The International Council for Hip Hop Studies
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Updates from the CIPHER
‘Hip Hop and the Internet’ special issue of Global Hip Hop Studies
We're delighted to support a call for papers for a special issue of Global Hip Hop Studies on hip hop and the internet, co-edited by CIPHER team member Steve (and Raquel Campos). The blurb for the call is as follows: Special Issue: ‘It’s Where You’re @: Hip Hop...
We’re hiring!
We're looking for talented computer scientists! Here's the formal job ad: University College Cork invites applications for two Research Support Officers in the areas of Data Science, Web Engineering, and User Experience Design to co-lead the computational side...
How do rap lyrics address the internet? (Digital Flows)
Hip-hop artists get a bad rap for writing about the same old things. Often, criticism is levelled at lyrics associated with materialism, consumerism, misogyny, drugs, and violence. Although these themes – and the racial, gendered, and class-based judgements involved...
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gems of hip hop knowledge!
Gems from the CIPHER
Alienness (MZK) – The Bronxstyle
Bboy Alienness refocused a generation through this seminal dance text of the 2000s. Inspiring a new old school, Alienness pushed the emphasis from power moves back to movement with feeling and groove: "I can teach a chihuahua to stand on one hand but I can't teach...
Little Simz – ‘Boss’
In 'Boss', Simz describes her rise to the top and asserts herself as a formidable artist in a predominantly male sphere. Inverting the masculinist language of the song title, she issues a warning shot: "I'm a boss in a fucking dress"...
Spekulativ Fiktion – ‘Google’
Spek details the Local Geological Record that tracks the first animal to walk on land (and it's in Ireland, where CIPHER is based!). Dropping some intensely local knowledge, he highlights the importance of heritage: "its feckin’ timeless, like the Tetrapod Footprints...