MUS 221 - Studies of Composers and Styles: South Asian Hip Hop

In this course, we examine the complex relationship between South Asians, or desis, and the musical genre of hip-hop. We cover the history of desi popular musics in such diasporic nodes as the UK, the US, and Canada and the interplay between existing forms of desi expression and the rise of hip-hop in the late 1980s and beyond. After discussing such genres as bhangra, bhangramuffin, Asian Underground, and Bollywood remixes, we move to the more recent successes of hip-hop in India and in Bollywood. We close the class by focusing on issues of cultural exchange and appropriation by looking at the ways in which American hip-hop has drawn from Indian popular culture.

Courses concentrating upon specific varying topics in music history.

Satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts requirement. 

Prerequisites & Notes
Repeatable for credit.

Certain topics count for the Gender and Sexuality Studies major.