance have a level of effervescent delight and bewilderment at most of the trash media she discusses, coming through most in her discussion of Cats .

But while a video on why Cats was bad could have been engaging and funny, Fish takes a step deeper, looking into the musical’s source material: the poetry of T.S. Eliot, a homophobic, antisemitic weirdo. Fish doesn’t just express Eliot’s politics, but explains why Cats pulls from fascist ideologies in its depiction of a tradition-heavy death cult. (Just, you know, with cats.) From there, Fish’s analysis goes even deeper. This video isn’t about not liking problematic media, or even “bad” media. It’s a video about deeply loving something that winds up parodying and subverting its roots.

5. “The Anatomy of Stan Culture,” Elexus Jionde (Intelexual Media)

Historian Elexius Jionde of Intelexual Media often takes a cultural anthropology lens in her videos, discussing topics like life in the American 1970s and the history of Black homelessness . In “The Anatomy of Stan Culture,” Jionde breaks down a current social phenomenon through a historical lens, asking why we stan and how we got here. Jionde dissects “celebrity worship disorder” and how fans obsess over their favorite celebrities, while not letting people who think they’re too good for the goss off the hook either. Using examples ranging from Bhad Babie to Selena Quintanilla to Victorian actors, Jionde shows how current celebrity culture is rooted in everything from politics to evolutionary biology. This 18-minute video is a crash course in how the celebrity industry runs, and it’s also an analysis of how we interact with celebrity right now. How do stans go from liking Ariana Grande’s music to replicating Ariana Grande’s voice to sending death threats to people who besmirch Ariana Grande’s name? Jionde doesn’t necessarily judge stans; instead, she shows how celebrity culture affects the rest of culture.

6. “On Writing: Mental Illness in Video Games,” Tim Hickson (Hello Future Me)

Before talking about what makes this video essay great, a warning: this video discusses struggles with mental health, including several aspects of suicide. It’s the heaviest video essay on this list, so make sure you know what you’re getting into before you watch.

Tim Hickson of the channel Hello Future Me opens the video by disclosing his experience working for a youth mental health and suicide intervention hotline. From there, he first discusses the ways in which video games, immersive narratives where players have control and make choices, can be cathartic for people with mental illnesses and informative for people who don’t. Citing games from World of Warcraft to Celeste to Prey to Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice , Hickson shows the different ways games dive into depression, social anxiety, and schizophrenia. A segment focused on Life is Strange ’s Kate Marsh dissects how a story can be cathartic for one person, but harmful for another. It’s a deeply empathetic video essay with rich research. It’s sobering, emotional, and moving.

7. “Why Anime is for Black People - Hip Hop x Anime,” Yedoye Travis (Beyond the Bot)

Beyond the Bot is a new New York-based collective making video essays about how anime impacts culture, and like with Yhara Zaid’s work, it was difficult to choose a favorite. “Why Anime is for Black People” is a standout for just how deep the analysis goes into the crossover between Black and East Asian culture. Going back to ’70s Blaxploitation and kung fu films, host and writer Yedoye Travis chronicles how East Asian media permeated Black culture, eventually leading to the Wu-Tang Clan sourcing their samples from films like The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and Shaolin and Wu Tang . Legendary producer J Dilla would later go on to sample East Asian music as well. And, of course, Travis spends a good deal talking about the important of the Toonami block of Adult Swim, and the importance of the network playing music from bands like Gorillaz and their lo-fi hip-hop bed music for bumps. Travis explains how the shows themselves — namely Cowboy Bebop , Samurai Champloo , and, of course, The Boondocks — made an impact on Black youth who grew up alongside the programming. The historical lens of the cross-culture influences allows this analysis to go deeper than similar video essays, but the tone stays casual, giving plenty of asides and jokes for people familiar with the content.

8. “What Is Good Queer Representation in 2020?,” Princess Weekes (MelinaPendulum)

2020 has been a landmark year for queer representation in the media, and Princess Weekes’ “What Is *Good* Queer Representation in 2020?” seeks to pick apart what has been “good,” what has been “bad,” and most often, what has just been complicated. Like any discussion of representation, Weekes talks about how important it is for queer people to see different versions of queer people in a variety of media, and the tendency for queer people to overlook works by queer creators, or judge them more harshly than works by creators who aren’t queer. She breaks down queer assimilation and respectability politics, taking a stance that’s emotional and personal, while still being relatable and pervasive. This video essay is a great start for how we can start discussing ways to complicate representation, to move away from the sanitization of queer narratives, and understand that what makes one person feel seen might do the opposite for someone else.

9. “Fallout: New Vegas Is Genius, And Here’s Why,” Harry Brewis (hbomberguy)

Harry Brewis’ trend of surprisingly long videos with sarcastically simplistic titles continues with his hour-and-a-half testament to what makes a good narrative-heavy RPG, using Fallout: New Vegas as an example of the best of the best. Don’t let the title trick you into thinking the video is a review. It’s much closer to a masterclass on writing for games, and implementing your story and worldbuilding into every single aspect of that game. From the world to the companions to the main plot to the side quests to the combat to the continuity of consequences, Brewis lays out how Fallout: New Vegas gives its players genuine choices, and then makes those choices genuinely significant in the game. He argues the game actually deals in “gray morality” instead of just saying it does while pushing players to be Good or Evil. The choices in the game often leave the player ambivalent, while placing them in a wild world that players can choose to make even wilder. Brewis uses the video to talk about what makes Fallout: New Vegas work, and why so many games pale in comparison. It isn’t just that Fallout: New Vegas is good —it’s that it’s a meticulous game made by people who cared about every single detail they developed.

10. “Whisper of the Heart: How Does It Feel to Be an Artist,” Accented Cinema

Whisper of the Heart is one of the quieter Studio Ghibli films, and likewise, this video essay by Accented Cinema is quiet, lovely, and tender. Accented Cinema is a video essay channel that focuses on foreign (at least, foreign to the United States) media and its impact. “ Whisper of the Heart : How Does It Feel to Be an Artist” is the most personal essay on this list, a necessity for an analysis of the very personal feeling of creating art. In the video, the host discusses how most artists don’t have the frenzied drive media often depicts. Instead, they have the slow, sometimes frustrating, sometimes euphoric drive of anyone who does something because it’s who they are. This video also comes with a warning that it discusses a tragic death in the studio — but the way it brings the discussion of that death back to the essay’s thesis is spectacular.

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Essays on Hip Hop

While doing research for your hip hop essay you will discover that nowadays hip-hop is one of the most commercially successful genres of music. Hip hop essays often explore its roots. Hip-hop originated in the African American and Latino communities of the Bronx, New York City, in the first half of the 1970s. Some essays on hip hop revisit early hip-hop artists of the 80s like Curtis Blow and Grandmaster Flash. Rolling Stone magazine named The Message by Grandmaster Flash (1982) was the most influential song in hip-hop history. Some of the most influential hip-hop artists of all time are Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., Jay Z, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre. Check out our hip hop essay samples below for more information about this genre. The essay samples we listed are informative and will broaden your scope on the topic.

Heading 1 Williams Wimsatt's book, Bomb the Suburbs is an inspiring book about race relations that discusses the white, middle-class male who was accepted into the world of Chicago hip-hop due to their b-boying and graffiti writings. He explains an intimate account of the conditions of hip-hop in the early nineties,...

Culture defines how a particular social group lives and makes sense out of their given conditions in life. It refers to practices, values, and ideas a specific group holds to draw meaning in their world. Culture can be constructed from a local or a global perspective (Baker, Robards, " Buttigieg, 2016,...

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Introduction Cool is an elusive attribute as it is a subtle word that changes meaning that is dynamic through different generations (Vuolo). At its simplest form cool refers to something or the weather that is neither hot nor too cold. At the turn of the 16th century, the word cool metamorphosed...

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The essay involves the analysis of various spectrums of cultural, gender and sexuality evaluations through using the examples of famous hip-hop artists such as Janelle Monae and Nicki Minaj. The ‘Make Me Feel’ and ‘Pynk’ videos of Janelle Monae and ‘Chun Li’ video of Nicki Minaj are in focus within...

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It is exhausting to battle against misogyny and anti-blackness. Rap and hip-hop are common forms of misogyny. For instance, black women may be denigrated or even completely erased in videos, and male artists may not be held responsible for aggression against black women. On the other hand, despite their mediocrity,...

The main pre-writing technique for this essay is the use of the Six Journalistic queries. The artists who perform in the rap genre serve as the main players in this essay. The feminine artists will be the primary subject of this essay. Rap music consumers are secondary actors because they are integral...

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The evolution of the hip hop genre in politics has less to do with ideals and more to do with enlightenment and the popularity of its teachings. Hip hop charts and billboards in the current decade incorporate statements that address key social and political concerns. To begin, a basic history...

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The article The Stage Hip-Hop Feminism Built: A New Directions Essay by Durham, Cooper, and Morris provides excellent comprehension of the multi-feature presence for the liberation of hip-hop women. By identifying challenges and pressures, reviewing current writing or drawing on issues, and highlighting emerging segments aiming towards development within the...

The Stage Hip-Hop Feminism Built: A New Approach A review of the intersections of the hip-hop generation, feminism, and the development of hip-hop feminist philosophy is provided in the essay by Durham, Cooper, and Morris. Hip-hop feminism is contrasted with traditional black feminism and womanism; it also refers to third...

My study paper is on the social influence of hip-hop. This music genre has both positive and negative connotations, and it mostly degrades women while encouraging bad boys to commit crimes. Aside from it, hip-hop allows rappers to express themselves freely, as they can claim anything they want. Hip-hop is a...

Hip hop was created with the intention of uplifting, empowering, and illuminating the negative facets of culture as a driving force for social change. However, after several years and decades, these initial intentions have steadily disappeared. Musical artists have transformed the face of hip hop and rap around the world...

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Hip-hop culture emerged as an urban shockwave in the late 1970s from the Bronx, New York, as a result of global instability that allegedly ignored black Americans and Latinos. Although the Bronx was instrumental in the development of Hip Hop, it continues to be an integral part of black American...

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Hip Hop Planet Summary

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Jay-Z : essays on hip hop's philosopher king

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When the People Cheer: How Hip-Hop Failed Black America

This is the first in a weekly series of six essays looking at hip-hop’s recent past, thinking about its distant past, and wondering about the possibility of a future. Read the second one here , the third one here , and the fourth one here .

There are three famous quotes that haunt me and guide me though my days. The first is from John Bradford, the 16th-century English reformer. In prison for inciting a mob, Bradford saw a parade of prisoners on their way to being executed and said, “There but for the grace of God go I.” (Actually, he said “There but for the grace of God goes John Bradford,” but the switch to the pronoun makes it work for the rest of us.) The second comes from Albert Einstein, who disparagingly referred to quantum entanglement as “spooky action at a distance.” And for the third, I go to Ice Cube, the chief lyricist of N.W.A., who delivered this manifesto in “Gangsta Gangsta” back in 1988: “Life ain’t nothing but bitches and money.”

Those three ideas may seem distant from one another, but if you set them up and draw lines between them, that’s triangulation. Bradford’s idea, of course, is about providence, about luck and gratitude: You only have your life because you don’t have someone else’s. At the simplest level, I think about that often. I could be where others are, and by extension, they could be where I am. You don’t want to be insensible to that. You don’t want to be an ingrate. (By the by, Bradford’s quote has come to be used to celebrate good fortune — when people say it, they’re comforting themselves with the fact that things could be worse — but in fact, his own good fortune lasted only a few years before he was burned at the stake.)

Einstein was talking about physics, of course, but to me, he’s talking about something closer to home — the way that other people affect you, the way that your life is entangled in theirs whether or not there’s a clear line of connection. Just because something is happening to a street kid in Seattle or a small-time outlaw in Pittsburgh doesn’t mean that it’s not also happening, in some sense, to you. Human civilization is founded on a social contract, but all too often that gets reduced to a kind of charity: Help those who are less fortunate, think of those who are different. But there’s a subtler form of contract, which is the connection between us all.

And then there’s Ice Cube, who seems to be talking about life’s basic appetites — what’s under the lid of the id — but is in fact proposing a world where that social contract is destroyed, where everyone aspires to improve themselves and only themselves, thoughts of others be damned. What kind of world does that create?

Those three ideas, Bradford’s and Einstein’s and Cube’s, define the three sides of a triangle, and I’m standing in it with pieces of each man: Bradford’s rueful contemplation, Einstein’s hair, Ice Cube’s desires. Can the three roads meet without being trivial? This essay, and the ones that follow it, will attempt to find out. I’m going to do things a little differently, with some madness in my method. I may not refer back to these three thinkers and these three thoughts, but they’re always there, hovering, as I think through what a generation of hip-hop has wrought. And I’m not going to handle the argument in a straight line. But don’t wonder too much when it wanders. I’ll get back on track.

I want to start with a statement: Hip-hop has taken over black music. At some level, this is a complex argument, with many outer rings, but it has a simple, indisputable core. Look at the music charts, or think of as many pop artists as you can, and see how many of the black ones aren’t part of hip-hop. There aren’t many hip-hop performers at the top of the charts lately: You have perennial winners like Jay Z, Kanye West, and Drake, along with newcomers like Kendrick Lamar, and that’s about it. Among women, it’s a little bit more complicated, but only a little bit. The two biggest stars, Beyoncé and Rihanna, are considered pop (or is that pop-soul), but what does that mean anymore? In their case, it means that they’re offering a variation on hip-hop that’s reinforced by their associations with the genre’s biggest stars: Beyoncé with Jay Z, of course, and Rihanna with everyone from Drake to A$AP Rocky to Eminem.

It wasn’t always that way. Back in the late ‘80s, when I graduated high school, you could count the number of black musical artists that weren’t in hip-hop on two hands — maybe. You had folksingers like Tracy Chapman, rock bands like Living Colour, pop acts like Lionel Richie, many kinds of soul singers — and that doesn’t even contend with megastars like Michael Jackson and Prince, who thwarted any easy categorization. Hip-hop was plenty present — in 1989 alone, you had De La Soul and the Geto Boys and EPMD and Boogie Down Productions and Ice-T and Queen Latifah — but it was just a piece of the pie. In the time since, hip-hop has made like the Exxon Valdez (another 1989 release): It spilled and spread.

So what if hip-hop, which was once a form of upstart black-folk music, came to dominate the modern world? Isn’t that a good thing? It seems strange for an artist working in the genre to be complaining, and maybe I’m not exactly complaining. Maybe I’m taking a measure of my good fortune. Maybe. Or maybe it’s a little more complicated than that. Maybe domination isn’t quite a victory. Maybe everpresence isn’t quite a virtue.

Twenty years ago, when my father first heard about my hip-hop career, he was skeptical. He didn’t know where it was all headed. In his mind, a drummer had a real job, like working as music director for Anita Baker. But if I’m going to marvel at the way that hip-hop overcame his skepticism and became synonymous with our broader black American culture, I’m going to have to be clear with myself that marvel is probably the wrong word. Black culture, which has a long tradition of struggling against (and at the same time, working in close collaboration with) the dominant white culture, has rounded the corner of the 21st century with what looks in one sense like an unequivocal victory. Young America now embraces hip-hop as the signal pop-music genre of its time. So why does that victory feel strange: not exactly hollow, but a little haunted?

I have wondered about this for years, and worried about it for just as many years. It’s kept me up at night or kept me distracted during the day. And after looking far and wide, I keep coming back to the same answer, which is this: The reason is simple. The reason is plain. Once hip-hop culture is ubiquitous, it is also invisible. Once it’s everywhere, it is nowhere. What once offered resistance to mainstream culture (it was part of the larger tapestry, spooky-action style, but it pulled at the fabric) is now an integral part of the sullen dominant. Not to mention the obvious backlash conspiracy paranoia: Once all of black music is associated with hip-hop, then Those Who Wish to Squelch need only squelch one genre to effectively silence an entire cultural movement.

And that’s what it’s become: an entire cultural movement, packed into one hyphenated adjective. These days, nearly anything fashioned or put forth by black people gets referred to as “hip-hop,” even when the description is a poor or pointless fit. “Hip-hop fashion” makes a little sense, but even that is confusing: Does it refer to fashions popularized by hip-hop musicians, like my Lego heart pin, or to fashions that participate in the same vague cool that defines hip-hop music? Others make a whole lot of nonsense: “Hip-hop food”? “Hip-hop politics”? “Hip-hop intellectual”? And there’s even “hip-hop architecture.” What the hell is that? A house you build with a Hammer?

This doesn’t happen with other genres. There’s no folk-music food or New Wave fashion, once you get past food for thought and skinny ties. There’s no junkanoo architecture. The closest thing to a musical style that does double-duty as an overarching aesthetic is punk, and that doesn’t have the same strict racial coding. On the one hand, you can point to this as proof of hip-hop’s success. The concept travels. But where has it traveled? The danger is that it has drifted into oblivion. The music originally evolved to paint portraits of real people and handle real problems at close range — social contract, anyone? — but these days, hip-hop mainly rearranges symbolic freight on the black starliner. Containers on the container ship are taken from here to there — and never mind the fact that they may be empty containers. Keep on pushin’ and all that, but what are you pushing against? As it has become the field rather than the object, hip-hop has lost some of its pertinent sting. And then there’s the question of where hip-hop has arrived commercially, or how fast it’s departing. The music industry in general is sliding, and hip-hop is sliding maybe faster than that. The largest earners earn large, but not at the rate they once did. And everyone beneath that upper level is fading fast.

The other day, we ran into an old man who is also an old fan. He loves the Roots and what we do. Someone mentioned the changing nature of the pop-culture game, and it made him nostalgic for the soul music of his youth. “It’ll be back,” he said. “Things go in cycles.” But do they? If you really track the ways that music has changed over the past 200 years, the only thing that goes in cycles is old men talking about how things go in cycles. History is more interested in getting its nut off. There are patterns, of course, boom and bust and ways in which certain resources are exhausted. There are foundational truths that are stitched into the human DNA. But the art forms used to express those truths change without recurring. They go away and don’t come back. When hip-hop doesn’t occupy an interesting place on the pop-culture terrain, when it is much of the terrain and loses interest even in itself, then what?

Back to John Bradford for a moment: I’m lucky to be here. That goes without saying, but I’ll say it. Still, as the Roots round into our third decade, we shoulder a strange burden, which is that people expect us to be both meaningful and popular. We expect that. But those things don’t necessarily work together, especially in the hip-hop world of today. The winners, the top dogs, make art mostly about their own victories and the victory of their genre, but that triumphalist pose leaves little room for anything else. Meaninglessness takes hold because meaninglessness is addictive. People who want to challenge this theory point to Kendrick Lamar, and the way that his music, at least so far, has some sense of the social contract, some sense of character. But is he just the exception that proves the rule? Time will tell. Time is always telling. Time never stops telling.

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319 Dance Essay Topics & Research Questions on Hip Hop, Ballet, & More

Dancing is a universal form of expression and movement. It has been an integral part of human culture for centuries. From traditional cultural dances to contemporary urban dance styles, this art form transcends language barriers and brings people together.

But dancing is not just about entertainment. It is significant in various aspects of society, from its role in expressing emotions to its impact on mental health.

In this article, our expert team delves into the diverse world of dance. Below, you’ll find interesting dance topics to write about and explore the cultural, social, emotional, and physical dimensions of dance. Read till the end to find a writing guide with examples.

🔝 Top 10 Dance Essay Topics

✏️ dancing essays: writing prompts, 🎓 dance essay titles, 💃🏻 argumentative essay topics about dance, 🕺🏾 hip hop research paper topics, 🔎 dance research paper topics, 📜 dance history research paper topics, 🩰 ballet research topics, ❓ dance research questions, ✍️ dance essay: writing guide, 🔗 references.

Cultural significance of dance.
Mental health benefits of dancing.
Gender roles in dance.
Dance as nonverbal communication.
Technological innovations in dance.
Social impact of dance activism.
Dance education in schools.
Emotional expression in dance.
Dance and cultural identity.
Politics of dance movements.

The picture provides ideas for dance essay topics.

Why I Love Dance: Essay Prompt

Are you passionate about dance and want to write about it? Consider including the following points in your essay:

Explain your deep-rooted passion for dance. Reflect on how dance has influenced your life, shaped your identity, and impacted your personal growth.
Describe the specific styles or dance genres you are passionate about and explain why they hold a special place in your heart. Share experiences that have strengthened your love for dance, such as memorable performances, challenges , or inspirational moments.
Discuss how dance has enriched your life and contributed to your overall well-being. Convey your dedication to dance and the importance of this art form in your life.

What Does Dance Mean to You: Essay Prompt

This essay is your chance to reflect on the place of dance in your life. Here are some ideas to include in your paper:

Express your understanding and connection to dance. Describe what dance means to you on a deeply personal and emotional level. Share your unique perspective on the effects of dance on your life choices and identity.
Discuss how dance has impacted your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Write about its contribution to your personal growth and development. Describe the emotions and sensations you experience while dancing and how they enrich your life. Discuss any memorable dance experiences, performances, or interactions with fellow dancers that impressed you.
Depict your passion and appreciation for dance. Articulate the role of dancing in your life. Consider how dance has allowed you to express yourself , connect with others, and navigate life.

Hip Hop Essay Prompt

Are you a fan of hip-hop dance? Then you might enjoy writing an essay about it! Consider the points below to cover in your paper:

Explore the art and culture of hip-hop. Discuss the origins and evolution of hip-hop dance, including its roots in African, Caribbean, and African-American dance traditions. Study the key elements of hip-hop dance, including its unique style, movement vocabulary, and musicality.
Discuss the impact of hip-hop dance on popular culture , including its influence on music videos, films, fashion, and the entertainment industry. Analyze the social and cultural significance of hip-hop dance, including its role as a form of self-expression, community-building, and activism . Discuss the diversity and inclusion within hip-hop dance, including its ability to bring people of different backgrounds together.
Describe any personal experiences or connections with hip-hop dance , and discuss how it has influenced your understanding of dance and culture. Convey your appreciation for hip-hop dance’s artistry, creativity, and cultural relevance. Provide insights into this dynamic and influential dance form.

Why Dance Is a Sport: Essay Prompt

There’s been a long-lasting debate about whether dance should be considered an art or a sport. You can present your opinion on this issue in your essay. Here is a prompt to guide you:

Study the arguments on both sides of the debate and articulate your stance. Discuss the physical demands of dance, including athleticism, strength, and endurance. Compare them to the criteria used to define sports.
Explore the competitive nature of dance , including competitions, rankings, and performance expectations . Discuss the training, dedication, and discipline required for dance and compare them to other recognized sports.
Examine the artistic and creative elements of dance and how they may differentiate dance from traditional sports. Discuss any challenges or controversies surrounding the classification of dance as a sport. It might be the lack of standardized rules, funding, and recognition.
Consider the cultural, historical, and societal factors influencing perceptions of dance as a sport. Present your argument supported by evidence and examples. Provide a nuanced perspective on this complex and debated topic.

Below, you’ll find plenty of ideas for a college essay about dance. Read on to find a suitable topic for your paper!

Modern Dance Essay: Topics

Modern dance significantly differs from traditional dance forms like ballet. Nowadays, dancers prioritize emotional expression instead of following rigid rules. Here are some interesting dance titles & ideas for your essay on modern styles:

The diversity of contemporary dance styles.
Psychological determinants of choosing a particular dance style.
Creative Movement and Dance in My School .
Sociopolitical concerns through the prism of dance.
Modern dance as a form of protest against classical dance.
Modern Black dance: race in motion.
Significant people who contributed to the modernization of dance.
Features of post-modern dance.
Art Therapy: Creativity as a Critical Part of Art Therapy .
The new American dance forms.
Modern dance in the US vs. Europe: differences and similarities.
Injuries in modern dance: career options for dancers.
The concepts of modernity, race, and nation in the early modern dance forms.
Oxygen uptake during a modern dance class.
Physical Therapy Services for Sports Injuries .
Socio-demographic correlates of modern dance genre preferences.
Indian modern dance and feminism.
Self-expression in modern dance.
National and transnational modern dance.
Principles of modern dance therapy.
Regular engagement in modern dance and depression treatment .
Modern dance pioneers who revolutionized this art: a case of Lester Horton.
Incorporating Physical Activity into Lesson Plans .
Mood changes of people attending dance classes.
Modern dance classes: can one learn to dance online ?
Evolving gay stereotypes in modern dance.
Dance as a reflection of culture.
Depression and Physical Exercise .
German modern dance during the Nazi rule.
Body image and modern dance engagement.
Eating disorders in professional modern dancers.
Significant elements of modern dance.
Dance as a hobby and professional activity.
Art Education, Its Role and Benefits .
Examples of popular modern dance styles.
Controversial dance practices.
Is folk dance considered modern dance?
Does modern dance come with serious choreography similar to classical dance?
Class and ethnicity reflected in dance.
Physical Activity and Sports Team Participation .
Modern dance in France.
The transformative power of flamenco dancing.

Dance Critique Essay: Topics

A dance critique essay requires you to evaluate carefully a particular dance performance or a specific aspect of this art form. Check out some dance titles for an essay to inspire your critical response :

Degradation of dance quality in the 21st century.
Passion versus physical characteristics in dance performance.
Racism and gender discrimination at the dance competitions.
Gender inequality in professional dance.
Subway dance – a subculture or simply a weird place for practice?
Dancing and Its Effects on Self-Esteem .
How did industrialization contribute to the departure from classical dance?
The rise of burlesque as a rebellion against ballet.
The Role of Music and Movement in Education .
The ideology and importance of radical dance.
The Wigman technique of dance.
José Limón’s contribution to contemporary dance.
The place and influence of the American Dance Festival in modern American dance traditions.
Art, Music, and Dance in Therapeutic Treatment .
Combination of choreography and multimedia in Alwin Nikolais’s works.
The flaws and loopholes of early modern dance.
Popularization of African American dance across the world.
Ballet elements in contemporary dance.
The Importance of Arts in the School Curriculum .
The contribution of Grete Wiesenthal to modern dance development.
What place does concert dance occupy in the dance typology?
Place of women in dance – now and then.
Differences between modern and contemporary dance styles.
Pole dance’s potential for inclusion in the Olympic Games list.

Dance Reflection Essay: Topic Ideas

Are you looking for thought-provoking dance topics to talk about in a reflection paper ? Check out the list below:

What features and character traits should a good dance teacher possess?
What does it mean to be a dance revolutionary?
What did modern dance pioneers do to create new dance types?
Should professional dance be taught in college?
Sports Psychologist: Working With Athletes .
The national dance of my country.
My first experience in a dance class.
My music preferences for dancing.
Dances with Wolves Essay – Movie Analysis .
Dancing as a personal form of relaxation and meditation.
Why do some people prefer dancing alone at home and others need an audience?
My favorite movie about dancing.
Ballet as my passion and my greatest disappointment.
My opinion of dancing as a profession.
Music in the Service of Social Movements .
Importance of dancing in my culture .
What I think makes a good and bad dancer.
My experience of participating in a dance contest.
The role of dance in my family.
My fascination with Indian dance.
My dream is to become a hip-hop dancer.
Benefits I see in regular dancing.
The pros and cons of professional engagement in dance.

There are some controversial issues related to dance you can explore in your paper. Below, you’ll discover a list of dance topics to express your reasoned opinion about.

Dance can be a tool for social change .
How can culture be reflected through dance?
Should College Athletes Be Paid?
The impact of the environment on dance perception.
The importance of dance styles and types for specific cultures.
Dance as an intangible cultural heritage.
Is dance a kind of sport?
Sports-Related Problems and Conflicts .
Why do people start to dance?
Why is the audience attracted to dance performances?
What is the motivation behind starting to dance at an early age?
Why is contemporary dance more popular than classical dance today?
The Cognitive Performance and Physical Activity Link .
Are modern dance styles, like hip hop, easier than ballet dancing?
Dance training is highly traumatic and shouldn’t be practiced at an early age.
The risk of trauma and permanent injury among professional ballet dancers.
Street dance is not serious dance.
Exercise – The Mind and Body Connection .
The impact of motivation and self-confidence on dance performance.
Dancing positively affects the physical and cognitive health of aging adults.
Dance is a tool against aging .
Different dance styles and genres require different physical endurance and energy expenditure.
Music Incorporation into Classes .
Importance of choosing your dance style according to your BMI and bodily peculiarities.
Partner dancing is healthier for motor control and coordination than solo dancing.
Benefits of ballroom dancing.
The economic effect of dance development.
What is the hardest dance style?
Cultural Appropriation in Music .
Ghost dance as a religious movement.
Electronic dance as a new subculture.
Techniques of dancing to jazz music.
Flamenco dance as a reflection of Spanish passion.
Students’ Motivation and Satisfaction of Music Festival .
Cultural significance of feminist dance films.
The impact of proper nutrition on dance performance.
The art of staging a dance performance.
The social significance of street dance.
Creative Art Therapy for Mental Illness .
What does dance have to do with math?
Belly dance as a recreational activity.
Interpretative dance as a strong therapeutic tool.
The use of dance therapy for individuals with Down syndrome .

Hip-hop dance is a popular street dance style that emerged in the second half of the 20th century. It encourages freedom of expression and is characterized by freestyle movements, particularly drops to the ground and sharp turns. If you seek to write a paper on hip-hop, here are catchy dance titles to inspire you:

The role of dance in hip-hop culture.
Chinese Hip Hop and Identity .
Hip-hop dance and body power.
Hip-hop as an African diaspora dance style.
Meanings and messages in hip-hop dance.
Genders, Sexuality, and Hip-Hop .
Origins of hip-hop.
Injury incidence in hip-hop training and performance.
Commercialization of hip-hop dance.
Core elements of hip-hop dancing.
The Uprising of Hip-Hop: Music History .
Hip-hop dance in modern ballet choreography.
Low back pain in hip-hop dancers.
B-boying in hip-hop.
Motivations of hip-hop dancers for professional engagement with this dance style.
The “breaks” concept in break dancing.
The Evolution of Hip-Hop Culture .
The roots of hip-hop choreography.
Battling among hip-hop crews.
Hip-hop scandals – sex and violence in hip-hop content.
Theorizing hip-hop dance.
Hip-Hop’s Response to Crime Analysis .
Hip-hop dance consumption: who is the target audience?
Globalization and hip-hop dancing.
Principles of hip-hop dance codification.
Hip-hop as a black social dance.
Metaphors in hip-hop dance moves.
Black feminism in hip-hop dance.
Concepts of Elite Culture and Popular Culture .
US Ebonics as the language of American hip-hop choreography.
Extreme kinematics in hip-hop performances.
What injuries are the most common among hip-hop dancers?
Can hip-hop be a professional career?
Basic rhythmic movements of hip-hop dance.
Hip-hop practice’s impact on the dancer’s mood.
Body poetics in hip-hop performances.
Standards for judging hip-hop contests.
Cultural Movement: Hip-Hop Related Films .
Le hip hop – a French hip-hop subculture.
The hip-hop culture in New York.
Perceptions of race in the hip-hop community: white vs. black dancers.
Hip-hop theater in London: a new level of dance style’s legitimization.

Do you want to learn more about dance? Then why not write a research paper on that? Below, you’ll discover a list of engaging dance topics to research.

Novel approaches to dance: a blend with architecture at the Barnes Foundation’s exhibition.
Dance from an anthropological perspective .
Politics and poetics in dance.
The biology of dance movements’ language.
Teaching dance: should it be art or sport?
Dance ethnology.
Women in dance since antiquity : the images of sylphs and sirens.
Philosophy of the dance: universal or nationally bound?
What is a dance movement?
Dancing and the brain.
Psychology of dance.
Dance as a mighty psychotherapeutic tool.
Should national dance be included in the school curriculum?
Living through psychological trauma in dance.
The role of dance improvisations.
Reform and revival of old dance styles.
The role of space and subjectivity in dance.
Shakespeare and the dance tradition of England.
The social anthropology of dance performances.
Theories and methodologies in dance research.
A Eurocentric approach to the study of dance.
Dance and the body.
Dance as a method of self-study .
Computer technology and dance.
The evolution of Irish dance.
The contribution of Merce Cunningham to modern dance.
How does dance stimulate social fantasy?
Partner dancing as a way to strengthen relationships in a couple .
Verbal language of dancers and choreographers.
The political side of national dancing.
Dance and physics.
The mind-body concept in dance.
What can be regarded as contemporary dance?
Dance imagery in various dance styles.
What makes people dance? The philosophy of bodily movement.
Dancing out one’s emotions: the dance of anger or happiness.
The neural basis of human dance movements.
Isadora Duncan’s revolutionary dance theory.
The challenges of the interactive dance genre.
Dance from the position of existential phenomenology.
Dualism and body-soul separation: a dance perspective.
Dance and embodiment.
Dance and self: a philosophical perspective .
Body as object vs. subject in dance.
Freedom and intention in body movements during dance.
Staged dance: the concept of created body.
A tension between the personal and the universal in dance.
Health benefits of recreational and professional dance.
Japanese dance as an embodiment of culture.
Turning body and identity into dance choreography.

The history of dance dates back millennia. So, there is so much to explore! Check out possible dance research project ideas for your history paper:

Approaches to rethinking dance history.
The elements of early European modern dance.
Feminist perspectives on dance history.
Dance at the dawn of history.
History of somatic education and its relationship to dance.
History of classic theatrical dancing.
New media use in dance history reconstructions.
The evolution of dance and sexuality relationship.
Tools for capturing dance from the past.
Dances in prehistory.
Early records of dance performances in historical manuscripts.
Ancient Greek dance traditions and forms.
Dancing in Ancient Rome.
Dance at court: the 16th-17th centuries in Europe.
Evolution of dance from royal court to theater in the 18th century.
The early dancing traditions in the 17th-century US.
Dancing genres in Medieval Europe.
The history of waltz: origin, evolution of dance elements, and traditions.
How did the tango dance emerge?
The emergence of belly dance.
Flamenco dance history: a style born in Andalusia.
Historical perspectives on dance research.
The Ojibwa dance drum: history of the practice.
Yoeme performs as a narrative of Yaqui history.
The evolution of African American dance.
The African roots of Latin American popular dance.
Ethnographic elements of modern dance performances.
The dance halls of Britain, 1918-1960.
A historical overview of social dance.
Global history of dance development.
Dance in the French baroque opera.
The history and meaning of tango dancing in Argentina.
What materials to use when studying dance history?
A cultural history of dance in the troubled areas: a case study of Palestine.
The hidden history of capoeira: intersections of battle craft and dance.

Ballet is a highly formalized dance form with rigid rules and predefined positions. If you’re interested in this classical type of choreography, check out the dance research topics below:

Is free dance a subtype of ballet?
The evolution of ballet traditions by Isadora Duncan.
Russo-American ballet at the start of the 20th century.
Emerging American ballet: the 1930s onwards.
Romantic and classical ballet traditions in the 19th century.
Classical ballet in Russia.
Classical ballet vs. modern dance: key similarities.
Injuries in professional ballet.
Static and functional balance in ballet dance.
Ballet as a form of ethnic dance.
The impact of ballet dance attire on female dancers’ self-perception.
Endurance of pain among ballet dancers.
The concept of the ideal ballet body.
Methods of preventing hip and knee injuries in professional ballet.
Physiological eligibility characteristics for classical ballet.
Evolution of ballet dancer identity in the process of training.
Incidence of sprained ankles in ballet dancers.
Physiological responses to active ballet exercise among dancers of different ages.
Importance of artistic performance ability in ballet dancers.
Disordered eating patterns among ballet dancers.
Management of stress fractures in ballet dancers.
Ballet dancer career: an international perspective.
Incidence of scoliosis in young ballet dancers.
Travesty dancing in the 19th-century ballet tradition.
Gender issues in ballet.
The cultural power of ballet.
Degenerative joint disease risks among female ballet trainees.
Hip arthrosis as a long-term consequence of ballet training.
History of the “Apollo’s Angels” ballet.
Sleep quality in professional ballet dancers.
Heteromasculinity images among male ballet dancers.
Postural stability before and after a ballet injury.
Dance classicism as an ideology.
Royal Ballet’s dancers and body perception.
How do professional ballet dancers perceive injury and aging?

Are you looking for research topics about dance in the form of questions? We’ve got you covered! Look through the list below to find good dance topics to research:

How does dance education foster creativity in children ?
How do feminists view belly dance?
What is the impact of technology on dance performances?
How to preserve indigenous peoples’ traditional dance forms?
How have traditional gender roles been challenged through dance?
What creative strategies do choreographers employ?
What is the impact of dance on community building?
What factors contribute to the commercialization of dance?
How does dance function as a means of storytelling ?
What is the link between dance and spirituality in different religions?
What is the role of costumes and stage design in dance performances?
What are the cognitive benefits of dance for older adults?
How has ballet adapted to modern artistic movements?
How has globalization affected the cross-cultural exchange of dance styles?
What dance styles have been influenced by flamenco?

Do you need help writing an essay on dance? Below, we’ve prepared a short guide with examples. Read on to learn how to write each section of your dance essay.

Dance Essay Introduction

The introduction is the opening paragraph of an essay that should engage the readers. Use a hook to grab the readers’ interest and introduce your topic. It can be a catchy quote, interesting question, or controversial statement.

Hook example : Imagine a world where bodies move in perfect harmony, telling stories without words. That’s the magic of dance, an art form that transcends language and culture, captivating audiences for centuries.

After that, you can provide some background information about the subject. End your introduction with a thesis statement .

Thesis Statement about Dance

The thesis statement outlines the central argument or purpose of the essay. It is the last sentence of your introduction, summarizing the whole paper. Your thesis should include all the main points mentioned in your writing in the same sequence.

Dance thesis example : Dance is not only a form of artistic expression but also a means of communication, a tool for personal growth, and a reflection of cultural identity.

Essay about Dance: Body Paragraphs

The essay’s body contains paragraphs that provide evidence and support for the thesis statement. Each section should begin with a topic sentence that presents a point related to your central argument.

Topic sentence example : One significant aspect of dance is its ability to convey emotions and stories through movement.

Evidence, such as examples, facts, or research, should support the topic sentence. The evidence should be analyzed and explained to show how it supports the thesis statement.

Evidence example : In classical ballet, dancers’ graceful movements and facial expressions can portray a wide range of emotions, from love and joy to sorrow and anger.

Dancing Essay: Conclusion

The conclusion is the final part that summarizes the main points made in the essay’s body. It should also restate the thesis statement in a paraphrased form without introducing new information. The conclusion should leave a lasting impression and a sense of closure.

Conclusion example : In conclusion, dance is a powerful form of expression beyond mere movement. It is a universal language conveying emotions, facilitating personal growth, and reflecting cultural identity.

How to Describe Dancing: Words & Tips

When describing dancing in an essay, use vivid and sensory language to convey the experience. Words such as “graceful,” “rhythmic,” “expressive,” and “dynamic” can capture the movement and style of dancing.

Emotive words like “joy,” “passion,” “energy,” and “freedom” can convey the emotional impact of dancing. Describing the physical sensations of dancing can make the description more immersive. You can write about the feeling of one’s body in motion, the sound of feet tapping, the swish of skirts, or the rush of adrenaline.

Metaphors or similes, such as “floating like a butterfly,” can add depth and creativity. Overall, using vivid language that engages the senses and emotions will benefit your paper.

We hope you found a perfect essay topic in this article. Use our free online title generator to get even more creative topics about dance and writing inspiration.

Dance 260: Introduction to Dance: Dance Topics | BYU Library
Dance: Topics in Dance and Dance History | Utah Tech University Library
Research Areas | UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts
Dance | PBS Learning Media
Dancing Styles | Boston University
Dance 260: Introduction to Dance: Research Help | BYU Library
Writing a Dance Critique | Utah Tech University Library
Glossary for Dance | Connecticut’s Official State Website
Guidelines For Writing a Dance Review | Human Kinetics

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How Do You Tell the Story of 50 Years of Hip-Hop?

Hip-hop is a fount of constant innovation woven into nearly every corner of American life. So don’t look for cohesion: Lean into the cacophony.

By Jon Caramanica

A man in a shiny suit pours two bottles of champagne onto the ground at a party while others look on.

Hip-hop is a wondrous and centerless tangle, ubiquitous even if not always totally visible.

It is a fount of constant innovation, and a historical text ripe for pilfering. It is a continuation of rock, soul and jazz traditions, while also explicitly loosening their cultural grip. It is evolving more rapidly than ever — new styles emerge yearly, or faster, multiplying the genre’s potential. And it has impact far beyond music: Hip-hop is woven into television and film, fashion, advertising, literature, politics and countless other corners of American life. It is lingua franca, impossible to avoid.

It is far too vast to be contained under one tent, or limited to one narrative. The genre is gargantuan, nonlinear and unruly. It has its own internal quarrels and misunderstandings, and its stakeholders are sometimes friends and collaborators, and sometimes view each other warily.

So when trying to catalog hip-hop in full, it’s only reasonable to lean into the cacophony. The package that accompanies this essay does just that, collecting oral histories from 50 genre titans of the past five-plus decades. The number matters. It’s an acknowledgment that at 50 years old — a mild fiction, but more on that later — hip-hop is broad and fruitful, enthralling and polyglot, the source of an endless fount of narratives. Its fullness cannot be captured without sprawl and ambition. Many voices need to be heard, and they won’t always agree.

Side by side, there are stylistic innovators, crossover superstars, regional heroes, micromarket celebrities. There are those who insist on their primacy and see themselves as a center of gravity, and those who are proud students of the game and understand their place in hip-hop’s broader artistic arc. There are those who are universally recognized, and those known mainly by connoisseurs. There are agitators and accommodationists. The revered and the maligned. Some even play with the boundaries of what rapping is ordinarily considered to be.

All taken together, these artists form a family tree of the genre, one that highlights bridges between groups that are typically discussed separately, and that underscores the ways in which rappers — no matter the city they hail from, or the era in which they found their success — have been grappling with similar circumstances, creative questions and obstacles.

These 50 histories detail hip-hop from countless vantage points: the past forward, and vice versa; the underground upward; the less populated regions outward; the big cities out into the suburbs. They tell the story of a makeshift musical movement that laid the foundation for the defining cultural shift of the past few decades.

Fifty years ago, though, that outcome seemed fanciful at best. In the 1970s, Bronx block parties gave way to nightclubs, and talking D.J.s laid the foundation for dedicated M.C.s to begin taking over. Soon, the intrusion of capitalism removed and packaged the part of these live events that was the easiest to transmit: rapping.

Then it was off to the races. By the mid-1980s, the hip-hop industry was a small club but big business, as audiences around the country were primed by the commercial release of recordings from countless New York artists. A wave of soon-to-be-global stars arrived: Run-DMC, LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys. Hip-hop became worldwide counterculture.

By the dawn of the 1990s, it flowered everywhere in this country — the South, the West, the Midwest — and seeped into the global mainstream. In the mid-90s, thanks to the work of Biggie Smalls and Puffy, Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre, Bad Boy and Death Row, it became the center of American pop music, despite resistance from those convinced rock was destined to forever reign supreme.

Into the 2000s, the genre’s power center shifted from the coasts to the South, where the genre was flourishing (largely away from the scrutiny of the major labels) in Miami, Houston, Virginia, Atlanta and Memphis. 2 Live Crew, the Geto Boys, Missy Elliott, Outkast, Three 6 Mafia — each had absorbed what was being imported from the rest of the country and created new lingo and sonic frameworks around it. Hip-hop was becoming a widely shared language with numerous dialects.

All the while, the genre was expanding, becoming more commercially successful and inescapable with each year. It became centrist pop, which in turn spun off its own dissidents: the New York and Los Angeles undergrounds of the 1990s; the progressive indie scenes of the 2000s; and the SoundCloud rap of the 2010s. In the past 20 years, hip-hop has been responsible not only for some of the biggest pop music of the era — Drake, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Cardi B — but its templates have become open source for performers in other genres to borrow from, which they did, and do, widely. Hip-hop became a crucial touch point for country music, for reggaeton, for hard rock, for K-pop and much more.

What’s striking in the histories collected in this package is how no part of that ascent has been taken for granted. In every era, there were stumbling blocks. For each artist, there was a promise of a scene just out of reach. And for all of these rappers, that meant leaning in to a new idea of what their version of hip-hop could be, and hoping ears would meet them in this untested place.

There is also the matter of untold history — to read these recollections is to be continually reminded of those who are no longer here to share their tales. There is a punishing catalog of before-their-time deaths just below these stories, a reminder that canons can’t include songs that never got to be made.

As for the 50th anniversary, well, it is a framing of convenience. The date refers to Aug. 11, 1973, when DJ Kool Herc — in the rec room of the apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in the Bronx — reportedly first mixed two copies of the same album into one seamless breakbeat. That is, of course, one way to think about hip-hop’s big-bang moment, but by no means the only one. If you think of rapping as toasting, or talking over prerecorded music, or speaking in rhythmic form, then hip-hop has been around longer than 50 years. Just ask the Last Poets, or DJ Hollywood, who would improvise rhymes on the microphone as he was spinning disco records. There are also, depending upon whom you ask, others who had previously mixed two of the same record.

But the canniness and the cynicism of attempting to enshrine a date that everyone can stand behind reflects a darker and more worrisome truth, which is that, for decades, hip-hop was perceived as disposable, a nuisance, an aberration. Commemoration and enshrinement seemed far-fetched. For a long time, hip-hop had to argue for its rightful place in pop music, and pop culture, facing hostilities that were racial, legal, musical and beyond.

Insisting that the genre has an origin point, therefore, is really just another way of insisting on its importance, its stability and its future. You can quarrel with the specific details — and many do — but not with the intent, which is to ensure that no one again overlooks the genre’s power and influence.

That said, hip-hop was never going anywhere, because no style of pop music has been as adaptive and as sly. Hip-hop directly answers its critics, and it voraciously consumes and reframes its antecedents. It is restless and immediate, sometimes changing so quickly that it doesn’t stop to document itself. So here is a landing place to reflect, and a jumping off point for the next 50 or so years.

Jon Caramanica is a pop music critic for The Times and the host of the “Popcast” podcast. He also writes the men's Critical Shopper column for Styles. He previously worked for Vibe magazine, and has written for the Village Voice, Spin, XXL and more. More about Jon Caramanica

Explore the World of Hip-Hop

As their influence and success continue to grow, artists including Sexyy Red and Cardi B are destigmatizing motherhood for hip-hop performers .

ValTown, an account on X and other social media platforms, spotlights gangs and drug kingpins of the 1980s and 1990s , illustrating how they have driven the aesthetics and the narratives of hip-hop.

Three new books cataloging objects central to rap’s physical history demonstrate the importance of celebrating these relics before they vanish.

Hip-hop got its start in a Bronx apartment building 50 years ago. Here’s how the concept of home has been at the center of the genre ever since .

Over five decades, hip-hop has grown from a new art form to a culture-defining superpower . In their own words, 50 influential voices chronicle its evolution .

Many of today’s rappers don’t write down their lyrics. Instead, they turn to an improvisational studio technique known as “punching in.” Is it good for the music ?

NFL News: Hip-drop Tackle Officially Banned by Owners for 2024 Season

T he NFL owners have met to discuss rule changes for the 2024 season, while a vote has not yet been cast for the wild kickoff rule proposal—one controversial rule has now been passed.

The owners have voted and approved the "hip-drop" tackle being banned from use in the 2024 season.

Ian Rapoport indicated on X that the hip-drop tackle is now banned from use, and the competition committee was unanimous in banning the hit.

The tackle itself occurs when a defender approaches the ball carrier, and precedes to tackle them and pull them down by their waist—which is shown above.

While the video itself is not that all indicative of injuries, the data has shown that this tackle was used around 230 (the most ever) times in the NFL 2023 season. According to Mike Garafolo , this equates to around once per game and resulted in 15 players missing time from injury because of said tackle.

Every year the competition committee, NFLPA, and owners get together to discuss rule changes and ways in which player safety can be enhanced.

The NFLPA strongly advised the owners and competition committee not to ban this tackle, but the unanimous decision has come through. Tom Pelissero indicated that referees can now call penalties on this tackle, as any player who engages in this tackle moving forward will receive a penalty of 15 yards and an automatic first down.

Again, the tackle shown in the video does appear to be harmless, but the speed at which the defender is running and causing "weightlessness" in the legs could lead to serious injury.

The hip-drop tackle might now be viewed along the same lines as the horse collar tackle. When the ball carrier is running at high speed and is pulled down with a sudden stop by their collar, it can cause some serious damage.

The same can be said for the hip-drop tackle, which looks like the ball carrier is being stopped suddenly and yanked down with decent force. Many might believe equating the hip-drop being banned as the NFL being "soft" on its players, but player safety is of the utmost concern.

The dangers of concussions, life-threatening bone breaks, and CTE are prevalent in the NFL, so it makes sense as to why these rules are constantly being discussed and evaluated.

The next rule to be voted on by owners and the competition committee which completely change how the kickoff is handled, but will again establish more player safety.

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 11: Quarterback Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs looks to throw under pressure from defensive end Nick Bosa #97 of the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium on February 11, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The NFL has now voted to ban the hip-drop tackle from use in the 2024 season.

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