Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement

Avoiding the easy definitions and caricatures that tend to celebrate or condemn the "hip hop generation," Hip Hop Matters focuses on fierce and far-reaching battles being waged in politics, pop culture, and academe to assert control over the movement. At stake, Watkins argues, is the impact hip hop has on the lives of the young people who live and breathe the culture. He presents incisive analysis of the corporate takeover of hip hop and the rampant misogyny that undermines the movement's progressive claims. Ultimately, we see how hip hop struggles reverberate in the larger world: global media consolidation; racial and demographic flux; generational cleavages; the reinvention of the pop music industry; and the ongoing struggle to enrich the lives of ordinary youth.

Author: S. Craig Watkins
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 08/01/2006
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.52h x 5.98w x 0.65d
ISBN: 9780807009864

Review Citation(s):
Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2006 pg. 1 - Strongly Recommended

About the Author
S. Craig Watkins is associate professor of radio-TV-film, sociology, and African American Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. He lives in Austin, Texas.