The Evolution of Hip-Hop

An Interactive Art Installation by J. Connor Green

The Project

For Creative Code's final project, I will be creating an interactive timeline of the evolution of hip-hop music. To complete this project, I will select 6 to 8 songs starting from 1982, leading into the present day. Once I have the songs select, I will create a collage timeline of those artist that will be projected onto the wall. By using an Xbox Kinect, a person’s position will be tracked, triggering the animation and song of the time period they are standing in to play.

The Timeline

Week 3 (Sept. 12, Sept. 14)

Research the technology and coding of the Xbox Kinect

Work on artist collage in Photoshop

Week 4 (Sept. 19, Sept. 21)

Work on artist collage in Photoshop

Week 5 (Sept. 26, Sept. 28)

Finish artist collage in Photoshop

Start creating artist movies in After Effects

Start building code in Processing

Week 6 (Oct. 3, Oct. 5)

Import all assests in Processing code and make it work using the mouse

Week 7 (Oct. 10, Oct. 12)

Start using the Xbox Kinect and make it work using the motion detection

Week 8 (Oct. 17)

Finalize the code using the Xbox Kinect

Make sure everything is working properly

Sketch

Sketch of what the projected timeline will look like

The Look

Image of all the time periods graphics Image of triggered section with info

The Installation

Image of student interacting with the timeline

The Conclusion

I am very satisfied with the end result of this project. I was able to complete it exactly how I wanted it to work. I believe this project is a great interactive way to learn about the evolution of hip-hop music. The best way to learn about the evolution of the genre is to listen to it. This gives a quick rundown of all the styles hip-hop music has seen over the years. I wanted people to walk away with an understanding of how much the genre has changed and I believe this project did just that.