Self-awareness through learning and knowledge often is defined as the Fifth Element of Hip Hop. Some Hip Hop advocates, particularly Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa, call the Fifth Element the most essential element because it unites and brings together the entire genre. However, because this element is not easily performed, it often is hard to understand.
Throughout this semester, you have studied a broad range of work on Hip Hop, including its historical and philosophical roots, economic power, political potential, and its community-building practices. The Fifth Element has been a part of all of these aspects of Hip Hop. For the final paper, I would like you to draw on the research you have done on Hip Hop all semester to probe what the Fifth Element means. Here’s what I would like you to do:
Imagine that you have been asked to submit a paper on Hip Hop’s history and impact on society for a Black History Month (which is February) or a Hip Hop History Month (which is November) event. Prepare this lecture in a written format (1,000 to 1,500 words). In doing so, please:
Distinguish what you feel is essential for an audience to know about what the Fifth Element of Hip Hop is; how Hip Hop interconnects with the history, politics, economics, and social conditions of the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries; and how Hip Hop narrates America’s history and its relationship globally.
Reflect on how your study of Hip Hop has transformed you and your own interpretation of society.
Assignment Instructions
To prepare this assignment, it might help you imagine yourself in the role of an emcee who is hosting a major community-wide Hip Hop event. Please, however, write your paper for an academic audience that is not intimately familiar with Hip Hop. Communicate your ideas in clear, straightforward language that is appropriate for an advanced college-level Historical Studies and Cultural Studies course. Integrate at least five reference sources from the course and additional research. Please cite these sources appropriately.
If you quote colloquial expressions, please make sure to explain what the colloquialisms are meant to convey. Writing in this manner will allow you to communicate your ideas in a way that both followers and non-followers of Hip Hop can understand and appreciate. KRS-One, the Teacha, has given many such lectures on The Fifth Element of Hip Hop. You can find them on YouTube or through such sources like Netflix.
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