Sociology
Hip Hop 101 is an after school program geared toward high school students interested in making a career in the music world. Students involved in the program learn how to create and take ownership of their own businesses; all the while learning how to produce, market and distribute their own content effectively and efficiently.
The premise of the class is centered on the idea of the 3 C’s, which stands for Community, Cohesion and Content. This concept is evidenced in many ways in the hip hop genre, and the Hip Hop 101 course is designed to explore and exploit these points to achieve maximum success. Participants will learn to apply these concepts to their own creations throughout the course, all while doing something they love.
The Community, Cohesion and Content concept stems from the idea that all hip hop is inherently local, and successful hip hop artists effectively use community outreach to connect with their audience. As is the case in many facets of life, successful people often have a network of friends and associates to help propel them to the top; Hip Hop is no different. Students learn the importance of utilizing teamwork to achieve life goals by developing cohesive teams of various disciplines. Students are also encouraged to create content that is both clean and creative.
The Labels
Tribe Records, Mafioso Entertainment & 5000 Watts Entertainment
Week 1
We started by interviewing the students interested in the program. We then assigned them roles of either CEO, Marketing, A&R or Artist. The artists were paired with A&R students and CEO’s were paired with marketing directors.
Week 2
Students were told of their positions and we explained to them the importance of each role. They broke off into groups and began to discuss…
Week 3
Marc Real started coming through. He added a lot to the discussions and eventually supplied the beats for the 3 songs. The students began to work on a presentation for their business plan of the record label.
Week 4
Each group presented an outlined business plan of their record label via a powerpoint presentation. After the presentations, the CEO’s of the labels had a quick discussion and realized that they had no idea of what each artist was capable. They took it upon themselves to do auditions of each artist so that they could decide who would best fit their label.
Week 5
Each label picked an artist and began to develop the artist image and come up with ideas for marketing. The A&R’s were giving the task of sitting with the artist to find a look that best fit their personality. Meanwhile, the artists were given the task of constructing the song that would be their 1st single.
Week 6
The class sat with Marc Real and BJ to pick beats for their single. The artists were each given an instrumental track to take home to write their lyrics.
Week 7
Khalid and Duran sat with each artist to help develop their songs more. Artists received instruction on how to write in a 16 bar format and how to effectively rhyme on beat.
Week 8
The Photo Shoot. Duran brought clothes provided by DTLR, Men’s Warehouse and David’s Bridal, and Photographer Jason Maris and his assistant Stephanie Ludwig came to shoot professional photos of the students. The power was out for the first part of the day, so we improvised with natural light and a camera mounted flash until power resumed.
Week 9
We tracked Tribe Records using a laptop running Digital Performer, an M-Audio firewire interface and a simple dynamic mic on a stand. They were well rehearsed and came prepared with verses memorized. Good energy! The song was called “More Swagger”.
Week 10
Tracked 5000 Watts and Mafioso. VT was a little timid on the mic, but as he recorded his verse to their song, “The Art of Spittin”, it became clear that he had a talent for lyric writing and a unique way of delivering. However, now at two weeks before the Entourage Show, he told the class he did not want to perform. With the help of his peers, Khalid and Mr. Wallace, we were able to talk some sense back into him.
Week 11
Show Rehearsal! It went very well. Each group gave feedback to improve the others performance. We worked extensively on energy and stage presence.
Week 12
The big show was today! This was the finale of the entire class. The performances went very smoothly overall, however, we were thrown for a loop when the principal of the school pulled one of Mafioso’s songs at the last minute. We spent a lot of time brainstorming to find an alternate song for them to perform, but the artist was not able to recover and that particular performance did not go as well as he planned. In spite of this setback, we all felt very proud of the students and of Beat Studies for pulling it off. SUCCESS!
The Participants
1. Mr. Roland Wallace Faculty Advisor 2. Mrs. Justice Program Mom 3. Taneka Gray Curriculum Advisor 4. BJ Alden, Khalid Brickhouse & Duran Butler Beat Studies 5. Raheem Allen, Justin Bailey, Chaze Barnes, Sam Cryder, David Kerr, Montavious Reese, Dominique Richardson, Shon Rucker, Yaasir Watts, Jaleel Wheeler & Vontavious Wood Avondale High Hip Hop 101 students
The Songs
- More Swaggar – Tribe Records
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- The Art of Spittin’ – 5000 Watts Entertainment
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- I Wanna Tip You – Mafioso Entertainment
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