...The Research Never Ends...

I am currently sitting in my American Studies class, staring at the first draft of an outline which I hope will turn into a decent junior theme. I know that the previous sentence sounded angry, and while this paper is stressful, it is actually incredibly interesting.

While researching my question of "why has rap entered the mainstream", I have realized that I must research much more than just the sales of rap. I must research why some people welcomed rap with open arms, and why some didn't. My paper is essentially split into two parts: why rap became popular in big cities, and why it became popular outside of the cities in suburbia. Through this, I have had to do a lot of research on how the cities were at the time, how safe they were, and what went on there. For the second part, I have to look at why people are attracted to a sense of danger, when they know that they can get away from it at any time. Clearly not what I expected.

So while I have to do more work than I initially thought, I must admit that I enjoy it. I have learned that the destruction of the Bronx and Harlem was due a man named Robert Moses, who wanted to make a more connected New York. Because he would bulldoze through houses to build his superhighways, people began to move out, and the streets became deserted and dangerous.

Yeah, that's not a lot, but that's what I've learned thus far since realizing I had to do all of this extra work. I'm reading two books ("Can't Stop Won't Stop" by Jeff Chang, and "The Big Payback" by Dan Charnas) as well as reading many scholarly articles and historical newspapers. Either way the story of how hip-hop became a major part of our culture is incredibly interesting, and I will be providing you with an update next week (hopefully I will have made more progress by then...)!