Creating Purpose, Power, and Passion: Understanding the Rhetoric
of Hip Hop
Special Guest Editors: Andre E. Johnson and
Damariye L. Smith
For the Journal of Hip Hop Studies
“Creating Purpose, Power, and Passion” carries on this mission and examines the ways in which Hip Hop "speaks" to a diverse group of people. Fighting the traditional notions of rhetoric that privileges particular voices and written texts, this special issue, centers Hip Hop rhetoric. While some in academia and even the society at large still devalue and stereotype Hip Hop, the rhetoric of Hip Hop provides keen insights into the dispossessed peoples of this world. Along with the trend of scholars inside and outside of communication studies and rhetoric, we are using "rhetoric" here as an examination or understanding of discourse(s) that help us flesh out meanings from and within Hip Hop culture. We are looking for essays, creative pieces and other types of scholarly works (poems, syllabi, etc.) that interrogate both: the multiple ways in which speaks and the variety of meanings that these varied ways of “speaking” present. This analysis will present a more comprehensive understanding of marginalized lives and the ways in which they fight the power!
While scholars have examined Hip Hop's rhetorical features (Smitherman, 1997, Cummings & Roy, 2002; Pough, 2004; Campbell, 2005; McCann, 2017; Scuillo, 2018, Rudrow, 2020), this call intends to push the boundaries even further. We welcome submissions that de-center written text and focus on African diasporic modalities of communication. For instance, papers can not only highlight the rhetorical and discursive boundaries of Hip Hop but also, detail how graffiti artists “speak” through their art and how b-boys and b-girls communicate with their moves. Submissions can also examine Hip Hop and digital humanities, especially in light of the popularity of social media sites such as Tik Tok in addition to the longer standing ones: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It is our hope that this special issue will further the discussion of Hip Hop and rhetoric and not only how rhetoric helps shapes our understanding of Hip Hop but how Hip Hop also helps shape our understanding of rhetoric.
While this call is intentionally wide, we are highly interested in submissions that do not focus solely on rap music. Some suggested topics include:
The rhetoric of the origins of Hip Hop
Hip Hop and Gender
Graffiti and the rhetoric of street art
Law enforcement, surveillance, and the rhetoric of policing
Hip Hop and breakin
Black oratorical and rhetorical tradition and Hip Hop
The rhetoric of place and space in Hip Hop
Spoken word/Poetry slams
The rhetoric of Hip Hop studies and scholarship
Preaching and Hip Hop
Radicalism and Hip Hop
Afro-pessimism, Afrofuturism and Hip Hop
Rhetorical theory and criticism
Hip Hop pedagogy
Politics and Hip Hop
Rhetorical understandings of the theories of Hip Hop
Hip Hop and sports
Hip Hop and photography
Deadline for submission is August 15, 2020
Please send completed essays to Damariye L. Smith at dlsmth23@memphis.edu and Andre E. Johnson at ajohnsn6@memphis.edu.
Andre E. Johnson is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Media Studies in the Department of Communication & Film at the University of Memphis. He teaches classes in African American Public Address, Rhetoric, Race, and Religion, Media Studies, Interracial Communication, Rhetoric and Popular Culture, and Hip Hop Studies. He is the author of the forthcoming book, No Future in this Country: The Prophetic Pessimism of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner (University Press of Mississippi, 2020).
Damariye L. Smith is a 4th year doctoral student and graduate teaching assistant at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee studying Rhetoric and Media Studies. His research focuses on the intersections of Race, Rhetoric, and Education policy, specifically on issues revolving around African Americans in higher education contexts. He is currently working on his dissertation titled, "The Anatomy of the Commencement Speech: An Examination of Barack Obama's Rhetoric Delivered at HBCUs."
Campbell, K. E. (2005). Gettin'our groove on Rhetoric, language, and literacy for the hip hop generation. Wayne State University Press.
Cummings, M. S., & Roy, A. (2002). Manifestations of Afrocentricity in rap music. Howard Journal of Communication, 13(1), 59-76.
McCann, B. J. (2012). Contesting the mark of criminality: Race, place, and the prerogative of violence in NWA's Straight Outta Compton. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 29(5), 367-386.
McCann, B. J. (2017). The mark of criminality: Rhetoric, race, and gangsta rap in the war-on-crime era. University of Alabama Press.
Pough, G. (2004). Check it Before I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere. Northeastern University Press.
Rudrow, K. J. (2020). I was scared to death": storytelling, masculinity, & vulnerability in "Wet Dreamz. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 1-13.
Sciullo, N. J. (2014). Using hip-hop music and music videos to teach Aristotle's three proofs. Communication Teacher, 28(3), 165-169.
Smitherman, G. (1997). "The Chain Remain the Same" Communicative Practices in the Hip Hop Nation. Journal of Black Studies, 28(1), 3-25.
Damariye L. Smith is a 4th year doctoral student and graduate teaching assistant at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee studying Rhetoric and Media Studies. His research focuses on the intersections of Race, Rhetoric, and Education policy, specifically on issues revolving around African Americans in higher education contexts. He is currently working on his dissertation titled, "The Anatomy of the Commencement Speech: An Examination of Barack Obama's Rhetoric Delivered at HBCUs."
References
Campbell, K. E. (2005). Gettin'our groove on Rhetoric, language, and literacy for the hip hop generation. Wayne State University Press.
Cummings, M. S., & Roy, A. (2002). Manifestations of Afrocentricity in rap music. Howard Journal of Communication, 13(1), 59-76.
McCann, B. J. (2012). Contesting the mark of criminality: Race, place, and the prerogative of violence in NWA's Straight Outta Compton. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 29(5), 367-386.
McCann, B. J. (2017). The mark of criminality: Rhetoric, race, and gangsta rap in the war-on-crime era. University of Alabama Press.
Pough, G. (2004). Check it Before I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere. Northeastern University Press.
Rudrow, K. J. (2020). I was scared to death": storytelling, masculinity, & vulnerability in "Wet Dreamz. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 1-13.
Sciullo, N. J. (2014). Using hip-hop music and music videos to teach Aristotle's three proofs. Communication Teacher, 28(3), 165-169.
Smitherman, G. (1997). "The Chain Remain the Same" Communicative Practices in the Hip Hop Nation. Journal of Black Studies, 28(1), 3-25.