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Minnesota cold-shoulder? Not for hip-hop

Written by Tyler Hakes. Published: Sunday, July 12, 2009.

What do Toki Wright, (Medium) Zach and Brandon (Allday) Bagaason (both of Big Quarters), Dessa Darling (Doomtree) and Sean McPherson (Heiruspecs) all have in common? If you’re thinking Twin Cities hip-hop artists, that is right, but not what I was after. They are all instructors of the hip-hop curriculum offered at the McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, MN.

This is the first of it’s kind: a nationally accredited curriculum dedicated to hip-hop music.

Our new Diploma program in Hip-Hop Studies is for prospective students who want to explore and develop in a cross-departmental curriculum that covers music, recording technology, language, music history, and music business.
-McNally’s Website

There is a lot to be said for something to come along with ambitions of formalizing education in a field that has been seen as something less-than an art form. The curriculum is well rounded, and offers students with the opportunity to learn about the roots of the genre, as well as explore each facet of the music. Twin Cities’ hip-hop heads will be plenty familiar with the faculty, but also familiar with the availability of these sorts of chances for aspiring musicians. Not only is there now an accredited diploma-program dedicated to the craft, but events throughout the area have made is easier for residents to become associated with the fundamentals and perform their music. Last of the Record Buyers, a hip-hop-producer showcase that occurs on the third Thursday of each month and is also hosted by Brandon Allday of Big Quarters extends the opportunities for beat-makers to show their stuff in a public display, and learn about tips and tricks from local talents; Just another example of how the Twin Cities have found ways to harbor their own hip-hop culture and foster growing talent for future generations.

You’ll get hands-on technical training on recording and mixing music in a studio. You’ll take part in a three-course history sequence that grounds hip-hop in its cultural origins. You’ll learn the fundamentals of language through creative writing and performance. You will take part in a hands on introduction to deejay techniques and hip-hop music production.
-McNally’s Site

A step forward for the movement of hip-hop music, and a step in the right direction at that. This sort of program is something that will further legitimize hip-hop music as a mainstay in the American culture; Hip-hop is an art form worthy of equivalent respect to any other. People unfamiliar with a lot of good hip-hop will often slander its ability to create an effective message or emit anything of substance, and as a genre it is often characterized by the popular forms that tend to exhibit lack-luster creativity and cliche lyrical content. This sort of program can only combat the accusations that all hip-hop artists fall into this disparity. I am thankful that something of this caliber, and with national recognition, has come into being, and adequately in an area that seems committed to nothing more than advancing the art of hip-hop and its culture: Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN.

Category: Culture, Features