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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

"Everybody's Got To Wonder What's The Matter With This Cruel World Today": Social Consciousness And Political Commentary In "Love And Theft" And Modern Times, Thad Williamson Jan 2017

"Everybody's Got To Wonder What's The Matter With This Cruel World Today": Social Consciousness And Political Commentary In "Love And Theft" And Modern Times, Thad Williamson

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Bob Dylan has spent much of the past fifty years trying to escape the label of "protest singer.” Over the past decade, there have been plenty of serious topics for the topically minded song writer to address: the Iraq War, threats to civil liberties, rising economic inequality, the financial collapse of 2008 and "Great Recession" that followed. Unlike his musical peers Neil Young (Living with War [2006]) and Bruce Springsteen (Wrecking Ball [2012]), Dylan to date has not addressed those events in any direct way, through new topical songs, in the last stage of his career.


How Hip-Hop Fell Out Of Love With Obama, Erik Nielson Aug 2012

How Hip-Hop Fell Out Of Love With Obama, Erik Nielson

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

Barack Obama was once hailed as America's first hip-hop president. Why have so many rappers now given up on 'B-rock'?


Minority Identity As German Identity In Conscious Rap And Gangsta Rap: Pushing The Margins, Redefining The Center, Kathrin M. Bower Jan 2011

Minority Identity As German Identity In Conscious Rap And Gangsta Rap: Pushing The Margins, Redefining The Center, Kathrin M. Bower

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Faculty Publications

After rap entered the German music scene in the 1980s, it developed into a variety of styles that reflect Germany's increasingly multiethnic social fabric. Politically conscious rap assumed greater relevance after unification, focusing on issues of discrimination, integration, and xenophobia. Gangsta rap, with its emphasis on street conflict and violence, brought the ghetto to Germany and sparked debates about the condition of German cities and the erosion of civic consciousness. Alternately celebrated and reviled by the media, both styles utilize rap's synthesis of authenticity and performance to redefine the relationship between minority identity and German identity and debunk Leitkultur.


Leadership Through Laughter: How Henry Carey Reinvented English Music And Song, Jennifer Cable Jan 2008

Leadership Through Laughter: How Henry Carey Reinvented English Music And Song, Jennifer Cable

Music Faculty Publications

Polly refers to Miss Polly Peachum, a character in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera of 1728 (January). Henry Carey (1687-1743) set this verse (1728) to his famous tune Sally in our Alley, which Gay had used in the opera. Carey's verse about Polly Peachum became so popular that it was eventually incorporated into The Beggar's Opera libretto, beginning with the third edition.1 Even in this short example, we can detect Carey's delight that Polly had overtaken "the Opera of Rolli," alluding to Italian opera in general by referring specifically to the Italian poet and librettist who adapted libretti for …


Music Collections In American Public Libraries, Linda B. Fairtile, Karen M. Burke Jan 2002

Music Collections In American Public Libraries, Linda B. Fairtile, Karen M. Burke

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

This article presents a broad survey of music collections in public libraries in the United States. Characteristics common to the majority of American public libraries are discussed, including origin, funding, and mission as an educational institution. Using a 1949 survey compiled by Otto Luening, Music Materials and the Public Library, as a basis for comparison, the authors surveyed seven libraries representing one or more of the following communities: small towns, school districts with nationally recognized music education programs, large cities, and locations associated recognizably "American" musical styles (e.g., New Orleans and jazz). The results this informal web survey demonstrate …


"Hair Drama" On The Cover Of "Vibe" Magazine, Bertram D. Ashe Jan 2001

"Hair Drama" On The Cover Of "Vibe" Magazine, Bertram D. Ashe

English Faculty Publications

This study consists of a cultural reading of the cover photograph of the June-July 1999 issue of Vibe magazine. It explores the relationship between Mase, an African-American male rap star, and the three anonymous African-American female models that surround him. The study interprets the cover through the long, straightened hair of the models, locating the models' hair in a historically-informed context of black hair theory and practice. The study argues that the models' presence on the cover, particularly their "bone straight and long" hair, "enhances" Mase in much the same way breast-augmented "trophy women" "enhance" their mates. Ultimately, the study …


On The Jazz Musician's Love/Hate Relationship With The Audience, Bertram D. Ashe Jan 1999

On The Jazz Musician's Love/Hate Relationship With The Audience, Bertram D. Ashe

English Faculty Publications

An assistant professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross, Bertram D. Ashe discusses how the intersection of an African American cool style with a black vernacular tradition and multi-racial audiences complicates audience-performer relations. In the vernacular tradition, performers play not "to" but "with" an audience, drawing on the call-response patterns that characterize the black aesthetic. Ashe notes that the vernacular tradition is not racial but cultural, and class can be as important a marker as race in determining audience expectations. Differing cultural backgrounds create, in Ashe's words, "competing realities," distinct sets of expectations that can shape a …