‘Hip-hop wasn't something a teacher ever gave me’: exploring hip-hop musical learning^*

* This research was conducted over the span of Summer 2015 and Summer 2016 the manuscript composed in Fall 2016. Portions of this study were presented at the 32nd World Conference of the International Society for Music Education.

ABSTRACT

With the aim of diversifying popular music education scholarship, this article explores the phenomenon of hip-hop musical learning as experienced by eight American hip-hop musicians who describe how as well as with whom they learned to create and perform. The study explores issues related to learning processes, social relationships, and the role of individuality in hip-hop culture. Findings explore elements of self-teaching; learning through listening, creating, competing, and collaborating; and relating the individual to the broader hip-hop culture. I discuss the findings in comparison to facets of informal music learning as well as previous hip-hop scholarship and introduce a conceptual model related to the processes and relationships of hip-hop musical learning. Finally, I offer considerations for music teaching and future scholarship.

KEYWORDS:

• Hip-hop
• informal music learning
• popular music
• vernacular music

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Adam Kruse is Assistant Professor of Music Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in music education primarily in areas of popular music and music technology. Kruse's current research focuses on hip-hop music education, including teaching and learning relationships; related technologies; and intersections with race, gender, and sexual orientation.

Notes

* This research was conducted over the span of Summer 2015 and Summer 2016 the manuscript composed in Fall 2016. Portions of this study were presented at the 32nd World Conference of the International Society for Music Education.

1 Creating instrumental backing tracks.

2 A complete exploration of the definition and continual evolution of hip-hop culture (or some might argue, cultures) is beyond the scope of this article. Suffice it to say that hip-hop culture includes multiple art forms (e.g. dance, visual art, fashion, music) and refers to an ever-expanding group of people often identified by different types of marginalisation and oppression. Those looking for more information particularly on the history of hip-hop culture might start with the work of Chang (2005) or Rose (1994).

3 A cypher is a group musical activity consisting of multiple emcees taking turns rapping improvised lyrics.

4 A beat battle is competition for producers in which they play their composed instrumental backing tracks and are usually judged by an audience of listeners.

5 For example, see http://www.hiphopmusiced.com

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Fine and Applied Arts Creative Research Awards.