Hip-Hop Mid-Term
Spring 2010
Section I: identifications (2 points each)
5 items
Section II: short answer (2 points each): Write the number of the question and the answer in your blue book.
(6) What are the four elements of hip hop?
(7) Name the three founding deejays of hip hop music.
(8) The style pioneered by Jamaican engineers such as King Tubby and Scientist is
(9) Name two black leaders who spoke out against hip hop music.
(10) What post-gang organization was formed in the Bronx by Afrika Bambaataa?
Section III: multiple choice (2 points each). Write the number of the question and the letter of the answer in your blue book.
(11) Who among the following did not appear in Wild Style:
(a) Fab Five Freddy
(b) Lee Quinones
(c) Lady Pink
(d) DJ Kool Herc
(12) Which of the following was not an album by Public Enemy:
(a) Fear of a Black Planet
(b) Death Certificate
(c) It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
(d) Yo! Bum Rush the Show
(13) A person who performs the role of what people in the US call a 'rapper' is known in Jamaica as a
(a) deejay
(b) emcee
(c) b-boy
(d) preacher
(14) The first predominant Jamaican pop style was
(a) rock steady
(b) roots reggae
(c) ska
(d) dancehall
(15) Who among the following was not a black nationalist leader:
(a) Martin Luther King, Jr.
(b) Malcolm X
(c) Angela Davis
(d) Noble Drew Ali
(16) Who among the following is not from the west coast:
(a) Ice Cube
(b) Ice T
(c) Professor Griff
(d) Snoop Dogg
(17) Marcus Garvey's worldwide organization of African people was called
(a) The Universal Negro Improvement Association
(b) The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(c) The Rastafarians
(d) The Moorish Science Temple
(18) Louis Farrakhan is the leader of which group:
(a) The Moorish Science Temple
(b) The Nation of Islam
(c) The Rastafarians
(d) The Zulu Nation
(19) Clarence 13x (Father Allah) was the founder of which group:
(a) The Nation of Islam
(b) The Nation of Gods and Earths (5 Percenters)
(c) The Moorish Science Temple
(d) The Zulu Nation
(20) Ice Cube will
(a) love
(b) charm
(c) salute
(d) swarm
on any motherfucker in a blue uniform.
Section IV. Respond to one of the following in an essay. (60 points).
(a) Briefly set out the basic doctrines/key figures of black nationalism. To what extent do you think hip hop is a black nationalist political expression? Answer with regard to specific artists/moments.
(b) Chang and Sartwell both trace the origins of hip hop music to Jamaica. Do you think they overrate this influence? Describe the connections and perhaps some of the differences.
(c) The relation of hip hop music to gangs is complicated. What are some key ways or moments at which they intersect?
(d) To what extent do you think it is reasonable or plausible to look to hip hop artists for political leadership? What are some of the ways artists (such as Run DMC, KRS-One, Public Enemy, NWA, all or others entirely) have taken on or refused this role?
(e) In the light of the argument made by Robin D.G. Kelly, to what extent do you find the hip hop we have dealt with so far this semester misogynist or otherwise politically problematic? Array some examples (artists/songs) on either side of this debate and assess.
