Hip Hop exam 2 Questions and Answers Already Passed Latest Update 2025-2026
Turntablism - Answers "...the rearrangement of pre-recorded music and sound samples to
produce new musical soundscapes and complex performance routines by manipulating at least
two turntables with an audio mixer and a crossfader." (Clay)
Turntable - Answers set up with two records and controls in between; "a musical instrument as
long as you can see it as a musical instrument." A way to listen to records that DJs converted to
use as a musical instrument.
Fader - Answers Part of the mixing console that adjusts the intensity of a signal
Break (i.e. "break beat") - Answers gap between two songs. Part of the song where most sets of
instrumentation fall away to give emphasis to one instrument (usually percussion)
Break/ God Self - Answers Breaks inspire the God-Self in people through manipulating the beat,
it allows for a creative touch that the DJ can give to the audience.
An identity form constructed by the DJ when they're in the zone, complex subjectivity
(COMPLEX SUBJECTIVITY)
Scratching - Answers "is a turntable technique that involves playing the record back and forth
with your hand by scratching the needle against and then with the groove." (Rose, 53)
Backspin - Answers Manually moving a record backwards
Body Tricks - Answers The body movements that happen within the breaks. Serves to show skill
and personality during a set.
Jam session - Answers a form of cipher; a group of DJS in a circle riffing off of each other in
their different styles. Could also make collective sound combining their different styles
(dynamical self)
Battling - Answers A competition, often between DJs or rappers, judged often on originality and
skill. Could be one-on-one or larger like DMC. Competing for the title of 'master'.
Battling as a Ritual Practice - Answers Battling is a means of communicating through cuts, there
is a transfer of energy. The DJ's are seen as warriors going into battle against one another
A. Time / performance - Elements either change or continue over time.
B. Power Relationships - Power Dynamics (ex. Winner gets respect)
Battle Messages - Answers a cut-and-paste function. Cut from a sample and string words
together to give a message to the audience or their opponent.
Battling as "Creative Process" - Answers Each DJ is putting his own creative process into the
, breaks of the beat, allowing them to express themselves, their styles and their individuality
through creative play.
DJing (Battling) / Complex Subjectivity - Answers Rituals like battling are cultural practices that
engender complex subjectivity, helping their participants find their place in the world
Creative medium to construct subjectivity
DJing as Religious - Answers Transmitter of belief systems
- zoning/ collapse of time
- digging as spiritual practice
Communicative link with supernatural
- Mix Master Mike and DJ Qbert/ extraterrestrials
Creative medium to construct subjectivity
- identity based on technique, not social categories
- jam sessions: personal unique and collective belongings
Three Ps of hip hop production: Person - Answers The producer
- goal is to create a hip hop beat
- hip hop beat: a beat that consists of a number of real time collective performances (original
recordings) that are digitally sampled and arranged in a cyclic structure
Three Ps of hip hop production: Process - Answers - The producer's methodology
- individual experimentation with the intention of discovering worthwhile musical combinations
Chopping (flipping) - Answers the creation of battle messages. Chopping of a sample of an
original source and inserting it rearranged into the created beat
Looping (manipulative elements) - Answers taking a sample out and not doing much with it or
just reversing it without manipulating it
layering - Answers stacking audio on top of each other with the different tracks used like
percussion and bells
balancing - Answers evening out the different sounds that are being layered
looping (rhythmic structure) - Answers Taking linear hip hop beat but making it cyclical
locking - Answers the finished beat; the beat that's sent to the artist to layer their voice on top of
Turntablism - Answers "...the rearrangement of pre-recorded music and sound samples to
produce new musical soundscapes and complex performance routines by manipulating at least
two turntables with an audio mixer and a crossfader." (Clay)
Turntable - Answers set up with two records and controls in between; "a musical instrument as
long as you can see it as a musical instrument." A way to listen to records that DJs converted to
use as a musical instrument.
Fader - Answers Part of the mixing console that adjusts the intensity of a signal
Break (i.e. "break beat") - Answers gap between two songs. Part of the song where most sets of
instrumentation fall away to give emphasis to one instrument (usually percussion)
Break/ God Self - Answers Breaks inspire the God-Self in people through manipulating the beat,
it allows for a creative touch that the DJ can give to the audience.
An identity form constructed by the DJ when they're in the zone, complex subjectivity
(COMPLEX SUBJECTIVITY)
Scratching - Answers "is a turntable technique that involves playing the record back and forth
with your hand by scratching the needle against and then with the groove." (Rose, 53)
Backspin - Answers Manually moving a record backwards
Body Tricks - Answers The body movements that happen within the breaks. Serves to show skill
and personality during a set.
Jam session - Answers a form of cipher; a group of DJS in a circle riffing off of each other in
their different styles. Could also make collective sound combining their different styles
(dynamical self)
Battling - Answers A competition, often between DJs or rappers, judged often on originality and
skill. Could be one-on-one or larger like DMC. Competing for the title of 'master'.
Battling as a Ritual Practice - Answers Battling is a means of communicating through cuts, there
is a transfer of energy. The DJ's are seen as warriors going into battle against one another
A. Time / performance - Elements either change or continue over time.
B. Power Relationships - Power Dynamics (ex. Winner gets respect)
Battle Messages - Answers a cut-and-paste function. Cut from a sample and string words
together to give a message to the audience or their opponent.
Battling as "Creative Process" - Answers Each DJ is putting his own creative process into the
, breaks of the beat, allowing them to express themselves, their styles and their individuality
through creative play.
DJing (Battling) / Complex Subjectivity - Answers Rituals like battling are cultural practices that
engender complex subjectivity, helping their participants find their place in the world
Creative medium to construct subjectivity
DJing as Religious - Answers Transmitter of belief systems
- zoning/ collapse of time
- digging as spiritual practice
Communicative link with supernatural
- Mix Master Mike and DJ Qbert/ extraterrestrials
Creative medium to construct subjectivity
- identity based on technique, not social categories
- jam sessions: personal unique and collective belongings
Three Ps of hip hop production: Person - Answers The producer
- goal is to create a hip hop beat
- hip hop beat: a beat that consists of a number of real time collective performances (original
recordings) that are digitally sampled and arranged in a cyclic structure
Three Ps of hip hop production: Process - Answers - The producer's methodology
- individual experimentation with the intention of discovering worthwhile musical combinations
Chopping (flipping) - Answers the creation of battle messages. Chopping of a sample of an
original source and inserting it rearranged into the created beat
Looping (manipulative elements) - Answers taking a sample out and not doing much with it or
just reversing it without manipulating it
layering - Answers stacking audio on top of each other with the different tracks used like
percussion and bells
balancing - Answers evening out the different sounds that are being layered
looping (rhythmic structure) - Answers Taking linear hip hop beat but making it cyclical
locking - Answers the finished beat; the beat that's sent to the artist to layer their voice on top of
