Hip Hop
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this course on the political and aesthetic foundations of hip hop, tracing its musical, corporeal, visual, spoken word, and literary forms across roughly three decades of American culture. Students examine the black cultural practices that shaped hip hop's various idioms, from music production to dance to visual art, and connect each to broader questions of aesthetics and politics. Coursework includes creating material culture tied to each thematic unit and scheduled sessions in a performance studio, where students work through how hip hop pieces are made and evaluated in practice. The course materials, available free through MIT OpenCourseWare, include the syllabus, assignments, and thematic readings covering hip hop's development as both art form and cultural movement.