Jamaal Sayles

Leslie Drake
Research Techniques and Technology
12 October 2015

Evaluation of Sources

The article Hip-Hop Defines Today's Youth Culture Worldwide is about how Hip-Hop has
affected multiple nations around the world, along with our own nation. The commercial success began
in 2007 when Jay-Z reached the top of the charts. Hip-Hop is ultimately the most versatile of the music
groups to date. There are raps for every single group you could possibly think of: from religious rap, to
LGBT rap, to gangsta rap, to trap, to underground, to conscious rap. It also talks about who benefits
from the money that comes flowing in from the music, and how musicians of the genre affected have
made an impact on society. This was posted in 2013 by Dalton Higgins, who is a multimedia pop critic
whose work has been published in many magazines. He is an author of a few Hip-Hop related works
such as Hip-Hop World: A Groundwork Guide and coauthor of the book Hip Hop. It would be safe
to assume that he is a trustworthy source to gain information from for research related to this subject.

My second Academic article Hip-Hop Gives Youths a Needed Outlet for Self-Expression
expands upon the importance of Hip-Hop and how it has left an impact on the community and America.
It starts the article with a little history on how the music genre came to be. The article then talks about
how it helps one express themselves, and that it is an ever-growing art form. It says that Hip-Hop has
the ability to improve one's vocal capabilities. Overall, the article is proving to demonstrate that hiphop has positive effects on the youth, if used correctly. This article was published in 2013 by Carolee
Walker, a staff writer for Info USA, a public information website published by the US Department of

State. Seeing as how this person's information is rather vague and not very detailed, there are some
pieces of information that could be used in my research.

An online article that I came across titled Decoding Hip-Hops Cultural Impact, also has
research results about how Hip-Hop has impacted the youth of this generation. It also has input from
professors that talk about their findings in the genre, and how it affects the youth from their results.
For example, Dr. S. Craig Watkins, a professor of sociology, African American studies, and radio,
television, and film at the University of Texas-Austin, is among a group of social scientists who have taken
up the charge to examine exactly what impact hip-hop is having on its young audiences. For the most part,
Watkins says that hip-hop scholarship has focused on analyzing content and cultural interpretation. That
trend will change as scholars examine the effect the music and media images from hip-hop culture are
having on the social identity and values of young people. After

skimming through the article, it looks

like the professors in this article seem as though they know what they are talking about. This was
posted on April 22, 2004, so this article is quite outdated. Not to mention that their sources are not cited
at all. However it seems that they are doing their own research, so that would probably be okay that
they have none. But I feel it might still be of some use for the research I intend to undergo.

My second online article by Cole Mize, talks about the history of hip-hop. He goes into depth of
DJ Kool Herc, the Sugar Hill Gang, and many other pioneers in the industry. There are many facts
about his article that are pretty accurate when compared to other articles regarding the same subject.
Cole Mize, the man who wrote the article, is a hip-hop critic that talks about some of the most
prominent of musicians. It is safe to say that he knows what he is talking about, and seems well
educated on the subject. However, he doesn't list any of his sources, his information checks out with
other related articles. He posted this article about the history of Hip-Hop on September 23, 2014. A few
dozen people have reviewed his article, and found it to be incredibly helpful, so it should be safe to

assume that he knows what he is talking about. Though it would be beneficial to play it safe and not
have my research rely heavily on his sources, for his credibility might not be up to par with other
sources.

Lastly, the book I am Covering is called The Hip-Hop Generation Fights Back: Youth,
Activism and Post-Civil Rights Politics by Andreana Clay. She goes into depth of her experience with
Hip-Hop, and what it means to her in her life. She describes how the music genre has an important
impact in many different forms of communities. She covers how it is a form of expression among urban
youth that are faced with racial inequalities. Her book also covers how the youth are at their most
politically active due to Hip-Hop. This was published on July 12, 2012. Andreana Clay is an Associate
Professor of Sociology at San Francisco State University.

Works Cited:
Source Citation
Higgins, Dalton. "Hip-Hop Defines Today's Youth Culture Worldwide." Rap and Hip-Hop. Ed. Tamara Thompson.
Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "The Audacity of Hip Hop."Hip Hop World.
Vol. 7. Groundwood: Toronto, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
URL
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?
failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&displayquery=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGro
ups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE
%7CEJ3010870206&source=Bookmark&u=klnb_ottawauniv&jsid=0c952fe0524f918a234943618dd13b3

Source Citation
Walker, Carolee. "Hip-Hop Gives Youths a Needed Outlet for Self-Expression." Rap and Hip-Hop. Ed. Tamara
Thompson. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "Hip-Hop Music an Outlet for
Self-Expression." 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
URL
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?
failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-

query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGro
ups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE
%7CEJ3010870214&source=Bookmark&u=klnb_ottawauniv&jsid=386e5c9ab390d8803807806b759e31eb

Clay, Andreana. The Hip-hop Generation Fights Back: Youth, Activism, and Post-civil Rights Politics. New
York, NY: New York UP, 2012. Print.