MUSR 2203 - Hip-Hop Technology and Production

Hip-hop recordings are commodified chronicles of listening and audio manipulation activities that exhibit a relationship between technology, aesthetics, and practice. This course is a hands-on examination and scholarly exploration of the technologies and practices of hip-hop music-making. Students engage with hip hop's music as a response to contemporaneous technologies available to DJs and beatmakers. Through listening, musical analysis, and re-creation exercises, students investigate the instrumental component of hip hop music heard on recordings, commonly referred to as beats. In this course, students make beats with the technologies and technical limitations that have defined the different periods of hip-hop music and reflect on their practice. Laboratory fee; 3 credits.