Description: From its beginnings in hip hop culture, the dense rhythms and aggressive lyrics of rap music have made it a provocative fixture on the American cultural landscape. Black culture expert Tricia Rose takes a comprehensive look at the lyrics, music, themes and styles of rap and grapples with the debates that surround it. 10 illustrations.
Review Quotes:
"Necessary reading for pundits, professors, and politicians, but most of all, for those who love hip-hop's rhymes and reasons."--Michael Dyson, Village Voice Rock 'n' Roll Quarterly
"Rose presents in Black Noise a fiercely intelligent analysis of the most misunderstood and misrepresented cultural and artistic practice in America today . . . It has something to teach all students of popular culture; for readers fascinated or confounded by rap, Rose's arguments are pursuasive and eloquent."--San Francisco Review of Books
"Black Noise is a treasure trove of information on the early days of hip-hop in the South Bronx. Rap fans will marvel at the illustrations of 1979-vintage handbills for Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa's Zulu Nation."--Rolling Stone
"Necessary reading for pundits, professors, and politicians, but most of all, for those who love hip-hop's rhymes and reasons."--Michael Dyson, Village Voice Rock 'n' Roll Quarterly
"Exactly the kind of down-and-dirty research linking life and art that most pop culture study lacks . . . Too few journalists (never mind professors) have examined such issues as the impact of insurance costs at arena on the progress of hip hop performance. Rose's greatest strength is something that's still shockingly rare among academics: a firm grounding in reality."--Vibe