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71st out of 108 books
—
11 voters
The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop--and Why It Matters
by
Tricia Rose
Hip-hop is in crisis. For the past dozen years, the most commercially successful hip-hop has become increasingly saturated with caricatures of black gangstas, thugs, pimps, and ’hos. The controversy surrounding hip-hop is worth attending to and examining with a critical eye because, as scholar and cultural critic Tricia Rose argues, hip-hop has become a primary means by wh...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
December 2nd 2008
by Basic Civitas Books
(first published December 1st 2008)
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The most important thing i took away from this book is media literacy. I learned to perceive the difference between art and autobiography in rap. Rose also helps you identify the intent behind attacks on hip-hop, how to recognize critism made on behalf of black youth and criticism made solely to pathologize black youth.
I also watched the documentary Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes that Rose references. It's really good. The film reveals the way rappers try to emulate the dominant white masculi...more
I also watched the documentary Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes that Rose references. It's really good. The film reveals the way rappers try to emulate the dominant white masculi...more
This is a much needed book and Tricia Rose was absolutely the best person to write it. I think it very appropriate that one of the first academic books on hip hop was written by the same woman who now challenges hip hop’s negative influences in a very accessible and intelligent and fair way. Rose doesn’t blame. She represents the arguments as they stand and then challenges each side to do better for themselves and for their communities. She represents both sides of each debate by historicizing h...more
A cogent if not particularly original summary of the (fairly pathetic) state of public discussion of hip-hop by someone who's been active in the discussion since the publication of her much more academic book, Black Noise. Rose identifies and discusses ten of the assertions about hip hop which recur, sometimes as attacks, sometimes as defenses. She's particularly, and properly, concerned with the predominance of demeaning images of women, but is careful not to fall into the traps of blaming them...more
AMEN CORNER
Moya Bailey
Review of The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop and Why It Matters
By Tricia Rose
Basic Civitas
And let the Church say, “Amen!” It’s unusual to begin a book review with a black church call and- response staple, but Tricia Rose’s timely mediation in The Hip Hop Wars had me testifying as I read. Her critique of the state of hip hop and her challenge to the contrived conversations that have developed around it are long overdue.
A professor of Africana stu...more
Moya Bailey
Review of The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop and Why It Matters
By Tricia Rose
Basic Civitas
And let the Church say, “Amen!” It’s unusual to begin a book review with a black church call and- response staple, but Tricia Rose’s timely mediation in The Hip Hop Wars had me testifying as I read. Her critique of the state of hip hop and her challenge to the contrived conversations that have developed around it are long overdue.
A professor of Africana stu...more
Tricia Rose begins, The Hip Hop Wars with the sentence, “HIP HOP IS IN A TERRIBLE CRISIS”…
Rose gives a thirteen chapter analysis on “Hip Hop Critics” and “Hip Hop Defenders.” The opening argument explores the criticism that Hip Hop glorifies violence. Tricia uncovers the inferences born in the mid-1990s by N.W.A, who released a “dedication” to the LA Police Department titled, “*uck the Police.” In contrast a Hip Hop heavy hitter states:
“I honestly feel it’s a lot more important things [to worry...more
Rose gives a thirteen chapter analysis on “Hip Hop Critics” and “Hip Hop Defenders.” The opening argument explores the criticism that Hip Hop glorifies violence. Tricia uncovers the inferences born in the mid-1990s by N.W.A, who released a “dedication” to the LA Police Department titled, “*uck the Police.” In contrast a Hip Hop heavy hitter states:
“I honestly feel it’s a lot more important things [to worry...more
Tricia Rose does a great job identifying and explicating the various arguments pro-/anti-hip hop, exposing the unspoken tenets of all the arguments. Finally, bringing the whole exposition together for an examination of the commonalities that exist among each side of the fracas, and the latent realities subconsciously at work among these opinions of hip hop.
Rose's work is well-written, a bit academic for the hip hop audience, but really gets into its paces late in the text when the pro-/anti- arg...more
Rose's work is well-written, a bit academic for the hip hop audience, but really gets into its paces late in the text when the pro-/anti- arg...more
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Aug 29, 2012
Stephen Yates
added it
T. Rose hammers down on 'modern' hip hop, weigh political and conscious hip hop positively as a key answer for African Americans. Very good in its outline - a number of key debates occurring mostly outside hip hop circles, the kinds of things that occur on TV when non-hip hoppers talk about the genre. Emphaiszes the sexualization and inauthentic violence which now is a part of hip hop. Also demonizes the commercialization of the genre, which as an argument has some racial overtones. Probably her...more
When he was first ousted as President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide gave a talk at the University of Florida, which I was fortunate enough to hear. In response to a question about whether the best economic model were capitalist or communist, he told a story about a girl who had gone swimming in a lake. "Is the water warm or cool?" the girl's mother asked. "It's beautiful," she replied. (His implication that we need to find a third way mirrors King's.)
As with her first book, Tricia Rose produc...more
As with her first book, Tricia Rose produc...more
Very basic look at both sides of the issues surrounding hip-hop, those who respect it, and those who find its substance offensive. It was an easy read, but did not hold my interest till the end. I actually did not finish. Decent read if you want to revisit some of the basic issues surrounding hip-hop, and have extra time on your hands. Tricia Rose is a very excellent and opinionated speaker, which is what I expected from this book. I do feel she help back, and stuck with very obvious observation...more
Nov 05, 2012
Bianca
added it
We cannot attack a problem we don't understand, and I appreciate Rose's effort to provide us with a context - media literacy, self-knowledge, the legacy of hatred and misogyny in this country - so that we can understand why hip hop music has become what is has become and how we can make a choice to consume it or not.
Rose explores the five most often heard attacks and the five most common defenses of the music, unmasking the faulty and damaging logic within both and revealing the complexities at...more
Hip Hop Wars breaks down the attacker/defender dichotomy that has become commonplace in arguments about commercial rap. In process, Rose returns structural racism, corporation/business and profit motives, harmful black stereotypes, sexism and white consumers into an explanation of what hip hop has become. Hip Hop Wars is the most insightful and complex analysis of commercial hip hop and the much deeper issues of race, gender and class it addresses that I've read.
I recommend this book to any hip hop fan who have ever felt that unease and horror that spreads as your head bops to a hot beat of a song that's also spewing oodles of homophobia and misogyny. Tricia Rose looks into such tensions and presents the top arguments of hip hop critics and hip hop defenders. Her analysis is insightful and inspiring and allows us to move the conversation on hip hop beyond a polarizing conversation.
The format of this text is brilliant. Rose claims that hip-hop is in crisis, but also emphasizes that criticisms of hip-hop often rely on racist and sexist logic. Meanwhile, supporters of hip-hop often blindly defend its consistently anti-woman, violent content. So she spends the first half of the book analyzing the top arguments against hip-hop and the second half analyzing the arguments in defense of it in order to encourage listeners to remain critical of the media they consume without writin...more
AMAZING book! Tricia Rose deftly deconstructs why so much commercial hip hop--and both criticisms *and* defenses of it--are problematic due to racist and sexist assumptions and stereotypes. An enjoyable and well-written contribution to a debate that's still going strong, particularly in the age of entertainment corporations' monopoly.
The first book I read in '09, and I doubt I'll read anything better. Rose dissects arguments made against and in defense of hip hop in the last fifteen years, and shows us what both sides are doing wrong, and challenges us all to do better.
A must read for lovers of hip hop and of humanity. Even though it is a little heavy on the academic jargon, the overall clarity of the Rose's exceptional critique of the "hip hop wars" remains intact.
THIS BOOK GAVE ME LIFE AND TO READ IT YOU DONT HAVE TO BE INTO HIP HOP BUT YOU MOST CERTAINLY WILL AFTER YOU READ IT!! SWEAR I AM GOING TO READ IT AGAIN!!
this should be interesting - she explores both sides of the war: those who defend the ills of Hip-Hop and those who are sick of it....
WHY I'M READING THIS BOOK - I'm a big advocate for media and music literacy: learning the language of what we see and what we hear. If society doesn't learn how to filter what we take in - we should expect nothing better than garbage in, garbage out...point, blank. So I'm curious how this book speaks on media/music literacy.
Plus just want to see how the author exp...more
WHY I'M READING THIS BOOK - I'm a big advocate for media and music literacy: learning the language of what we see and what we hear. If society doesn't learn how to filter what we take in - we should expect nothing better than garbage in, garbage out...point, blank. So I'm curious how this book speaks on media/music literacy.
Plus just want to see how the author exp...more
To get this book from the UVM Libraries:
http://voyager.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebre...
http://voyager.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebre...
Jun 07, 2009
Beth
added it
Just finished a profile of this author for the Brown Alumni Magazine. A very smart, brave book.
A must-read for anyone who creates or loves hip-hop music and culture.
Feb 17, 2009
Hunterscanvas
added it
Anyone who is concerned with what this election means to America should read this book. This book is about oppression, media, class - all the things that Hip Hop is really about.
Oct 05, 2009
Tatiana
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Tatiana by:
bitch magazine
Shelves:
non-fiction
An incredibly well-structured look at both the main criticisms and defenses of hip hop by delving into the similarities and complications inherent in both. Blew my mind quite a few times, but also gave me the language to articulate my own internal conflicts about hip hop. Plus she gives a surprising amount of jumping-off-points for solutions and large amount of resources to look into.
This book is a great read for anyone wanting to take a look at the commerciatlization of hip hop and the effect it has had on the poor as well as people of different racial groups and especially the women of these groups. Very informative and the writer takes many different approaches looking at the situation from all angles.
I really want to like this book, and it seems like the kind that I would appreciate. But I never seem to be in the right frame of mind for it. Twice now, I have picked it up, read a few chapters, and put it away. I will give it another chance soon!
This is a great book! It's not an easy read, but fascinating and based on research! I loved it!
Dec 29, 2009
Jenna
added it
Who said the ladies couldn't make it, you must be blind
If you don't believe, well here, listen to this rhyme
Ladies first, there's no time to rehearse
I'm divine and my mind expands throughout the universe
A female rapper with the message to send the
Queen Latifah is a perfect specimen
If you don't believe, well here, listen to this rhyme
Ladies first, there's no time to rehearse
I'm divine and my mind expands throughout the universe
A female rapper with the message to send the
Queen Latifah is a perfect specimen
May 17, 2013
Div
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Warwie90
marked it as to-read
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She graduated from Yale University where she received a BA in Sociology and then received her Ph.D. from Brown University in the field of American Studies. She has taught at NYU, University of California at Santa Cruz and is now a Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University.
Professor Rose is most well-known for her ground-breaking book on the emergence of hip hop culture. Black Noise: Rap M...more
More about Tricia Rose...
Professor Rose is most well-known for her ground-breaking book on the emergence of hip hop culture. Black Noise: Rap M...more
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Jun 05, 2009 01:24pm