Hiphop Archive Annual Report

The Hiphop Archive

Annual Report 2010 - 2011

The Hiphop Archive (HHA) continued its role as the leading research institute and resource for information about hiphop culture and scholarship during the 2010 - 2011 academic year.  The HHA introduced new technology and training to students and staff, hosted classes, events, tours, presentations, workshops, meetings, interviews, and readings that made for an exciting and enriching academic year.  Nearly 500 students and scholars from across the globe visited the HHA to conduct research and participate in Archive projects and events.  Some of the 2010 - 2011 projects and events included: (1) The Author Meets The Critics Series, (2) a Hiphop Film Festival, (3) a Hiphop Archive/ African and African American Studies Lecture Series, (4) an Open Lyrics Reading of The Anthology of Rap,  (5) an undergraduate Beat Making Workshop, and (6) the Hiphop Archive Newsletter.

HHA Visitor Profiles:

More than 500 people visited the Hiphop Archive over the past year for tours as well as research.  Visitors ranged from a group of middle school students from Orchard Gardens Public School in Roxbury who toured the HHA to visiting scholars from Paris and the Netherlands who utilized our resources to further their projects and research.  It also included former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the novelist and professor Jamaica Kincaid, the artist Elizabeth Catlett, Professor Mark Anthony Neal, Adam Bradley, Medusa The ‘Gangsta' Goddess, Tracy Sharpley-Whiting, and a group of graduating seniors from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.  All students were treated to our youth oriented Hiphop quiz.  (See Attached for more information on visitors.)

Technology at the Hiphop Archive:

Our dedication to working at the highest possible level continues to show through our use of technology.  A new group of Hiphop Archive student staff has been trained to edit video, our events are streamed live on the web, and we have added Apple's Logic Studio music production program to our vast array of software.  The Hiphop Archive will continue to expand its technology base with new digital imaging and music production hardware and software during the coming academic year.   We have also developed a "green" brochure that utilizes postcard sized inserts allowing the HHA to switch out specific pieces of content without reprinting the entire brochure.

Hiphop Archive Summer Initiative:

A total of seven students from various campuses and schools convened to work on three projects for the summer.  The projects included: (1) El Sitio, an online site designed to facilitate discussion and highlight issues and topics concerning Latinos in the US who participate in and support Hiphop culture.  Through the Hiphop Archive, El Sitio will serve as a resource for information and debate and will collaborate with other sites, organizations and individuals involved in Hiphop culture. (2) Hip Hop Afterschool is a project dedicated to exploring Hip Hop within the realm of education. This site features lesson plans, college syllabi, scholarly articles and other resources for students, educators, and researchers. In gathering these sources, we have tried to cover a wide range of opinions and standpoints. While The Hiphop Archive does not necessarily endorse or promote the views expressed in these materials, we believe they are valuable to a study of Hiphop Education. (3) The students also provided research and materials for the Artist Spotlight.  This section focuses on a particular artist and his or her contribution to Hiphop and youth culture.

Hiphop Archive/ Du Bois Institute Fellow

The 2010 - 2011 academic year also introduced the first Hiphop Archive/ Du Bois Institute Fellowship recipient Theodore Miller. The Hiphop Archive's Fellowship mission is to facilitate and encourage the pursuit of knowledge, art, culture and responsible leadership through the exchange of artists and scholars in residence at the Archive. Theodore Miller is an American lawyer and entrepreneur. He is a graduate of Yale University in African-American Studies and Literature, and Harvard Law School, Mr. Miller was inspired as an undergraduate by the youth residents of New Haven, where he worked as a community organizer and mental health counselor for incarcerated, hospitalized and underserved youth, as he continues to seek links, opportunities and connections to impact the social chain of humanity. He is a practicing attorney, a member of the Bars of California and New York, and a licensed real estate broker in California.

His project examined the case studies of urban developers interested in social entrepreneurship, hiphop collectives focused on community (re)development and multiple hiphop "battles" for space and place. He looked at personal "cribs" and familial and communal dimensions of space and place in "hiphop America" through the eyes of practitioners. Highlighting problems and opportunities in a "winner-take all" society in which hiphop is often heard but disregarded, he hopes this conversation might contribute to more socially useful and innovative models of social change and (re)development in the urban core. An interview with the inaugural fellow, Theodore Miller can be found at http://hiphoparchive.org/node/8516.

2010 Events and Projects:

 There were three major events and projects during the 2010-2011 year.

1. Author Meets The Critics is an event of knowledge shared.   In the tradition of Hiphop the critic is a collaborator who represents their craft, students, knowledge, discipline, colleagues, community - Hiphop Scholarship. 

1.     The Anthology of Rap by Adam Bradley and Andrew DuBois.  This is the first in the newly established Hiphop Archive Scholarship Series.  It featured an Open Lyrics Reading (2 - 4 p.m.) by area students, Harvard students and faculty and special guests, a signing for the newly released book The Anthology of Rap, and lyrical analysis activities that will spark dialogue.

2.     Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip Hop's Hold on Young Black Women by Tracy Sharpley-Whiting.  The panel critics included David Ikard (Florida State University), Shayne Lee (Tulane), and Mark Anthony Neal (Duke).  Others added to the conversation by being part of the Scholar's Cypher (Please see poster attached).

3. Hiphop Lecture Series
Several scholars spoke on a range of topics about hiphop's influence in academia as part of the 15 Years of Scholarship Lecture series.  They included: Wayne Marshall (globalization, reggaeton and sampling), Nicole Hodges Persley (theater, performance arts), Mark Anthony Neal (Ethnomusicology, gender and sexuality), Tracy Sharpley-Whiting (gender and sexuality, cultural criticism), Michael Jeffries (sociology), Josef Sorett (religion and spirituality).

4. Hiphop Archive Newsletter
The Hiphop Archive released newsletters during the Fall and Spring Semesters of the 2010 - 2011 academic year.

HHA Newsletter - October 2010

This edition of the hiphop Archive Newsletter featured: (1) an interview with the inaugural Hiphop Archive Fellow, (2) an Artist Spotlight and (3) Circle blog post on Lupe Fiasco, (4) a video collage of great Chicago rappers, (5) the Hiphop Archive Magazine Collection, (6) a book review of Professor Cathy Cohen's Democracy Remixed, (7) the Lyrical Workout Session webpage, (8) a Tribute to Chicago Hiphop Moms, (9) a Hiphop Archive Summer 2010 research assistant profile on Abi Polinsky, (10) an update to our Katrina Knows website, and a (11)Chicago hiphop playist.

HHA Newsletter - February 2011

The Spring Semester edition of the Hiphop Archive Newsletter debuted (1) HHA Director Professor Marcyliena Morgan's new opinion column entitled "Back Off."  This issue also featured: (2) an interview with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., (3) an article about the Universal Zulu Nation Anniversary, (4) a preview of the HHA's Hiphop Afterschool webpage, (5) a photo and video recap of the Lyrical Workout Session, (6) the Hiphop Loves You playlist, (7) and a compilation of past Artist Spotlights that included one on Jay-Z.

4. Hiphop Archive Online Interviews
Each year the Hiphop Archive conducts interviews with scholars, artists, and members of the community. These interviews are available online and through our HHA Newsletter.

1. Interview with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

He is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. The interview can be found at http://hiphoparchive.org/node/8618.

2. Interview with Theodore Miller - Inaugural Hiphop Archive Fellow

Theodore Miller is an American lawyer, entrepreneur and community organizer. He is currently the managing member and general counsel of Mid-City Capital, a real estate acquisition and development company of urban infill commercial real estate in Southern California.  Mr. Millers Interview can be found at http://hiphoparchive.org/node/8516.