The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop--and Why It Matters
Hip-hop is in crisis. For the past dozen years, the most commercially successful hip-hop has become increasingly saturated with caricatures of black gangstas, thugs, pimps, and ’hos. The controversy surrounding hip-hop is worth attending to and examining with a critical eye because, as scholar and cultural critic Tricia Rose argues, hip-hop has become a primary means by which we talk about race in the United States.\ In The Hip-Hop Wars, Rose explores the most crucial issues underlying the...
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A pioneering expert in the study of hip-hop explains why the music matters—and why the battles surrounding it are so very fierce.Craig Shufelt - Library JournalRenowned cultural critic Rose (Africana studies, Brown Univ.; Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America) ventures again into the world of hip-hop and produces another work that should challenge common feelings about the subject. In the first section of the book, "Hip Hop's Critics," she disputes several long-standing arguments made by the detractors of the genre. Rose then changes tack completely in the second section, "Hip Hop's Defenders," arguing against several of the platitudes often voiced by those standing up for it. This balance adds to the credibility of the book, but it's Rose's convincing arguments and challenges of assumptions that make this an important title. She attempts to bring both sides together in the final section, but it's easy to imagine her cries falling on deaf ears. In fact, the biggest problem with the book is that its challenging stance and lecturing tone aren't likely to attract the number of readers on both sides of the argument who would most benefit from Rose's analyses. This title definitely deserves readers; recommended for all music and culture collections.
Pt. 1 Top Ten Debates in Hip HopHip Hop's Critics1 Hip Hop Causes Violence 332 Hip Hop Reflects Black Dysfunctional Ghetto Culture 613 Hip Hop Hurts Black People 754 Hip Hop Is Destroying America's Values 955 Hip Hop Demeans Women 113Hip Hop's Defenders6 Just Keeping It Real 1337 Hip Hop Is Not Responsible for Sexism 1498 "There are Bitches and Hoes" 1679 We're Not Role Models 18710 Nobody Talks About the Positive in Hip Hop 201Pt. 2 Progressive Futures11 Mutual Denials in the Hip Hop Wars 21712 Progressive Voices, Energies, and Visions 24113 Six Guiding Principles for Progressive Creativity, Consumption, and Communityin Hip Hop and Beyond 261Appendix Radio Station Consolidation 274Notes 279Bibliography 289Index 293
\ Library JournalRenowned cultural critic Rose (Africana studies, Brown Univ.; Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America) ventures again into the world of hip-hop and produces another work that should challenge common feelings about the subject. In the first section of the book, "Hip Hop's Critics," she disputes several long-standing arguments made by the detractors of the genre. Rose then changes tack completely in the second section, "Hip Hop's Defenders," arguing against several of the platitudes often voiced by those standing up for it. This balance adds to the credibility of the book, but it's Rose's convincing arguments and challenges of assumptions that make this an important title. She attempts to bring both sides together in the final section, but it's easy to imagine her cries falling on deaf ears. In fact, the biggest problem with the book is that its challenging stance and lecturing tone aren't likely to attract the number of readers on both sides of the argument who would most benefit from Rose's analyses. This title definitely deserves readers; recommended for all music and culture collections.\ —Craig Shufelt\ \ \
