Hip, the history Book

You might be pardoned for thinking that this is simply a catalog of past trends. But Leland is more interested in the history of Hip as an idea rather than a list of things to which that idea may have applied.

The word itself traces back to West Africa. In the Wolof language, there are the verbs hepi--”to see”--and hipi--”to open one’s eyes.” The modern meaning of the word arose from the interactions between, as Leland puts it, “former Europeans and former Africans.” Hip is subtly distinct from Cool, though the terms are frequently used interchangeably.

Leland doesn't neglect the History aspect of the title, covering the development of jazz, the Beats, cyberpunk, Walt Whitman, the 60's, punk rock, why Warner Brothers cartoons were better than Disney, and countless other topics, always circling back to his central idea of Hip being born when disparate cultures are thrust into close proximity, each adopting different pieces of each other and forming something new and different that catches on and begins to spread.

The book flows nicely. Despite Leland’s protests that writing a history of Hip is a very un-hip thing to do, I would rank this as one of the more with it books it's ever been my pleasure to read. But what do I know? I am, arguably, less hip than anyone. I just want to pursue whatever interests me and let others fret about whether it qualifies as hip or cool or whatever.

This book was more enjoyable than I expected. Recommended!