Tahir Hemphill
is my guy. No, for-real, I know this dude! He is a jack of all trades and master of many and his work has touched on every facet of aesthetics. You need some design work for a national ad campaign? Need an art installation? Need a website? Need a movie... a music video? Some cool ass custom designed kicks?
He got that. (and this is off the top of my head).
His latest endeavor is a searchable ethnographic database built from the lyrics of over 40,000 Hip-Hop songs from 1979 to present day. The database contains an online analysis tool that generates textual and quantified reports on searched phrases, syntax, memes and socio-political ideas in hip-hop culture.
Yeah... Let that marinate.
He recently launched a kick-starter campaign to support the project. This means you could literally help support this venture with word of mouth or with a little scratch.
Still wondering what a searchable ethnographic database is? Check it out.
His latest endeavor is a searchable ethnographic database built from the lyrics of over 40,000 Hip-Hop songs from 1979 to present day. The database contains an online analysis tool that generates textual and quantified reports on searched phrases, syntax, memes and socio-political ideas in hip-hop culture.
Yeah... Let that marinate.
He recently launched a kick-starter campaign to support the project. This means you could literally help support this venture with word of mouth or with a little scratch.
Still wondering what a searchable ethnographic database is? Check it out.
Kickstarter >> The Hip-Hop Word Count:
A Searchable Rap Almanac by Tahir Hemphill
The Hip-Hop Word Count (HHWC) is a searchable ethnographic database built from the lyrics of over 40,000 Hip-Hop songs from 1979 to present day. The database is the heart of an online analysis tool that generates textual and quantified reports on searched phrases, syntax, memes and socio-political ideas.
The idea to build the Hip-Hop Word Count came out of having hundreds of heated & passionate discussions about Rap music: Who was the best rapper of all time? Which rapper had the smartest songs? Which was the most popular champagne in Hip-Hop during 1999-2003? Which rapper uses the most clever metaphors? Which city's rap songs use the most monosyllabic words? Does living in higher altitudes create a natural proclivity for Gangster Rap?
Tired of having these answers left up to conjecture or whoever had the loudest voice, I decided to build a tool that would help give answers by charting the culture described within Hip-Hop music.
How can analyzing lyrics teach us about our culture?
The Hip-Hop Word Count locks in a time and geographic location for every metaphor, simile, cultural reference, phrase, rhyme style, meme and socio-political idea used in the corpus of Hip-Hop.
The Hip-Hop Word Count then converts this data into explorable visualisations which help us to comprehend this vast set of cultural data.
This data can be used to chart the migration of ideas and builds a geography of language and is the engine for a K-12 teaching curriculum.
Born in the Lower East Side, New York, Tahir grew up in a house filled with the artistic influences of his grandmother Clora Tee. Her drawings, which combined bible verses and encyclopedia entries, are spiritually resonant and scientifically verified. From a young age and with this as his backdrop, Tahir was groomed to be an engineer, and with that training he entered the arts. This pull between the profound and profane, between art and science informs his process and life.
Tahir holds a Regents Diploma from Brooklyn Technical High School in Electrical Engineering, a B.A. degree in Spanish Language from Morehouse College (Minor in Mathematics) and a M.S. degree in Communications Design from Pratt Institute where he authored and designed the book Visual Alchemy, a treatise on the work and processes of creatives who use traditional advertising techniques to promote subversive anti-consumerist or pro-social campaigns.
While at Eyebeam, Tahir will be working on the Hip-Hop Word Count, a searchable ethnographic database built from the lyrics of over 50,000 Hip-Hop songs from 1979 to present day. Tahir currently operates the Brooklyn based creative enterprise Staple Crops.
To learn more about his work visit:
To learn more about his art go to:
and
Or
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