Essay Resources

Primary Essay Concepts:

Hip hop + Race + Violence

 

 Secondary Essay Concepts:

Hip hop as a social justice influence

Racial profiling

Black Lives Matter movement

Police brutality

(White) Privilege

Minority identity

Oppression

Cultural appropriation

(Political) Activism

 

Videos:

J.Cole “Be Free” 5 min (violence + race + hip hop)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VzpCmRtCL0

Macklemore “White Privilege II” 9 min (violence + race + hip hop)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_rl4ZGdy34

The Game “Don’t Shoot” 6 min (violence + race + hip hop) ** stop at 3 min mark**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZyZV9mvllM

Macklemore interview (violence + race + hip hop)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sjhU2t9ocA&app=desktop

Azealia Banks interview (violence + race + hip hop + cultural appropriation + minority identity)

** stop at 5:45 min mark**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PIgbeVC6hQ

Beyonce’s “Formation” music video (violence + race + hip hop)

*clean version*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-FDa9LHDLc

Ted talk: how to raise a black son in America 5 min (violence + race)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us70DN2XSfM

Obama responding to Ferguson 4 min (violence + race)

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000003254144/obama-responds-to-ferguson-decision.html?playlistId=100000003239447

Ted Talk on Police Racial Profiling/Ferguson 11 min (violence + race)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCX_Th-IjjE

Black Lives Matter Mannequin Challenge: 1 min (violence + race)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrDJfxIDmJk

Documentary on Toronto Police Profiling (violence + race)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u627BsqA5BM

Celebrities speak out in “How to Get Killed While Being Black” (violence + race + hip hop)

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/beyonce-rihanna-alicia-keys-how-to-get-killed-while-black-20160713

Clips from the show Blackish: (violence + race)

Documentary about African-Americans in the prison system

“13TH” full documentary available on Netflix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V66F3WU2CKk

 

Other:

Article on Michael Brown shooting details (violence + race)

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html?_r=1

Essay on Racism & White Privilege (race + minority identity)

http://www.tolerance.org/article/racism-and-white-privilege

Essay on History of Hip Hop (hip hop + minority identity)

https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/socialsignificance.htm

 

Article on Beyonce’s “Formation” (violence + race + hip hop + activism)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/06/beyonce-s-formation-a-fiery-black-power-anthem-and-call-to-arms.html

Black Live Matter movement website (violence + race + activism)

http://blacklivesmatter.com

Social Justice Organization that enlists celebrity support:

https://www.sankofa.org

Tool to analyze lyrics: (also available as a free app)

https://genius.com

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For thesis statement info click these:

thesis // Developing-a-Thesis-Statement1 // What How Why Thesis Example //Subject Link Main Points thesis example

 

Full Essay Graphic Organizer (with triangle method for intro/conclusion):

http://calswec.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/b-1-2_five-paragraph-essay-structure.png

 

Introduction as an upside down pyramid:

 

Conclusion as a pyramid:

 

MLA formatting (sample paper):

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/13/

MLA in-text citations (for a variety of sources):

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02

MLA in-text citations for songs and performances:

http://lib.trinity.edu/lib2/cite_nontrad_mla.php


Title/Intro paragraph Example:

Crimson Tragedies:
The Influence of Hip-Hop on Black Lives Matter

          Nothing stains asphalt quite like a heavy pool of crimson blood. When Michael Brown’s lifeless body lay in the road for several hours, his blood stained more than the asphalt beneath him. It stained the entire African-American community. It smeared them with fear. It painted them with anguish. They knew Michael Brown was not the first young black person to be murdered and he would not be the last. His blood inspired the black community to unite and fight back against the ongoing racism plaguing the nation. A key proponent of this fight is Black Lives Matter, an organization that rallies against police brutality. The Black Lives Matter movement is especially effective because of the tremendous support it has gained from hip-hop artists. Hip-hop has become a powerful platform for spreading the message of police brutality prevention. Black Lives Matter would not be as successful as it is without the contributions of Beyoncé, J. Cole, and Kendrick Lamar.

 


In-class writing strategies:

  1. Read topics carefully: DO NOT answer each question. The topic is to prompt you and inspire a thesis. Ultimately, your topic is your thesis statement.
  1. Take time to plan: you have plenty of time to write so I expect proper essay structure
  1. Make a quick outline

– Intro: hook

– *Thesis Statement*

– Body 1: topic, examples, explanation

– Body 2: topic, examples, explanation

– Body 3: topic, examples, explanation

– Conclusion: broad idea to leave reader with

  1. Punctuation matters: don’t ruin your great ideas with bad grammar and run-on sentences!
  1. Read over your writing:

– cross things out / use white out

– put ^ to insert missed words

  1. The title matters!!! Make it interesting!!!!

– write it last