Lauricella and Alexander on Lil Wayne's Prison Blog

Sharon Lauricella (Faculty of Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies - University of Ontario Institute of Technology) and Matthew Alexander (University of Ontario Institute of Technology) have published Voice from Rikers: Spirituality in Hip Hop Artist Lil' Wayne's Prison Blog (Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2012, pp. 15-28).  Here is the abstract:


While incarcerated on Rikers Island, Grammy award-winning rapper Lil’ Wayne posted letters to a blog to maintain contact with fans.  The blog entries and comments from fans express gratitude, positivity, encouragement, and a pervasive sense of spirituality and religiousness.  This paper considers the content of Lil’ Wayne’s letters from Rikers, together with posted comments to the blog, in the context of spiritual communication and participatory media.


-- Nick J. Sciullo

Fink on Hip-Hop and Islam

Steven Fink has published an interesting piece in the Journal of Religion and Society entitled, "For the Best of All Listeners: American Islamic Hip Hop as Reminder."  The article is here.  The abstract is below:


This article analyzes lyrics of American Islamic hip hop songs that address views of Muslims as threats to American society as well as negative views of Muslim women.  As an alternative to these views, hip hop artists remind Muslim listeners of the Qur’anic principle that they are the best of all peoples, so listeners will define themselves according to this principle and therefore persevere in Islamic faith.  Musicological analysis follows this lyrical analysis, revealing a shared temporal structure both lyrically and musically, which strengthens these songs’ lyrical reminder.


Photo Credits: UW-Eau Claire.

-- Nick J. Sciullo