African Perspectives in American Higher Education: Invisible Voices Book

The second half of the book was much better than the first, with interesting analysis of mainstream and underground hip-hop songs. I did enjoy the writing that focused on the ideological framework of hip-hop music and culture and its connection to race, class and gender. My issue with this book is that some of the lyrics were misquoted! If you are a hip-hop head, you will see what I'm talking about. Lastly, it really annoyed me that Perry spends 35 pages explaining why hip-hop is a "black American" musical form, and literally disconnects it from Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. Seriously?! I thought that was a very "divide and conquer" mentality and antithetical to the true origins of hip-hop which is certainly tied to West Africa. Elements of Caribbean music and culture can also be found interspersed throughout hip-hop music. Yes, hip-hop was born in the US, but that does not take away from the contributions of those who are not "black Americans."