Black Noise, the first book by Brown University professor Tricia Rose, is perhaps the most important early study of hip hop culture. The work spawned a series of collected essays assessing hip hop in specific geographic locations, and remains the keynote text in the growing hip hop studies cannon. In her new book, The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop — And Why it Matters, Rose calls for a rejuvenation of the pioneering cultural feeling of hip hop. A move away from the ubiquitous image of corporately pushed rap music. Whether this effort will galvanize other scholars with the same force as Black Noise remains to be seen, what’s certain is that Rose has presented both sides of the argument with skill and intellectual vigor.
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via: selectism