The Hip Hop Wars, a book by Tricia Rose

I’m excited to have gotten a copy of The Hip Hop Wars, subtitled What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop — and Why It Matters, by Tricia Rose, who is currently a Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University:

"Rose explores the most crucial issues underlying the polarized claims on each side of the debate: Does hip-hop cause violence, or merely reflect a violent ghetto culture? Is hip-hop sexist, or are its detractors simply anti-sex? Does the portrayal of black culture in hip-hop undermine black advancement?"

"The Hip-Hop Wars concludes with a call for the regalvanization of the progressive and creative heart of hip-hop. What Rose calls for is not a sanitized vision of the form, but one that more accurately reflects a much richer space of culture, politics, anger, and yes, sex, than the current ubiquitous images in sound and video currently provide."

Tricia Rose – Black Noise

Tricia Rose also wrote the early and influential critical study of "rap music and black culture in contemporary America" titled Black Noise.  It’s been a while since I checked that out but The Hip Hop Wars appears to be a more generally accessible volume, though I’d certainly recommend Black Noise for hardcore readers.

Rose was also recently interviewed in TIME where she discusses such topics as the metaphor of the "death of hip hop" and the "living force" of underground hip hop.

Here’s an NPR interview with Tricia Rose from last year where she discusses female MC’s.