Hip Hop Headphones

Hip Hop Headphones is a crash course in Hip Hop culture. Featuring definitions, lectures, academic essays, and other scholarly discussions and resources, Hip Hop Headphones documents the scholarship of Dr. James B. Peterson, founder of Hip Hop Scholars—an organization devoted to developing the educational potential of Hip Hop.Defining Hip Hop from multi-disciplinary perspectives that embrace the elemental forms of Hip Hop Culture (b-boying, dj-ing, rapping, and graffiti art), Hip Hop Headphones is the definitive guide to how Hip Hop culture can be used in the classroom to engage and inspire students.

[A] detailed, thorough critical reading of Hip-Hop culture and Hip-Hop in popular culture ... [and] an enjoyable read for those interested in the genre and students of music theory and popular culture., [Posits] some really provocative questions, and [relays] some real life experiences that will help readers think about what they’re getting out of hip hop., The high points of Hip-Hop Headphones are where Peterson articulates his own expert analyses on particular artists, lyrics or aspects of hip hop culture, as these offer compelling insights and demonstrate the depth and richness of hip hop through an educational approach ... The unique format of Hip-Hop Headphones makes a valuable contribution to the field ... and is a practical and useful resource for educators. Both the novice and expert in hip hop studies will learn and benefit from the blend of definitions of hip hop artistry with the sophisticated and nuanced analyses., Hip-Hop Headphones makes a valuable, and much needed, contribution to the field of hip-hop studies. Chapters from the book would be excellent readings for students ... The strongest sections of the book are where Peterson documents his teaching practices, and these sections will be incredibly useful to those teaching elements of hip-hop culture., Hip Hop Headphones represents an extension of Professor Peterson’s scholarly and critical intervention in the field of Critical Hip Hop Studies and captures the fullness of his scholarly interests as a quintessentially interdisciplinary scholar, committed to both high theory and popular accessibility. Offering a fresh nuanced assessment of hip hop culture’s foundational moment, Hip Hop Headphones has the feel of a scholarly mixtape, not unlike the mixed genre style that W.E.B. Du Bois introduced with The Souls of Black Folk.

James Braxton Peterson is the Director of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University.