HIP HOP & POLITICS

Catalog description

From the political theory of Adolph Reed to the comedy of Bill Cosby we find a critique of the “hip hop generation” so dismissive it might be a useful point of departure for further historical and theoretical inquiry. In realizing the worst fears of a previous generation that has placed its hopes in the aspirations of 60s-era social movements, does this new generation's fashion sensibilities, technological savvy, and strategies for commodifying blackness suggest a demographic now more concerned with the economics of globalization than the political economy of race? To explore this question, we consider a diverse set of readings, and music, and film clips, to interrogate the generational tensions that structure popular and intellectual discourses concerning the “hip-hop generation” and the perceived demise of black politics. ?