Bob Dylan

The more I think about it, the more I agree with Rolling Stone's suggestion that "Subterranean Homesick Blues" was the first rap song. It set a high standard.

Interaction with international students

"My participation in an international student organization at Auburn has greatly benefitted my ability to think comparatively and critically about political institutions. Through my friendship with international students from a wide range of countries including Iran, Germany, China, Nepal, and Italy, I have become better acquainted with the political cultures of these countries. In itself, this is valuable as a supplement to what I have read in my comparative politics classes. More importantly, these interactions have eroded my subconscious assumption that political institutions in America function as they do because “that is just the way things are.” Understanding the deep cultural and historical embededness of political structures has conditioned me to be ever inquisitive about the interplay between political systems and their surrounding historical and cultural forces. The study of politics, I am finally beginning to learn, is not merely the study of politics."

-from my letter of intent to Brown University's graduate program in political science

Hip hop and identity

"Rap undercuts the placelessness, timelessness, and contextlessness of much popular music, especially the schizophrenic play of signifiers of music video, with a drive to contextualize, narrativize, and signify. The rap singer wants you to know who she or he is, where they are from, what time it is now, and what is happening. The images of the music videos show specific urban sites, often the ghettos of the underclass."
-Steven Best and Douglas Kellner, "Rap, Black Rage, and Racial Difference"