"K for the Way"

DJ Rhetoric and Literacy for 21st Century Writing Studies

Todd Craig

• Publisher: Utah State University Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781646424832, 9781646424825
• eBook ISBN: 9781646424849
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Education Administration
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

"K for the Way" explores writing, rhetoric, and literacy from the perspective of the Hip Hop DJ. Todd Craig, a DJ himself, establishes and investigates the function of DJ rhetoric and literacy, illuminating the DJ as a fruitful example for (re)envisioning approaches to writing, research, and analysis in contemporary educational settings. Because it is widely recognized that the DJ was the catalyst for the creation of Hip Hop culture, this book begins a new conversation in which Hip Hop DJs introduce ideas about poetics and language formation through the modes, practices, and techniques they engage in on a daily basis.
 
Using material from a larger qualitative research study that illustrates the Hip Hop DJ as a twenty-first-century new media reader, writer, and literary critic, Craig blends interviews from prominent and influential DJs in the Hip Hop community with narrative and interdisciplinary scholarship from writing studies, Hip Hop studies, African American studies, urban education, and ethnomusicology. The voices of DJs sit front and center, presenting a revolutionary conversation about writing and communication in the twenty-first century.
 
Weaving Craig's life experiences with important discussions of racial literacies, "K for the Way" is a layered and utterly singular exploration of culture, identity, and literacy in America.
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Planted Seeds Grow Trees: The Impetus for the Urgency of “K for the Way”: DJ Rhetoric and Literacy for Twenty-First-Century Writing Studies
• 2. “Itchin’ for a Scratch”: Pushin’ Toward a DJ Rhetoric on the 1s and 2s
• 3. Jackin’ for Beats v2.0: The Intertextuality (Re)Mix
• 4. “A Whole Lotta Somethin’ from Nufin”: Racism, Revision, and Rotating Records: The Hip Hop DJ in Composition Praxis
• 5. “Sista Girl Rock”: Women of Color and Hip Hop Deejaying as Raced/Gendered Knowledge and Language
• 6. The Get Down Parts Keeps Gittin’ Down: The DJ in the Center of the Comp “Contact Zone”
• 7. “Learn Levels to This Whole Thang . . . Trying to Make a Slow Change”: Spinnin’ the Words for Comp3.0
• Bibliography
• Index