Descriptions, Reviews, etc.
Description:
Illustrates the ways that the "war on crime" became conjoined--aesthetically, politically, and rhetorically--with the emergence of gangsta rap as a lucrative and deeply controversial subgenre of hip-hop
Review Quotes: "This book significantly builds on contemporary understandings of gangsta rap and challenges mainstream assumptions about the value of this music. Thus [The Mark of Criminality] aims not to tell us what our next steps should be in enacting the change this music seems to argue for, but instead encourages us to go forth with an increased understanding of a previously misunderstood rhetorical form. In doing so, McCann makes an important contribution to the study of hip-hop music within the field of rhetoric and paves the way for future scholars to build upon this work."
--Rhetoric Review
"The rhetoric of gangsta rap that arose from hip-hop and rage at racism and harsh law and order policies is made meaningful by the author. McCann explicates this subgenre's rhetoric, history during the 1980s and 1990s, deviations from traditions, and complexities of situations and attainments: words, ideas, fame, wealth, violence, death. In pointing out the lessons gangsta rap holds for both public policy making and rhetoric itself, McCann carefully presents evidence from the rappers, the NWA group to Tupac Shakur, the albums
Straight Outta Compton and
All Eyes on Me, the events, and global and inner-city issues. The power of rap rhetoric as to what it conveys and the actions it influences is made starkly clear. McCann observes that these black male voices up against white male police tactics invite a closer look. In a climate of abiding racism, sexism, and inequitable and excessive incarceration, as well as the continuing fall-out from the mark of criminality rhetoric and gangsta rap, this text is timely. Recommended."
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CHOICE
