More Than Music

South Bronx, the birth place of hip hop.

In the 1970s, an underground urban movement known as "Hip Hop" began to develop in the South Bronx area of New York City focusing on emceeing, breakbeats and house parties, Jamaican-born DJ Clive "Kool Herc" Campbell is credited as being highly influential in the pioneering stage of hip hop music. Starting at Kool Herc's home in a high-rise apartment at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, the movement later spread across the entire borough. Rap developed both inside and outside of Hip Hop culture, and began in America in earnest with the street parties thrown in the Bronx by Herc and others.Herc created the blueprint for hip hop music and culture by building upon the Jamaican tradition of impromptu toasting, boastful poetry and speech over music.

Street gangs were prevalent in the poverty of the South Bronx, and much of the graffiti, rapping, and b-boying at these parties were all artistic variations on the competition and one-upmanship of street gangs. Sensing that gang members' often violent urges could be turned into creative ones, Afrika Bambaataa founded the Zulu Nation, a loose confederation of street-dance crews, graffiti artists, and rap musicians.

DJ Kool Herc, father of hip hop.

Although the culture gained popularity and spread across America, conservatives began to view hip hop music as something negative because of the way gang and violence are often romanticized. The commercial success of gangsta rap in the early 1990s further enforced the shift of the theme of hip hop music.

A handful of dedicated hip hop fans are disappointed with what mainstream hip hop has become. They recognize that in the face of the community, the music has moved to an overall theme of materialism and wealth more so than black empowerment. “Through the media, we only see the commercial use of marijuana…[hip hop] doesn’t tell a story anymore.” Proclaims Rahmel Huff, a dedicated hip hop fan. What irks most hip hop fans more than anything is that although possessions and money is glorified in mainstream hip hop that is not all that there is left.

While attempting to showcase the diversity of the hip culture and prove that there are a range of artists. I decided to go about doing a vox pop. Click here to check it out.

To get a brief glimpse of hip hop history and the opinions on the current state of hip hop from a few dedicated fans, click here.

Perhaps one of the most popular hip hop websites today is Complex. Not only does it showcase music, it also gives us a glimpse of pop culture, sports and video games. If you’re more interested in hip hop news and new music releases, we have 2DBZ or 2DopeBoyz that provides its visitors with a wide variety of new music and video. Similar to 2BDZ, we have IllRoots. What makes IllRoots a bit different is the fact that they conduct interview with certain hip hop artist that are exclusive to their blog. 

The Department of Music at Winthrop University

Dr. Rogers speaks fondly of
Winthrop's music program.

The Music Department here at Winthrop is teeming with many passionate and dedicate students. It is perhaps one of the most unique departments on campus simply because of all of the majors it provides. Music has been a part of the Winthrop curriculum since the college was established in 1886. The Conservatory of Music, the home of this department, was constructed in 1939. In 2014, the Winthrop Department of Music contains approximately 175 students. 

The department strives to breed teacher, composers and performers that are one of a kind. One can immediately detect the immense interest that both faculty and students have about the art of music itself. 

David Liotta, General Music Major explains
music's importance.

"One thing we are very proud of is our students go on to graduate schools all across the country...and they tell us that they have been well prepared." says Dr. Donald Rogers. 

For a bit more insight concerning Winthrop's music department and what all it entails, check out my YouTube video. 

If you would like even more in-depth information pertaining to this department on its official webpage. 

What is Success?

What is success?
 

A Visual Arts major finds himself stumped.

College is just one gigantic melting pot. One of the very few commonalities we share is the fact that we are enrolled in university with the desire to pursue a degree. With that being said, there is a plethora of other factors that contribute to why we all made the decision to take on the challenge of earning a college-level education. Is the need to make an extraordinary salary the driving force? Does the need to make mom and dad proud outweigh all else? 



A Theatre major gives shares her thoughts on success.

Our personal ethics, experiences, and respective friends and family all contribute to our very subjective definition as to what success entails. That fact alone is what motivated me to ask my peers what their idea of success is. Indubitably, I found that Winthrop students are mostly oriented by the goals they set for themselves.

 



What tickled me the most during my interviews was that no one was entirely sure of their answer. Success is something that we all want to achieve, but how many of us have actually stopped to figure out our personal idea of success is compatible with society's generic interpretation?

To hear the opinions of a handful of students around campus, check out my video "What is Success?"

The D.B. Johnson Society Tribute

The D.B. Johnson Society Tribute is, without a doubt, one of the most underestimated pieces on campus. Needless to say, I never actually knew there was a story behind such a dedication. The Little Chapel itself is a very quaint and peaceful piece of campus that includes many historical attributes of the university including the chapel itself and the D.B. Johnson Bust. 

I was fortunate enough to have Mr. Walter Hardin be my tour guide of sorts on my quest to acquire knowledge about Winthrop's tribute. It was harder than I thought to capture enough pictures to accommodate for the amount of history I was told, but nonetheless, I enjoyed every minute of my journey. The most interesting piece of information concerning my research is the fact that this tribute and a large amount of Winthrop function through just one building for a good bit of years. That building was Tillman Hall; ironically enough, Tillman is hardly visited by students on a daily or even weekly basis.   

Winthrop University's Little Chapel

To view my slideshow about the D.B. Johnson Society Tribute, click here!

College students share opinions on mainstream artists

If there's anything that college students take extreme interest in, it's music. How many of us have actually sat back and analyzed if the music we listen to is actually worth anything? 

Well, quite obviously it has to be worth something since according to BGR, nearly $5.9 billion was spent on purchasing online music in 2010. How much of the music we spend our hard earned dollars and cents are could be considered timeless? Twenty years from now, will we stop and reminisce over the genius behind Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball"? 

Emily Fitzgerald, sophomore English major proved that today's music is more of a fad than anything when she admitted that she really stick to listening to older music. After minutes of thought, one artist in particular stuck out to her. "Demi Lovato has a very classic voice and years from now, it will be considered good." 

Ironically enough, others chose bands and artists that aren't really household names as worthy of being considered classic. "Imagine Dragon became a big hit artist in 2013. Mumford and Sons could also be in the running because of their classic folk sound."