Hip Hop America
- Book Review,
by Nelson George
Amazon.com
Although it's been part of the cultural soundscape for over 25 years, hip-hop has been the focus of very few books. And when those books do pop up, they tend to be either overtly scholarly, as if the writer in question has just landed on some alien planet, or a bit too much like a fanzine. If there's anyone qualified to write a solid, informative, and entertaining tome on the culture, politics, and business of hip-hop, it's Nelson George. A veteran journalist, George is one of the smartest and most observant chroniclers of African American pop culture. Much as he broke down and illuminated R&B with his acclaimed book The Death of Rhythm and Blues, George now tackles hip-hop with the clarity of a reporter and the enthusiasm of a fan--which is fitting, because George is both. A Brooklyn native, he began writing about rap back in the late 1970s, when the beats and the lifestyle were not only foreign to most white folks, they were still underground in the black communities. Hip Hop America is filled with George's memories of the scene's nascent years, and it tells the story of rap both as an art form and a cultural and economic force--from the old Bronx nightclub the Fever to the age of Puffy. Highlighting both the major players and some of the forces behind the scenes, George gives rap a historical perspective without coming off as too intellectual. All of which makes Hip Hop America a worthwhile addition to any fan's collection. --Amy Linden
From Publishers Weekly
George (The Death of Rhythm and Blues) calls this wide-ranging history of hip-hop a "book of memory" and compares his relationship with the music to a love affair. A portrait not just of the music but of the whole culture coalescing around beats and rhymes, from graffiti to break dancing and basketball, George's narrative sometimes jumps from topic to topic like the fragmentary soundscapes of his subject. Nonetheless, he does follow a loose, anecdotal trajectory from the "post-soul" era of the early 1980s through the Old School to the New School, through gangsta rap to the latest innovators. Often, detours seem to be taken solely because George couldn't bear to drop material, and the writing can seem hasty. One may disagree with certain assessments (he says of trendy vocalist and hip-hop impresario Puff Daddy, "Never in the history of postwar black pop has a single man done so much so well"), but quibbling aside, the author's knowledge and passion run deep. George conveys a continuing excitement and personal investment rather than pretending critical distance, still rethinking his own past positions. Most refreshingly, while an advocate, he is blunt and perceptive in areas where traditional hip-hop advocates can be blindly protective. The book is at its best when George is more commentator than chronicler; one wishes more space had been devoted to exploration of many provocative issues raised in passing: Is democracy good for art? Why no great women rappers? One such thought George offers is that art can be suffocated when "loved too well by the people [it was] intended to make uncomfortable"; the best audience for these memories may turn out to be those outsiders rather than hip-hop purists.-- intended to make uncomfortable"; the best audience for these memories may turn out to be those outsiders rather than hip-hop purists. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
A long way from two turntables and a microphone, this latest sojourn into rap culture by novelist and music critic George (Seduced, LJ 3/15/96) is no less than a nonlinear documentary of an industry and its players, pawns, artists, and affected media. Using behind-the-scenes diatribe and backroom dish, George interprets a seemingly amorphous cultural-commercial conglomerate, shaping the last 20 years into a jagged R&B musical time line that begins in the Bronx, slides through the disco age, and ends halfway around the world. Such is the style of his delivery that one minute he is discussing "tags [graffiti art], mixing, MCing and breakdancing" as principle foundations within hip hop's roots while the next he is blaming crack as the progenitor of Uzi-riddled "Gangsta rap." Much like the art form itself, this work meanders as it informs. A welcome addition to most pop culture collections.?Ahmad Wright, "Library Journal"Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review, Laura Jamison
...an invaluable, entertaining and well-written account...
The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani
...[a] knowledgeable, opinionated and often fascinating book.... George writes with the ardor of a longtime hip-hop fan (and close associate of many of the people who played a formative role in its development) and the analytic detachment of a critic, and his book is animated by a passion for the music and frustration with its often insular point of view.
From Booklist
George considers "everything that has affected the evolution of hip hop," especially music videos, in a hard-hitting look at how mainstream America has been affected by hip-hop to an extent that defies the demographics of hip-hop's core audience. Mainstream (i.e., white) pop culture being affected by outsider and underground groups is nothing new, but the way hip-hop has been used and marketed--largely but not entirely by power brokers other than the usual tired old white men in suits at the multinational entertainment conglomerates--makes for bracing reading. George considers all phases of hip-hop and its remarkable 20 years in the spotlight and explains the whole phenomenon cogently for the noncognoscenti, thereby contributing greatly to pop cultural literacy. Regardless how one feels about Snoop Doggy Dogg and his scary coevals, the book and the issues it raises are vital to understanding contemporary culture, for by now hip-hop culture and rap music pervade all contemporary popular entertainment forms. Mike Tribby
From Kirkus Reviews
An informative, though often frustrating, survey of the history of one of today's most popular musical forms. Veteran journalist George (Blackface, 1994, etc.) expands this view of hip-hop far beyond artists and discs; he looks also at such related phenomena as graffiti, cinema, and commercial culture. The author eyes the business behind music, especially the shift from traditionally white management of record companies to increasing black leadership. An irony: the occasional anti-Semitism found in hip-hop music. Using the ouster of Public Enemy's Professor Griff for anti-Jewish statements as an example, George points out that despite Griff's views, Public Enemy had a large Jewish backing that stayed put behind the band in the face of fallout from the Jewish establishment. George's examination of racism in regard to both the Public Enemy case and also the outcry over Luther Campbell's obscenity trials in Florida is right on the money. Unfortunately, he relies too heavily on the first person in his writing - it - s invasive. One can't help but wonder if George's ego is also his Achilles heel. Equally troubling is his general acceptance of the Nation of Islam as a positive force; he even labels NAACP head Benjamin Chavis's defection to Farrakhan as ``progressive.'' Some of his omissions are curious, such as his failure to mention Keith Haring in his discussion of graffiti (even though Haring went on to illustrate an album cover for De La Soul) and his decision not to cite Arrested Development's near-masterpiece video for ``Tennessee.'' There's much history here that makes for good reading. Too bad George couldn't keep a better professional distance and include an even wider view of the subject at hand (8 pages photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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