Hip-Hop's Fifth Element: Knowledge, Pedagogy, And Artist-Scholar Collaboration

The aim of this first-of-its-kind project is to critically investigate hip-hop culture’s fifth element: knowledge. Founded in the 1970s in New York City, hip-hop culture consists of four core elements: DJing, emceeing, graffiti, and dance. While hip-hop culture contains other elements beyond its core, many hip-hop artists and fans worldwide understand the fifth element to be knowledge. It refers to the fact that practitioners and fans understand the importance of the history, values, and artistry of the culture beyond their own background. With roots in the Universal Zulu Nation, a quasi-religious group led by hip-hop founder Afrika Bambaataa (Chang 2005), hip-hop’s fifth element includes aims of self-realisation (‘knowledge of self’), empowerment, and includes information about the history of the genre and its key practitioners (Gosa 2015). Because of its emancipatory potential, hip-hop is increasingly used in schools, at universities, and in a variety of youth and community education contexts. Knowledge is therefore central to hip-hop’s inner logic, global popularity, and institutionalisation. (More on the Gateway to Research website)

Part of a German-UK research initiative, the grant was conceived and written by Prof. Williams and European Network of HipHop studies founder and scholar Dr. Sina Nitzsche. In the UK, the project consisted of a number of global projects, all intended to illuminate how knowledge manifests and flows both through and within hip-hop culture. More information on the German-based activities can be found via the University of Cologne Hip Hop Institute website.
Project Website: https://hiphopknowledge.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/home/

https://hiphopknowledge.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/home/