Pulse and rhythm are found in our heartbeats, our breaths, and our physical movements. Pitch and tone give our voices distinct expressive and communicative qualities that serve as articulations of our relationship to space and time. Sound constantly surrounds us, embeds us, and embraces us. Yet, in the academy, conversations on Hip Hop as a field of study tend to focus almost exclusively on lyrical analyses. We do not have to completely abandon this mode of engagement, but we seem to forget that Hip Hop is not simply about empirics or measurement. And so, this paper seeks to re-think, re-consider, and re-articulate how we theorize Hip Hop—its politics, its culture, and its ways of being—by attending to the vibrations in the air, nonlexical expressions, and the practices of looking and listening. Drawing from Black feminist studies as well as the methods of ethnography, autobiography, and social and oral history, I discuss the interiority of sound, the contexts of reception, and the sets of relations that exist between sonic phenomena. I argue that these creative approaches not only compel us to ask better questions about cultural moments but are foundational to understanding that Hip Hop is not just rap music; it is a practice, process, and lived experience.

Oftentimes, an athletic coach is tasked with establishing a player–coach relationship that is built on trust, commitment, accountability, hard work, and a belief in process. More recently, however, head coach of the Phoenix Suns, Monty Williams, has garnered considerable public attention for adding faith into that equation. Though faith is primarily considered a theological outlook and expression of spiritual value, it has extended beyond religiosity into his coaching praxis and pedagogy. In the paper, I look to add the voice of Monty Williams to the rich cohort of Black people assembled by Carey Latimore in Unshakable Faith: African American Stories of Redemption, Hope, and Community, a text principally concerned with illuminating the diversity in thought and expression of faith. Additionally, I draw on theories from Black Studies, post-colonial studies, and the sociology of sport to interrogate a particular discursive formulation advanced by Williams—“[…] the essence of my coaching is to serve”. I explore the nature of a faith-based coaching philosophy in the game of basketball and how the notion of coaching as service expresses a dynamic, complex set of religious histories, but also embodies a form of relationality centered on the following question: What does it mean to navigate sociopolitical life and death in community?