Emmett G. Price III

Emmett G. Price III, PhD, is the founding dean of Africana Studies at Berklee College of Music. An internationally recognized expert on Black music and culture, Afro-diasporic sacred and secular expressions, and Christian worship, he has spent much of the past few decades writing, lecturing, and conducting cutting-edge research on bridging the generational divide. Price is the author of Hip Hop Culture (ABC-CLIO, 2006), executive editor of the Encyclopedia of African American Music (ABC-CLIO, 2011), and editor of The Black Church and Hip Hop Culture: Toward Bridging the Generational Divide (Scarecrow Press, 2012). He is the former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Popular Music Studies. Along with numerous commissioned writings and book-length chapters, his work can be found in American Music, Black Music Research Journal, Ethnomusicology, International Jazz Archives Journal, Journal of Popular Music Studies, Yale Journal of Music and Religion, and many other publications. Price regularly contributes to WGBH’s Boston Public Radio segment All Rev’d Up! and is the co-executive producer and co-host of the popular All Rev’d Up podcast. A trained musician, composer, and arranger, Price has performed around the globe with numerous sacred music ensembles, gospel choirs, and jazz bands. For Berklee Online he is the author and instructor of the course Black Creative Expression: An Introduction to Africana Studies.




An MC raises a fist while rapping into a microphone during an onstage performance at a hip hop concert.

How Hip Hop Culture Became a Global Force in Black Creative Expression

Take an in-depth look at the rise of Hip Hop Culture—from Bronx block parties to global stages—as a powerful expression of Afro-Diasporic identity, resilience, and artistry in this lesson excerpt from Black Creative Expression.