Works In Progress
When times are challenging, how can the arts help us find our way forward? Works In Progress is a podcast from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, a forward-looking interdisciplinary center for creativity and scholarship. The show's host, Sean Arenas, looks at current topics and trends through the lens of art, architecture and design, and explores the ideas and practices of UCLA’s faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Learn more at https://podcast.arts.ucla.edu.
Works In Progress
Adam Bradley: The power and poetry of hip-hop
Rap and hip-hop are the most popular musical genres in the United States. At the end of 2017, Nielsen Music, which tracks music listenership, noted that the combined genre of R&B and hip-hop had surpassed rock to become the most-consumed style of music in the country.
Hip-hop continues to grow and evolve, and Adam Bradley has been tracking its changes. He teaches English at UCLA and founded the Laboratory for Race and Popular Culture, known as RAP Lab.
In his books, which include “Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop” and “The Anthology of Rap,” he makes the case for rap’s literary merit.
On Monday, Nov. 15, he’ll take part in the UCLA Arts public discussion series "10 Questions" to consider the prompt, “How do we build?”
On this episode of "Works In Progress," Bradley talks about hip-hop's cultural significance, the value of working in collectives, and the need to make failure more acceptable.