Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America Book

In this bold bombshell of a book, Bakari Kitwana argues that hip hop has broken down more racial barriers than any other social development of the past three decades. Our national conversation about race is ludicrously out of date. Hip hop is the key to understanding how things are changing. In a provocative book that will appeal to hip hoppers both black and white and their parents, Bakari Kitwana deftly teases apart the culture of hip hop to illuminate how race is being lived by young Americans. This topic is ripe, but untried, and there is a plethora of questions that he is the first to articulate. * Does hip hop belong to black kids? * What in hip hop appeals to white youth? * Is hip hop different from rhythm, blues, jazz, and even rock 'n' roll for previous generations? * How have mass media and consumer culture made hip hop a unique phenomenon? * What does class have to do with it? * Can a culture belong to a race in the first place? How do young Americans think about race, and how has hip hop influenced their perspective? * Are young Americans achieving Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream through hip hop? Kitwana addresses uncomfortable truths about America's level of comfort with black people, challenging preconceived notions of race. With this brave tour de force, Bakari Kitwana takes his place alongside the greatest African American intellectuals of the past decades.Read More