Hip-Hop's Fifth Element: Knowledge, Pedagogy, and Artist-Scholar Collaboration

这个项目的目的是批判性地研究嘻哈文化的第五个元素：知识。嘻哈文化成立于20世纪70年代的纽约市，由四个核心要素组成：DJ，主持人，涂鸦和舞蹈。虽然嘻哈文化包含了其核心之外的其他元素，但世界各地的许多嘻哈艺术家和粉丝都认为第五个元素是知识。它指的是从业者和粉丝了解超越自己背景的文化的历史，价值观和艺术性的重要性。Hip-hop的第五个元素源于Universal Zulu Nation，这是一个由嘻哈创始人Afrika Bambaataa领导的准宗教团体（Chang 2005），包括自我实现（“自我知识”），赋权的目标，并包括有关该流派及其主要从业者的历史信息（Gosa 2015）。由于其解放潜力，嘻哈越来越多地用于学校，大学以及各种青年和社区教育环境。因此，知识是嘻哈内在逻辑、全球流行和制度化的核心。 该项目旨在填补欧洲新兴嘻哈研究领域的研究空白。虽然第五元素是嘻哈文化中最重要的元素之一，但它在嘻哈研究中的地位有点边缘化。大多数嘻哈研究目前集中在说唱音乐，其中第五元素通常被概念化为四个核心元素的附加元素。本研究的目的是建立一个新的嘻哈音乐研究理论的第五元素。 作为对艺术和学术界的原创性干预，该项目促进了德国和英国艺术家、学者和教育工作者之间的合作、平等和参与方式。它将比较和对比微观政治，以及跨大西洋和欧洲的艺术和教育话语的第五元素。该项目将包括来自每个国家的艺术家，他们将共同创作一部委托创作的嘻哈作品，这将推动知识，艺术和学术界的界限。除了创造新的嘻哈作品和出版第五元素的理论外，研究人员还将提供开放获取的教学和学习工具，以传播嘻哈文化的价值观。

The aim of this first-of-its-kind project is to critically investigate hip-hop culture's fifth element: knowledge. Founded in the 1970s in New York City, hip-hop culture consists of four core elements: DJing, emceeing, graffiti, and dance. While hip-hop culture contains other elements beyond its core, many hip-hop artists and fans worldwide understand the fifth element to be knowledge. It refers to the fact that practitioners and fans understand the importance of the history, values, and artistry of the culture beyond their own background. With roots in the Universal Zulu Nation, a quasi-religious group led by hip-hop founder Afrika Bambaataa (Chang 2005), hip-hop's fifth element includes aims of self-realisation ('knowledge of self'), empowerment, and includes information about the history of the genre and its key practitioners (Gosa 2015). Because of its emancipatory potential, hip-hop is increasingly used in schools, at universities, and in a variety of youth and community education contexts. Knowledge is therefore central to hip-hop's inner logic, global popularity, and institutionalisation. This project wants to close a research gap in the emerging field of hip-hop studies in Europe. While the fifth element is one of the most important elements in hip-hop culture, it has a somewhat marginalised position in hip-hop studies. Most hip-hop studies research currently focuses on rap music where the fifth element is often conceptualised as an additional element to the set of four core elements. The objective of this research project is to create a new hip-hop studies theory of the fifth element. As an original intervention into art and academia, this project promotes a collaborative, egalitarian, and participatory approach between artists, scholars, and educators in Germany and the UK. It will compare and contrast the micro-politics as well as the transatlantic and European artistic and educational discourses of the fifth element. The project will include an artist in residence from each country who will co-create a commissioned hip-hop work that will push the boundaries of knowledge, art, and academia. In addition to creating new pieces of hip-hop and publishing a theory of the fifth element, the researchers will also provide open access teaching and learning tools for disseminating the values of hip-hop culture.