Blog #7

First, briefly summarize the overall argument(s) of the deBourgoing piece.

That hip hop is an oral tradition that needs to embrace female rappers to even out the playing field. The article provides tips on how to become a hip hop artist. It suggests branding yourself at open mic nights, be authentic and marketable, keep the unity within the business with your peers, and collaborate with other artists.

Second, briefly describe any connections you see between her argument(s) and the things we discussed in the first half of the course.

Weinberger said 'hoarding knowledge diminishes power'. Collaboration is a trait that the hip hop groups are embracing so they can promote themselves and each other to benefit the business and get their name out there. When they say “We were scholars before colleges” i think of the oral tradition as being passed down in a historical sense, this ties into convergence culture, because now people are writing down the lyrics and recording these songs, therefore they are changing and adapting to new forms of media. This way when they embrace social media and online presence to promote themselves.

Third, the Miller book is a bit tough to read, but do your best to summarize his key argument(s).

It seems, after all the fancy words that miller is trying to state that present considerations for art are influenced by the past and everything we base what we know of now, is essentially collective intelligence. Essentially he relates this to DJ'ing and sampling because basing a new form of intelligence, or a new song, off of what has previously been done is considered ok when it comes in everything else academic, such as quoting, like he does a ton with goethe. However when you apply it to music it somehow becomes not ok.

Lastly, make any connections you can between deBourgoing, Miller, and any of the topics we've discussed in class so far.

Miller talks about the “battle to control and distribute culture” This is like the political nature of information and how those who control this information, control the politics of what is produced and distributed. This control can be harnessed through the use of tags and key words.