| Abstract |
This book gives a first-person tour through the history of hip hop--from its roots in the late 70s to its emergence as the cultural force that today influences everything from movies to fashion, advertising to sports. It's the story of a society-altering collision between black youth culture and mass media, a story that touches on the themes of drugs, fashion, incarceration, basketball, entrepreneurship, technology, and language. The author--himself a longtime music and cultural critic and a frequent player in hip hop's development--examines hip hop as a music, a style, a business, a myth, and a moral force, and probes the way it has been embraced by corporate America in its bid to reach not just young black consumers but all young people. From Grandmaster Flash and Public Enemy to Puff Daddy and beyond, this book shows us why the culture has held a steady grip on America, against all odds, for over twenty years. |
