AFRICAN-AMERICAN HUMOR
The contributions of African Americans to the overall humor of the United States—and to the world—has been very significant, especially if we consider the elements of playfulness and humor in hip-hop.
Within living memory, the “place” of AA humor has undergone more change than any other genre. Many features of African-American humor can be traced to West Africa. These features include extensive word play, an abundance of street language, punning, signifying, verbal put-downs, mocking of an enemy’s relatives, chanting of ridicule verses, using the whole body (including bent-knee3s) for dancing and communicating feelings, admiring trickster figures, and verbal quickness and wit.
Hip Hop grew out of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s. It rejects the status quo and emphasizes the individual. Besides music and rap, it includes break dancing, tagging, graph writing, and entrepreneurship. It is not restricted to African Americans, and is in fact, now global.
A major feature is the language play, especially in spelling and naming. Name some African-Americans who are famous for their verbal quickness and wit.
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