Seminar, three hours. Exploration of poetics of hip-hop within tradition of comparative literature. Examination of rhythm, rhymes, flow, wordplay, traditions of signifying, beats, samples, production, and hermeneutics of music videos within historical framework. Historical and current hip-hop criticism and scholarship from comparative perspective, with goal of developing methods, approaches, and strategies for interpreting and writing about hip-hop. P/NP or letter grading.