CLASSROOM STORIES: Say It Louder! A Progression in Hip Hop Aggression by Adam Fournier

Today, we present one of the episodes produced in this winter's course on the Politics and Poetics of Hip-Hop offered by historian and Professor Katherine Jewell. 

The assignment said: 

"This assignment is your chance to advance your own interpretation of the evolution or application of the knowledge and insight developed this term. In a one-hour radio show, for which you will produce a script and a playlist and record for dissemination on WXPL, build a thematic engagement with an aspect of the course. Your playlist can take any theme you would like, but it should make specific reference to readings and ideas encountered this term, cited in the transcript. Take your listener on a musical journey through an aspect of hip-hop informed by its past."

Adam Fournier (COMM '25) wanted to explore hip hop songs that spoke about the struggles and misfortunes of the Everyman, how we the people view the powers above us and how we could, and should, overcome the adversity that they put us in.  He also used this assignment to explore how the sound of hip hop evolved with these messages over time, how it starts to blend with different genres, progressing into heavier sounds to support the aggression and frustration of hip hop artists and the American people.

From classic hip hop tunes from the 80s and 90s paired with some of his favorites from the mid 2000s to as recent as the 2020s, Adam shows how the sound of more modern alternative hip hop shifts from its roots, but the messages still ring true for the modern era, modern audiences, and speak about modern issues.  

Play it loud! Say it Louder!

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Say It Louder! was written and produced entirely by Adam Fournier, a co- production with WXPL (91.3 FM).

Show Credits:

In the show, he features:

• Changes" by 2Pac
• "What It's Like" by Everlast
• "Renegades of Funk" by Afrika Bambaataa and The Soulsonic Force
• "Rise" by Flobots 
• "C.R.E.A.M." by Wu Tang Clan
• "American Dream" by Bryce Vine 
• "Bring the Noise" by Public Enemy and Anthrax
• "World War Blues" by Spose
• "Comfortably Numb" by Body Count

Episode Transcript here.
 
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Students come to Fitchburg State University for academic enrichment and the innovative pedagogy offered in its classrooms. Classroom Stories feature the work of students and learning communities and the exciting explorations in the content of the many disciplines available for study at the university.

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