cultural identity
Bakari Kitwana – Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop
Many people have a connection to hip-hop that goes beyond simple pop culture consumerism.
Some youth who identify with hip-hop identify with more than just music or entertainment. And, acceptance of hip-hop as mainstream popular culture has “radically altered the racial landscape” and in the way that young Americans are processing race.
Instead of stark racial divisions in popular culture, the popularity of hip hop has created a much more fluid situation.
“But hip-hop music, …. mass appeal”. (p. 75)
Economic and social frustrations that began to handicap Black American youth in the early 1980’s are increasingly becoming something that American youth across the board are beginning to confront.
Demographers tell us that youth currently moving through the school system will probably be the first postwar generation to face a lower standard of living than their parents'.
It is hip-hop’s message of resistance to the status quo that young Americans find welcoming. Page 76, his p. xiv.
Hip hop is the music of resistance to the excessive or unjust exercise of political power (i.e. Orange Revolution in the Ukraine in 2004, more recently the Egyptian revolution in Tahrir square: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uqIlpjLopY )
Nepalese hip hop: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/q-schedule-for-wednesday-march-4-2015-1.2981014/nep-hop-could-kathmandu-become-a-hip-hop-capital-1.2981016 The idea is that hip-hop is a voice for the poor and the marginalized -- Chuck D of PE famously said that rap is the black CNN.
Old ways of thinking about race in America (and possibly Canada too) are no longer relevant. The “new racial politics” – pp. xiv-xv (p. 76)
Kitwana argues that, in fact, the hip-hop movement has created a far-reaching constituency (some of whom he describes in his book) but that there is still a lot of work to do.
People who are into hip hop as more than pop culture but, rather, as a subculture of black youth culture,
Many people have a connection to hip-hop that goes beyond simple pop culture consumerism.
Some youth who identify with hip-hop identify with more than just music or entertainment. And, acceptance of hip-hop as mainstream popular culture has “radically altered the racial landscape” and in the way that young Americans are processing race.
Instead of stark racial divisions in popular culture, the popularity of hip hop has created a much more fluid situation.
“But hip-hop music, …. mass appeal”. (p. 75)
Economic and social frustrations that began to handicap Black American youth in the early 1980’s are increasingly becoming something that American youth across the board are beginning to confront.
Demographers tell us that youth currently moving through the school system will probably be the first postwar generation to face a lower standard of living than their parents'.
It is hip-hop’s message of resistance to the status quo that young Americans find welcoming. Page 76, his p. xiv.
Hip hop is the music of resistance to the excessive or unjust exercise of political power (i.e. Orange Revolution in the Ukraine in 2004, more recently the Egyptian revolution in Tahrir square: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uqIlpjLopY )
Nepalese hip hop: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/q-schedule-for-wednesday-march-4-2015-1.2981014/nep-hop-could-kathmandu-become-a-hip-hop-capital-1.2981016 The idea is that hip-hop is a voice for the poor and the marginalized -- Chuck D of PE famously said that rap is the black CNN.
Old ways of thinking about race in America (and possibly Canada too) are no longer relevant. The “new racial politics” – pp. xiv-xv (p. 76)
Kitwana argues that, in fact, the hip-hop movement has created a far-reaching constituency (some of whom he describes in his book) but that there is still a lot of work to do.
People who are into hip hop as more than pop culture but, rather, as a subculture of black youth culture,