Nation Conscious Rap: The Hip Hop Vision (Afro-Americanization of Knowledge Series, 3)

Rating:
Summary: NATION CONSCIOUS RAP is a POWERFUL hip hop book!
Review: NATION CONSCIOUS RAP captures the nation-conscious spirit of many legendary hip hop artists, such as Chuck D, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, Doug E Fresh, Q-Tip, and many more. Exclusive interviews and photos of these artists provide the reader with the true story of hip hop - directly from the artists themselves.

This is primary source material that looks into the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of this generation of young, talented Black artists. The rappers speak about their life histories and social issues that effect us all. Furthermore, there is much to be learned from their shared experiences in the music industry and their discussions of hip hop as a powerful means for Black youth to express their views and be critical of today's society.

Nation Conscious Rap is a very unique book. It not only has the creators of the Hip Hop Cultural Revolution telling their own stories in their own nation language, it also combines oral narratives and written documents to provide a distinctly modern Afro-American narrativity of power and vision. Here is Hip Hop History in the Nation language of young Blacks whose compelling metaphors and similes of reality and surreality are deep.

This book is recommended to hip hop fans, parents wishing to learn about hip hop, and academics interested in English, AfroAmerican Studies, Urban Studies, Sociology, Sociolinguistics, etc.

In a word - GROUNDBREAKING!

Rating:
Summary: Worth reading, but not as informative as it could be
Review: The biggest drawback to _Nation Conscious Rap_ is that it relies overly on interviews with rappers to make its points. While some of the interviewees may have wonderful poetical flow, they don't have any deep opinions on the subject, and really don't have much to say (which becomes painfully obvious by the book's halfway point). However, given the book's relatively pioneering status in terms of books trying to place hip hop in a greater context, it has to be given a great deal of credit for trying to analyze an unfinished form. The book is more source material for later analyses than an analysis in and of itself, and, frankly, works better when read with that in mind. There are gems to be had here, and they're worth the digging