Hip-Hop & American Culture

This guide is intended as a research tool to help you locate background information, books, articles, and internet/web links.

Background Information Sources

Search in most sources for common terms such as “hip hop,” “rap music,” “breakdancing,” “graffiti,” etc.
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture REF E169.1 .S764 2000
The African American Almanac REF E185 .A2595 2003
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History REF E185.E54 1996
Black Women in America REF E185.86 .B542 1993
Meaning in Motion: New Cultural Studies of Dance REF GV1588.6 .M43 1997
Encyclopedia of American Social History (pre-1993 artists) REF HN57 .E58 1993
Twentieth-Century Teen Culture By the Decades REF HQ799 .U65 R65 1999
Women and Music in America Since 1900 REF ML82 .W625 2002
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Volume 3 REF ML100 .G16 1998 v.3
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians REF ML100 .N48 2001
Violence and the Media REF P96.V5 N48 1996

Books

Search the library catalog for books on your subject using words or word combinations below, or visit the library’s 2nd floor and browse call numbers ML3531.

  • hip hop
  • urban culture
  • rap
  • African American or black
  • popular culture
  • music
  • Latino
  • graffiti

Newspaper, Magazine, and Academic Journal Articles

Internet Resources

Several internet resources have been selected below. Additional links are available from Web Resources page.

  • Hiphop Portal
    http://www.hiphoparchive.org
    Scholarly resource on hip hop culture, includes extensive bibliography.
  • Davey D’s Hip Hop Daily News
    http://www.daveyd.com
    Provides news articles, interviews, reviews, history, photos, music charts, radio shows, etc.
  • The Original Hip Hop Lyrics Archive
    http://www.ohhla.com/
    Broad collection of rap and hip hop lyrics.
  • Art Crimes
    http://www.graffiti.org
    Site dedicated to graffiti documentation, provides photos of national and international artwork.
  • @149st
    http://www.at149st.com/
    Another great graffiti site, including photos, history and crew profiles and dozens of useful links.
  • Hip Hop Summit Action Network
    http://www.hiphopsummitactionnetwork.org
    Non-profit organization that uses hip hop as a means for political and social action.
  • Female Hip Hop.Net
    http://www.femalehiphop.net
    Provides database of female artists including dancers and graffiti artists, also excellent bibliography.