James is a rising senior at Washington College who majors in Psychology with concentrations in clinical counseling and minors in sociology and justice, law and society. Growing up in Long Beach, CA, music was always in his life, with earliest memories of dancing and singing along to Michael Jackson. This musical trend continued throughout his lifetime from classical music playing the violin to being well immersed in the hip hop/rap community and music. Thus, when the opportunity to learn more about the history of such a revolutionary music genre came up, he jumped. From this summer experience, he hopes to aid in his understanding of not only music and also things from a historical as well as psychological perspective.