About

Course Information

Hip Hop Music: History, Culture & Aesthetics is a course about hip hop music and culture (duh). It’s a class where we examine the history(ies) of the culture, art, and music of hip hop, while also looking at the social contexts that produced the music (and the society the music produced). Music, then, both reflects society and is reflected in society in a constant loop.

This course emphasizes the music itself, not simply rap lyrics. Therefore, we give as much time to DJs/turntablists and beat producers as we do to rappers, which makes this class different than other hip hop music classes.

While we will learn from listening, viewing, reading, and discussing, there will hopefully be days where guest artists come into class or are piped in virtually. Many of the technologies and techniques used to make hip hop music will also be demonstrated in class by the instructor.

Instructor Information

Me and the GOD MC, Rakim!!! Given his stature and importance to hip hop, the dude was SUPER humble and cool

My name is Dr. Andre´ Sirois aka DJ food stamp (or, the Real Dr. Dre™). I’m a career instructor in the Department of Cinema Studies where I teach a range of classes from production (music video production or sound recording/editing for film) to more analytical classes (Hip Hop Cinema, Music Television(s), and South Park & Society). I recently published Hip Hop DJs and the Evolution of Technology: Cultural Exchange, Innovation, and Democratization with Lang Publishing, which is available for free download as a Creative Commons licensed ebook or on retailers like Amazon.

The legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff with his copy of Hip Hop DJs and the Evolution of Technology.

I have been a hip hop fan since the early 1980s when the whole “breaksploitation” craze took over in the United States and I just wanted to spin on my head. The first two rap tapes I had were Run-D.M.C. and the Fat Boys’s eponymous albums, which I got a bit late in 1985.

I have been a radio, club, scratch, and mixtape DJ for 17+ years. I currently have a radio show on KWVA 88.1 FM on Mondays noon-1pm, called “Lunch Box Breaks,” which is an all vinyl mix of breaks, jazz, funk, soul, psyche, and rare groove (I’m not doing this fall 2016). My current residencies are every Friday at Level Up Arcade where I play all rap classic and funk and breaks, and then 1st, 3rd, and 5th Thursdays at Jameson’s for GOLDEN where 3 other old dude DJs and I play classic rap, funk, house, and dancehall records. I have won the Eugene Weekly’s “Best DJ” or “Best Club DJ” a few times (2010, 2012, 2014, 2015).

When DJ Jazzy Jeff came to Eugene, I caught up with him back in the green room and talked about iconic DJ mixers and he signed one of my Gemini MX-2200s, one of the most important mixers from the 80s and one Jeff helped make a standard. You can peep us chopping it up on Jeff’s YouTube show, Vinyl Destination.

I have done scratches for numerous artists, but probably the most known song would be “I’m Awesome” by Spose, which has almost sold platinum (for MP3s…ahahahaha). I have a catalog of more than 50 mixtapes that I produced for one of the largest global brands in hip hop retail: UGHH.com. I have been with that company in various capacities since 1999 when I started writing 12″ single reviews for them. I have collaborated with artists like Common, Kool Keith, Sean Price, MF DOOM, Kev Brown, Jeru the Damaja, Blacastan, etc. on mixtapes.

Recently I have gotten into the whole #portablist (portable scratching and modding) movement. Some kayak kuts I did this summer so you know what that is. I’m the co-founder of DJistory and the DJpedia Archive, which is a non-profit dedicated to the art, culture, histories and technologies of DJs. I have a large (maybe one of the largest) collection of DJ mixers from the early 1970s through the mid-2000s. And, I’m currently working on a coffee table book focusing on DJ mixers from 1970-2005 and the stories behind them from the DJs, engineers, and business people behind them. Check DJ Jazzy Jeff and I chopping it up on his YouTube show, Vinyl Destination, when he was in Eugene in March 2018 (we come in at the 4:00 mark).

Other related actives for me include organizing and promoting the bi-annual TOP SCORE Record Show (next one is Sunday November 10), and the summer park jam series with the City of Eugene called Sunday Jam.

Instruments Played: Technics 1200s turntables, Rane 56s, Akai MPC 2000XL, Akai MPC Live,  and dusty old records

Office Hours: Tuesday 11-1PM, and by appointment; 263 Knight Library

Email: asirois [at] uoregon [dot] edu