Transcript From Rap Music to Street Lit: Make Hip Hop Happen in Your

From Rap Music to
Street Lit: Make Hip
Hop Happen in Your
Library
Presented by
Sharon Rawlins
Youth Services Consultant, NJ State Library
[email protected]
Defining 21st C. Street Literature
Contemporary Street Literature can be defined as a
literary genre "where the stories, be they fiction or
non-fiction, are consistently set in urban, inner-city
enclaves. Street Literature of yesteryear and today,
by and large, depicts tales about the daily lives of
people living in lower income city neighborhoods.
This characteristic spans historical timelines, varying
cultural identifications, linguistic associations, and
various format designations."
The Readers' Advisory Guide to Street
Literature, by Vanessa Morris, 2011, p. 2.
Vanessa Irvin Morris
http://www.streetliterature.com/
Street Literature....Poundin' the Pavement to Bring You
the Word on Street Lit
Megan Honig
• http://www.meganhoni
g.com/libraries
• Presented
Supporting Teen
Street Lit Readers
webinar for
LibraryLinkNJ
Hip-Hop Defined:
Hip-hop is a form of popular music that's comprised mainly of emceeing
and deejaying. The other two components that complete the four elements
of hip-hop are graffiti and breakdancing. As hip-hop evolves into big
business, the four elements (emceeing, deejaying, graffiti, and
breakdancing) are constantly being merged with others like clothing trends,
slang, and general mindset.
Rap Vs. Hip-Hop:
Rap is a form of music that stemmed from hip-hop culture. Hip hop is a
lifestyle with its own lingo, dress code, etc. In the words of KRS-One, "hiphop is something you live, rap is something you do."
http://rap.about.com/bio/Henry-Adaso-18388.htm
Sister Souljah
The Coldest Winter Ever
Wahida Clark (Thug series, Thugs and the Women Who Love
Them, etc.) - Queen of Thug Love Fiction; spent time in prison;
literary agent
Nikki Turner (A Hustler's Wife)- Has own imprint "Nikki Turner
Presents" at Random House; first author signed to G-Unit Books
movement, book publishing venture created by 50 Cent
Mark Anthony (Diary of a Young Girl) - one of the first authors to
write self-published urban lit; manages QBoro Books, that manages
over 30 authors
Treasure E. Blue (Harlem Girl Lost; A Street Girl Named Desire) "Uncle of Urban Lit;" started off as an independent publisher
Kwame Teague (Dutch I & II) - author of best-selling titles
The Top 10 Authors of Street Lit are based on
market research by The Urban Book Source and
the preferences of its visitors and judged against
the following criteria:
The author must have made a substantial and
consistent contributions to the industry.
The author should have:
A broad range of recognition across the genre
A particularly strong following of readers
An outstanding novel that has proven itself as
an industry classic
Popular Street Lit
Authors/Adult & YA
If it didn't make you nervous, you wouldn't be open to
the possibilities
Urban Fiction/Street Lit/Hip Hop
Fiction Resources for Librarians
• http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Urban_Fiction/Street
_Lit/Hip_Hop_Fiction_Resources_for_Librarians
SOCIAL MEDIA
PhatFiction - Librarian Wikispace for Street Lit Wiki -- This wiki is an
outcome of the ALA 2010 panel on Street Literature. The wiki features
discussion, Q&A, and resources about street lit from librarians, librarian
educators, and YA authors.
What's Hot in Street Literature Slideshare -- Powerpoint lecture by
Chicago Librarian, K.C. Boyd, via slideshare.net
What Is Street Lit? Podcast -- Podcast chat via BlogTalkRadio (July
2010) featuring author K'wan Foye, street lit bloggers and street lit
readers.
REVIEW/DISCUSSION WEBSITES
Street Fiction: Urban Fiction Book Reviews
streetfiction.org
Raw Sistaz Blog and reviews
QBR: The Black Book Review QBR
Urban Book Reviews Urban Reviews
The Urban Book Source Voice of Urban Literature
Streetwise Urban Fiction Library Journal July 15 2006
Library Journal publishes a monthly column reviewing
recent Urban Fiction/Street Lit books called The Word
on Street Lit.
Street Lit Book
Awards
• Started in 2011 by Vanessa Morris, former
"The Word on Street Lit” columnist for LJ
• Recognizes the best urban fiction & nonfiction
The award serves as an annual guide to what is
the most popular and best street lit to assist
librarians and other educators in developing their
collections and conducting readers’ advisory in
this genre.
The 2012 winners include:
The 2012 winners include:
Adult Fiction
K’wan. Eviction Notice:
A Hood Rat Novel.
St. Martin's Griffin
The 2012 winners include:
The 2012 winners include:
Special Category
Emerging Classic
G. Neri. Yummy:
The Last Days of a
Southside
Shorty.
Lee & Low Bks.
Hip Hop/Street Lit Programming
•
Live music by Hip Hop/Rap Performers
•
Hip Hop/Rap Rave for Teens
•
Programs by professionals in hip hop music or publishing
business
•
Hip Hop Battle Rap - contest in performance and freestyle rapping
(like National one across US this summer)
http://nationalhiphopcompetition.com/national-hip-hopcompetition-tour-dates
•
Poetry Slams
•
Book Clubs
•
Hip Hop/Rap Creative Writing Program
Benjamin Zephaniah
Gangsta Rap
50 CENT
Hip Hop Name
Generators
• http://www.prosanityworld.com/games/hip
HopName.html
• http://www.ideazoo.com/things/hiphop.cfm
• Just answer a few questions and they
create a hip hop name for you, one that
sounds catchy as if it was a real name.
Some are very funny too.
Hip-Hop Word Count™
The Hip-Hop Word Count is a searchable ethnographic database built
from the lyrics of over 40,000 Hip-Hop songs from 1979 to present day.
The Hip-Hop Word Count describes the technical details of most of your
favorite hip-hop songs. This data can then be used to not only figure out
interesting stats about the songs themselves, but also describe the
culture behind the music.
How can analyzing lyrics teach us about our culture?
The Hip-Hop Word Count locks in a time and geographic location for
every metaphor, simile, cultural reference, phrase, rhyme style, meme
and socio-political idea used in the corpus of Hip-Hop.
The Hip-Hop Word Count then converts this data into explorable
visualisations which help us to comprehend this vast set of cultural data.
This data can be used to chart the migration of ideas and builds a
geography of language.
The readability scores are on a scale from 0 (illiterate)
to 20 (post-graduate degree). The following songs are
featured:
Rakim: Microphone Fiend
50 Cent: I Get Money
Lupe Fiasco: Superstar
Kanye West: Big Brother
Lil Wayne: I’m Me
Pharrell: Everybody Nose
Jay-Z: Dead Presidents 2
Tupac Shakur: Trapped
Barack Obama: A Serious Energy Policy
John Mc Cain: On Energy Security
Notorious B.I.G.: Warning
Da Brat: Funkdafied
http://www.missdomi
no.blogspot.com/
• K.C. Boyd's blog. She is a Library Media
Specialist at the Wendell Philips Academy
High School in Chicago, IL.
• Blog post The Perfect Pair: Hip Hop and
Street Literature
Harlem Book Fair
• http://www.nj.com/news/index
.ssf/2012/04/a_new_page_ha
rlem_book_fair_to.html
• Friday and Saturday, April 27
& 28, 2012, Paul Robeson
Center - Newark
• Saturday, April 28, features
special exhibits on hip hop
literature
CHUCK D
Photo credit to Walter Leaphart 2005
The End
Thank You!