Blues, Hip Hop & Place: Black Life in the United States and Brazil

This course uses hip hop to understand how Black people create place across the Americas. Through Big K.R.I.T. (Mississippi) and Baco Exu do Blues (Salvador, Brazil), we will think deeply with blues and hip hop to investigateracial formation,racial capitalism, Black placemaking, and anti-Blackness. Why do both artists claim the blues tradition? What connects the U.S. South to Brazil's Northeast? Pairing close listening with academic texts, students will develop relational analysis skills and learn to hear music as social theory and epistemology. Students will understand how marginalized regions produce Black livingness. No musical training required; lyrics in English translation.