Coauthors

Kevin Roozen (roozen@uiuc.edu)

PRELIMINARY PLANS for your RESEARCH 1) What kinds of research questions (even if they're broad and vague) are motivating your research at this time? REPORT from the FIELD 1) What kinds of questions are driving your inquiry at this time? Have you refined your initial questions? Have you generated new questions?(Walk us through how how your research questions have developed since you started this project). FINAL FINDINGS and CONCLUSIONS What are the central questions that have driven your research? How have your research questions developed over the course of your research? (Walk us through how your research questions have developed since you started this project). 1) What is hip-hop? What is hip-hop to you? 2) How did you get introduced to it and when? 3) How often do you write? perform? 4) What makes someone a DJ, an MC, bdancer, graffiti artist, and how do they relate to each other? What expectations are included in these roles? 5) History of hip hop? 6) How did you get your stage name? Why is there a need for a stage name? 7) What is the appeal to freestyling? 8) Have you always loved writing? Do you enjoy writing for school? How is your writing for performances or for leisure similar and different to school writing? 9) What inspires you? Who inspires you? 10)Where you do write? Is there a certain spot or a certain time of day where or when you write? 11)What aspects of freesyling/rapping do you like the most? Dislike the most? *** OCTOBER 2 *** REPORT FROM FIELD *** 1) I am finding a lot of interesting stuff, but my main problem is how am I supposed to narrow this down to one focused, "thesis-driven" research project? Am I allowed to not necessarily have a focus or a thesis and just kinda summarize my findings at the end of this all? 2) What sorts of things am I supposed to pay attention to when I observe my subjects when they're actually writing? Environment? State of mind? How they write? Posture? 3) Am I allowed to make my own assumptions if theyre based on things they've said and shared with me? For instance, I felt that the Social Queens author did a lot of guessing and making her own conclusions, such as the social queens merely did everything based on rebellion. Grant it, she had plenty of substantial evidence to support that, but are we allowed to assume things like that without subjects actually coming out and saying it? **** OCTOBER 26 ****** REPORT FROM THE FIELD ******* Questions I have that are driving my research include what are the social aspects of rapping? What happens when you try to write individually, and how does that usually evolve into a social activity or collaborative product? Do you enjoy working individually or collaboratively? How did rapping affect your writing for school? Did poetry you learned in school influence your writing, or do you think your taste in rap influenced what kind of poetry you liked in school? I was originally going to focus on freestyling, but after a few observations of UC Hip Hop and my subjects, I realized that writing and rapping was a very social activity. Their writing was also concentrated more on raps for prepared songs which they will eventually perform, so I couldn't really study writing and freestyling. Therefore, I am not focusing on freestyling anymore, but rather on rap in general and the social aspects of it. And because I am a nerdy English major, I still plan on looking at the techniques, devices and mechanics of rap. ***** DECEMBER 11, 2003 ****** FINAL FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS ***** My two main questions that have driven my research are: 1) 1. To what extent are the literate practices involved in the hip hop community collaborative? 2. What are the common literary practices of an MC? What do their texts look like, and what poetic devices are reflected in these texts? At first I really had no idea what I was going to focus on, so I began with very general questions such as how did my subject get involved in hip hop, what is hip hop, what members exist in this community, etc etc etc... I then began to think about what kind of disjunctures and connections exist between academic writing and writing done by MCs. However, I decided I did not want to steer my research in the direction of comparing two different kinds of writing, so I chose to focus on the literate practices WITHIN the community, rather than comparing and contrasting the different literate practices that occur within hip hop and academia. After more researching, I began to focus my research on the social aspects of the literate practices and the what the texts actually look like.

	INVESTIGATE	Go to Top

PRELIMINARY PLANS for your RESEARCH 1) Tell us about how you went about choosing the community you've decided to focus on for this research project. Which other communities did you consider? What interests you about the community you've chosen? What kind of access do you have to the community and its members? What can you tell us about this community? 2) Tell us about the literate practices that seem important to this community. What kinds of reading and writing have you noticed going on in this community? What kinds of texts seem important to this community? 3) Tell us about how you are thinking about conducting your research. Which research methods seem likely to be productive for your research? How will these methods help you address your research questions? 4) What can you tell us about your research project at this time? REPORT from the FIELD 1) Which methods have proven productive in your research thus far? Walk us through how you decided to utilize these particular methods. FINAL FINDINGS and CONCLUSIONS 1) Which methods proved productive in the research you've done for this project? Walk us through how you came to settle on these particular methods? Which methods did not prove very productive? 1) As I've said in my formal write-up, I am a big English nerd and though I like listening to some rap songs and hip hop for the beat and the sound of it, I also really like looking at the lyrics and analyzing the mechanics of it. Eminem is awesome to look at for those reason because he is someone who can use rhyme, internal rhyme, alliteration, consonance, asonance, and do so while maintaing a rhythm. I believe the poetic level of rap goes unnoticed by many, and I would like to research that a little further and how important those things are to performers. I also wanted to study this community because I not only thought they would be fun, but educational for me, as well. Though I like some songs, I would not consider myself a true fan, as I dont really know a whole lot about hip hop in general. So this project also means learning more about hip hop for myself, and also because I think I can use this in lesson plans for the future. Hip hop is spreading and crossing socio-economic, racial, gender, and international lines, and since some students of mine will have interest in this kind of music, why not bring it into the classroom and use a kind of literacy they can relate to? I can then connect this with other more "conventional" forms of literacy such as poetry. I would also be willing to use this in the classroom because I believe in teaching a diverse variety of text (other than novel, non-fiction, poetry, short story, etc...) and this would be a refreshing change from mainstream literacies. I am lucky enough to be included in the UC Hip Hop organization here at U of I, where I have attended a meeting, found some subjects, and have access to more resources such as performances and events. They have weekly meetings and hold "quad cyphers" every Tuesday and Friday at 4 pm, where MCs freestyle for hours. For more information on UC Hip Hop, check out their website (their message boards are really interesting) www.uiuc.edu/ro/hiphop 2)Though freestyling involves thinking of rhymes and lyrics on the spot, many of these MCs write things down almost everyday. I think it will be interesting to see what kind of writing is done, whether it is writing in preparation for battles, or other kind of prose. 3) I plan on observing my subject for about 2-3 hours a week, watching his writing processes and where and when it takes place. I also plan on interviewing him and collecting writing samples to analyze. Last but not least (what I'm most excited for) I am planning on watching him perform, since most of the MCs perform a few nights a week, if not every week. 4)All I can really say about this research project is that I am REALLY excited about it and think its going to be a ton of fun. I am really interested in learning more about hip hop to begin with, so my having such easy access to the members of the community will make my learning more genuine and more thorough. **** OCTOBER 26 2003 ***** REPORT FROM THE FIELD ****** 1) The most useful methods I have found thusfar have been observation, interviews and texts (which include all of my data, I suppose). I got to observe the writing and collaborating process of the two MCs and DJ I am studying, and I found that extremely interesting. One of the MCs narrated a lot of his writing and thinking processes for me, and I was also able to see firsthand how the DJ's beat and the MC's rap are so closely related. With interviews, I am able to get very personal ideas and thoughts on hip hop in general, personal style, inspirations and inspirations of my subjects. It's great because one of the MCs loves to talk, so when I get him on a topic of which he is particularly fond, he can talk and talk and talk about it : ) It really helps me get more insight on him and it's such valuable information for me, as well, because before I started this project, I didnt really know anything about hip hop! The texts that I've collected are great, because I am able to break down a written rhyme and study the rhyme pattern, meter, rhythm, and structure. ***** DECEMBER 12 2003 ***** I believed that the interviews and the informal observations were most helpful in my research. Neil was a very helpful interviewee because he was thoughtful, talkative, and very eager to answer my questions and express his thoughts. I especially liked the informal observations, during which I told my subjects to treat me like a wallflower. I got the most interesting data from doing that because I was able to observe how they interacted with each other in a natural, casual setting. Since they wrote together and produced songs, I was able to see the collaborative processes that go into making a song. Hearing the beat firsthand and then observing how the two MCs responded to it and wrote according to the beat was so interseting to me, because these practices included details (such as marking the snare beats, worrying about word choice, syllables) that really helped illustrate the collaborative processes and also the writing thought processes that explain why the text looks the way it does (deliberation over stress/unstressed, alliteration, rhythm, etc etc etc...). I tried making a questionairre which didnt really work too well because I didnt end up using a lot of the responses in my final paper, anyway.

PRELIMINARY PLANS for your RESEARCH 1) What readings from the coursepacket have been helpful to you thus far in your research? What other sources have proven helpful? REPORT from the FIELD 1) What readings from the coursepacket have been helpful to you thus far in your research? What other sources have proven helpful? FINAL FINDINGS and CONCLUSIONS 1) What readings from the coursepacket were helpful to you in working on your research project? What other sources proved helpful? 1) The readings on the Amish, Nan, and the social queens have helped me because I've learned about collecting text, asking interview questions about history, context, and background, and thinking about what makes certain texts and literary practices more valid than another? I especially like the social queens article because Fenders really studied the text and looked beyond content and into structure, motivation, exclusivity, and mentalities they represent. I believe that the texts I collect should be studied in context, such as the notes and graffiti by the junior high social queens. *** OCTOBER 27 2003 **** REPORT FROM THE FIELD ****** "Literacy and Social Process: A Community in Transition" by Weinstein-Shr and "En Los Dos Idiomas: Literacy Practices Among Chicago Mexicanos" by Farr were integral in giving me ideas on my research. Those articles really looked at the social aspects of literacy, as well as motivation, which is what I am focusing on in my own research. "Literacy and the Tough Cookies" by Finders has a lot of good information on audience and motivation as well, and I could definitely use some of Finders' ideas on motivation and social groupings in my own project, as well. **** DECEMBER 12 2003 **** In addition to the aforementioned texts that have helped me, I think the majority of my most valuable resources have come from my classmates. Anthony was a lifesaver because he suggested a video to me that was made by his friend about hip hop. The video was great, and really informative, and I was able to use it to gain a better understanding of hip hop and UC Hip hop in general. Annice also acted as an integral part ot my research because she was the one who initially suggested going to the UC Hip Hop meetings in the first place. If it wasnt for her suggestion, I would have had to chosen my subjects in a much different manner and I probably wouldnt have gotten as rich of information as I did while sitting through the UC Hip Hop meetings.

	CREATE	Go to Top

	DISCUSS	Go to Top

REPORT from the FIELD 1) Which literate practices have you decided to focus on? What kinds of things are you finding out about these literate practices? FINAL FINDINGS and CONCLUSIONS 1) Drawing from your research, articulate what you consider to be the most significant and interesting findings and conclusions. **** OCTOBER 27 2003 ****** REPORT FROM THE FIELD ***** 1) I have decided to focus on the literate practices of writing a rap and performing a rap. I have not really looked at any academic writing because Neil is an engineer and the only school writing he does is lab reports, and I don't really think I can integrate that into this particular project. I have looked at reproduced texts of "old songs" that Neil has known and performed well, since he rewrote copies for me in about 10 minutes. I have also watched the process of his writing a rap from scratch to writing a verse. These writings show what kind of issues are important to Neil and the rest of MElodic Scribes (abstract concepts, philosophy, environmental issues) and the careful thought and planning that actually goes into a rap. **** DECEMBER 12 2003 ***** I loved deconstructing the actual texts. I really thought that was the most fun part for me, because I enjoyed identifying the alliteration, and assonance within each song. When I talked about word choice with Neal, my admiration grew even more, because as I found out, he is a very deliberate poet who chooses his words very carefully. I was able to witness him write an original text once, and found that he would oftentimes write the first few words of a sentence, then leave the majority of the sentence blank, but write down the last couple words at the end of the line. I thought that was pretty interesting, because this way, he knows what word he wants to rhyme with for the next stanza, and this also shows that he will not use just any words that will go in the sentence; he takes the time to think of words that each carry some kind of significance. My conclusion that the texts are very reminiscent of poetry really awestrucks me, because I see a lot of the same issues and standards for hip hop and reading and kids wanting to go play outside or play basketball game instead. After identifying alliteration, assonance, rhythm, tempo, and symbolism, I found many similarities with rap and poetry.

	CONNECT	Go to Top

	REFLECT	Go to Top

REPORT from the FIELD 1) How could the class (in terms of organization, format, readings, discussions, etc.) serve you better as you conduct your research for this project? FINAL FINDINGS and CONCLUSIONS 1) How could the class (in terms of organization, format, readings, discussions, etc.) have served you better during this research project? ***** OCTOBER 27 2003 ****** REPORT FROM THE FIELD ******* The class has already been such a great help to me! Annice was the one who suggested going to the UC Hip Hop Meeting in the beginning of this project, and I have found UC Hip Hop as a very valuable resource; I've found my subjects from those meetings as well as gained a lot of rich information on hip hop and the community in general. Anthony then suggested that I email one of his other classmates who recently did a presentation on hip hop in their education class. I am really excited about this because I emailed this guy and he said I could borrow his video that he made on hip hop (just as long as I give him credit! : ) ) So in terms of sources, my classmates have been GREAT. Also, the heated discussions we had on motivation and social vs. private have sparked my interest and given me a lot of good ideas. thanks class : ) ***** DECEMBER 12 2003 ****** Like I mentioned before, I have received most of my most valuable resources from the help of my classmates. Anthony and Annice have really helped in getting the ball rolling, suggesting supplementary material (the hip hop video that anthony's friend, Chris Sotelo created) and asking thought-provoking questions for which the answers truly developed my critical thinking skills and research skills.

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