Goals.

"You who control the dance floor control the people"
Wise words from the beginning of one of my favorites - California Love by 2Pac. Hip hop, rap, and r&b is my head constantly. I can tell the influence it has on how I think just by the products I'm aware of. Apple bottom jeans thanks to FLO rida and T-Pain. Blackberry two-way thanks to Jim Jones. Maseratis from Lil Wayne. Patron from, well, ten songs in the last year.

Hearing A Milli by Lil Wayne made me realize how much I want to study hip hop, rap, and r&b. The songs is ridiculous, to say the least. Four sets of triplets followed by four eighth notes laid over straight up four four. For four bars there's two sets of snare hits on 1, 3, 4, +6, 7, +8. The next four bars have claps on 3. Lil Wayne freestyling over this beat is ah-mazing. I might have broken down the song wrong, but bottom line: this is music. Good music.

I want to know as much as I can about these genres. Here's what I want to focus on the most:

- Music theory: What makes the songs musically unique? How do the pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres, and textures distinguish one song from others? What musical elements define hip hop, rap, and r&b? What musical elements are borrowed from other genres? What instruments are used?
- Lyrics: What do these songs say? Can we categorize the songs by their lyrics?
- Geographic Areas: Where do artists come from? What distinguishes artists from specific areas? Is there a noticeable difference between east coast, west coast, and the dirty south?
- History: How has hip hop, rap, and r&b evolved?
- People: Who creates hip hop, rap, and r&b? Who are the artists? Who are the producers? Who else is involved? Who has the original ideas? Who listens to these genres?

I think once I get a good handle on these issues, I can understand the following:
-Sociological Basics: How does this music affect and reflect the people who listen to it?
-Gender Relations: How does this music encourage men and women to treat each other? What stereotypes of men and women are presented?
-Intercultural Relations: What do these songs say about intercultural relationships? What do they say about racism? How does the music affect intercultural relationships? How does the music affect minority relations?
-Christianity, Hip Hop, Rap, and r&b: What role does Christianity play in the artists' backgrounds? In the listeners' backgrounds? In the songs themselves?

I'm sure I'll come up with more questions when I start understanding more, but that's the basics for now.