Interview with Johan Kugelburg

Download the interview with private collector and author of Born in the Bronx Johan Kugelburg.

Born in the Bronx...Baby!

Cornell University Library recently acquired THE Hip Hop Archive of all time. The Library in collaboration with students, community, and other partners is in the process of developing a symposium/HIP HOP CONFERENCE that will celebrate the establishment of the Cornell University Hip Hop Collection.

Pictured on right is Tony Tone, Afrika Bambaataa, and the chief rocker Busy Bee at the Zulu Nation Anniversary, Bronx River Projects, 1981. Photograph by Joe Conzo.

[from CU Archivist Katherine Reagan] "The purpose of the symposium is to engage a diverse and cross-disciplinary audience of undergraduates, graduate students and faculty in a dialogue on the meaning and evolution of Hip Hop culture from the 1970's to the present day. Since its arrival last last summer, the Hip Hop collection has generated exceptional excitement and engagement from across multiple campus constiuencies."

Researching Hip Hop History, Culture and Politics

"Researching Hip Hop History, Culture, and Politics" was an information fluency workshop series at Cornell University Library in the fall 2004 through 2005. The workshop series was created to compliment several Cornell University Freshman Writing Seminars and to increase awareness about available Hip Hop resources in the Cornell University Library . Assistant Librarian Ira Revels led the workshop series within the former Department of Instruction, Teaching and Learning within the Library Division of Instruction, Research, and Information Services.

To present the need for the workshop series on campus, Revels conducted an informal web-based review of online course descriptions that integrated Hip Hop themes and content. After a careful review of more than 40 websites at Cornell University peer institutions, Revels determined that Cornell University was one of the only universities that offered a wide variety of courses that related to Hip Hop across numerous departments and disciplines.

Several Cornell University staff participated in the workshop series. The three-hour workshop sessions were held in a variety of residence halls across campus. Eldred Harris, J.D. grew up in the Bronx and shared his first-hand experience with living in the Bronx during the 70's on the cusp of what has become a global movement. Ben Ortiz participated in the workshops and contributed his vast knowledge about Hip Hop groups, graf, and factoids with the freshmen students. By the time the workshop series ended more than 250 students across campus had participated.

Currently, you can catch Ira, Ben, and Eldred spinning only the best in Old Skool Hip Hop music during their Internet radio show "Old Skool is in Session" live on Friday's from 3:00pm - 5:00pm at sloperadio.com. Old Skool is in Session is podcasted weekly and is also available in iTunes.

Why Study Hip Hop

During the past decade, hip Hop has emerged as a central theme in the study of urban youth culture. Blamed often for its derogatory and violent content, Hip Hop has become a cultural movement spreading beyond the borders of its Bronx, New York beginnings to a global movement. In some instances, Rap, Hip Hop's mantra, has enabled renowned scholars such as Cornel West and Michael Eric Dyson to speak to their audiences in new voices as they present their perspectives on race, music, and the social underclass. Most recently, its mass appeal has helped shape the critical and scholarly writings of academics such as Dyson, Tricia Rose, and Kevin Powell among numerous others.

About Information Fluency

Information fluency focuses on developing a deeper understanding of a topic and graduated, increasingly skilled use of technology and resources to support research in it.

Workshop Goal

The goal of the "Researching Hip Hop History, Culture and Politics" workshop was to explore resources on Hip Hop's ideological perspectives and the research practices that could enable students to become successful writers of papers. We also investigated the books, articles, visual and audio media that provided insight into the sociopolitical issues at the core of Hip Hop including but not limited to racism, the ghetto, sexism, intellectual property, and misogyny.

Workshop Description

Recent scholarly discourse on hip hop's history, culture, politics, graffiti art, and fashion provides a wealth of material for students to explore this cultural phenomenon. Therefore, this workshop series proposes to analyze those arguments while helping students to develop your own. In it we will examine scholarly writings and popular magazines, among other media about hip hop to determine the best sources for framing your arguments and written commentary.

The evolution of your research topics will also concern us as we consider the lyrics, music, graffiti art, and fashion but also other means in which to make associations between it, research, and writing at the university level. Though our primary emphasis will be on developing your own research process, much of our class time and most of the supplementary readings will focus on the subject matter. In addition, we will explore those topics supportive of your assignments in the Freshman Writing Seminars.

In addition to the readings, we will regularly listen to the music and view assorted film clips and music videos. For each workshop meeting, students will turn in an in-class exercise designed to help you develop your research skills. This workshop will be taught in a computer classroom and at select locations on campus, so students should be familiar with basic Web-browser and e-mail functions.

~Ira