the end of an era.....or is it?

Yesterday we held our last class period where we would be discussing Hip-hop as a class altogether and it was probably the most intriguing class yet. Usually in class we only hear the opinions from the same group of people, but yesterday we got to hear the thoughts and beleifs of everyone and their ideaology of what hip-hop actually is. I thought it was very interesting that while some beleifs differed on what hip-hop is, we all seemed to hold similar ideaology's about hip-hop as a culture. Many of us, myself included, beleive that hip-hop is able to bring people together no matter where they come from, how old they are, what language they speak, or even their style of fashion.
I learned that many people of our class had no idea what hip-hop even was before they enrolled in the course, but now they are no longer have to say that they are uneducated on the culture of hip-hop. i also learned that you can't judge someone as not being hip-hop based on how they dress or what their skin color is. We all can see that from different people in class, such as Tony "trouble". I would have guessed at first glance that he would be in to bands such as Incubus or Foo Fighters, but i learned that he might know more about hip-hop than anyone in the class.
The poster idealogy of what hip-hop is was also a good expression of the classmates thoughts. I think that the poster ideas of the tree growing out of the ground with the roots representing the begining of hip-hop such as Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and Africa Bambaataa; and the branches representing the movements that hip-hop can cause such as a sense of freedom.
Overall, i have enjoyed this class very much. I learned much more about hip-hop than i ever thought i would from the beginnings in Harlem and the Bronx to the styles of conscious rap and the g-funk style. I reccommend this class for anyone who can take it while attending the University of Oklahoma.