Reviews for Why white kids love hip-hop

The average rating for Why white kids love hip-hop based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-12-23 00:00:00 Pascual Anadon I had such high expectations for this book, and I walked away so, so disappointed. My primary complaint: Kitwana doesn't spend much time talking about why white kids love hip-hop. She establishes that white kids do, indeed, love hip-hop; she discusses the methods by which white society popularized hip-hop; she speculates about the future of politics because white kids love hip-hop. But her discussion regarding the reasons white kids seek out, listen to, and engage with hip-hop and hip-hop culture is superficial at best. So why do white kids love hip-hop? According to the author, it's because Gen X and Milennials are experiencing true multiculturalism and are seeking out hip-hop as a way to reject old racial politics. She claims that hip-hop's popularity and universality, especially during a time of economic crisis, are allowing white kids to take part in the black experience, reject antagonistic racial politics, and engage in cross-cultural understanding. In Kitwana's own words, "That American youth across race have embraced hip-hop culture… is a testament to American youth incorporating the founding fathers' 'all men are created equal' rhetoric into their worldview." In some cases, this is certainly true. However, I sincerely doubt that white kids are putting Chris Brown and Drake on their iPods as an act of political solidarity. The crux of my critique of this book can be summed up by a note I made at the bottom of page 5 of the introduction. I wrote: "makes white people seem so accepting and black people seem so fussy." This was in response to an anecdote the author included about a planning committee meeting for a "major hip-hop political event" in which a "young Black man" stormed out after hearing that "the event would be multicultural." I wish I was over-simplifying this part of the text, but I'm not. I literally had the image of a bunch of people at a round table breaking the news to this guy. "Brad, brace yourself. The event will be… multicultural." Cue storming out. End scene. Skip this read. The argument is plagued by over-simplification, assertions without evidence, and sometimes offensive characterizations of both black and white youth.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-01-09 00:00:00 Anthony Barajas This author has a simplistic writing style that is refreshing. Before I begin any book, I've made it a practice to research an author to get a context from which the writers perspective/storyline is coming. This is advice I took from a lecture by KRS-ONE. Coincidentally, KRS-ONE is one of Hip-Hops original defining artists, and an authority in the study and history of the genre. He lived it. He isn't experiencing or speaking from the outside, he is Hip-Hop. He's mentioned in this book. I'd listen to KRS-ONE lecture about Hip-Hop before I would a learned scholar or intellectual because many of them interpret Hip-Hop from the outside looking in, but he was a part of the movement. I feel that way about this AUTHOR as well. He is an authority in Hip-Hop culture because he was working in the Hip-Hop community and interacting with many of the artists as a young Afrikan-American MALE around the time when Hip-Hop was being created and transformed. Remember, Hip-Hop is not that old of a genre. This author was a journalist, activist, and historian, working in the New York Hip-Hop scene, documenting the history of this music, and traveling the world experiencing the evolution of Hip-Hop firsthand. This book is excellent if you want to gain perspective on the origins of Hip-Hop and how it appeals to people other than the Afrikan-Americans who created it. It informs about Hip-Hops political influences and continues the story of "Afrikan music" and how it comes into form. Hip-Hop is most definitely something to study and follow. I am Hip-Hop, a unifying force, even having been born after its conception, I follow it, I research it because it addresses important parts of American and world history. 5 stars because the book encourages the pursuit of knowledge.