Black Studies, Rap and the Academy. Black Literature and Culture Series

In This Explosive Book, Houston Baker Takes Stock Of The Current State Of Black Studies In The University And Outlines Its Responsibilities To The Newest Form Of Black Urban Expression--rap. A Frank, Polemical Essay, Black Studies, Rap, And The Academy Is An Uninhibited Defense Of Black Studies And An Extended Commentary On The Importance Of Rap. Written In The Midst Of The Political Correctness Wars And In The Aftermath Of The Los Angeles Riots, Baker's Meditation On The Academy And Black Urban Expression Has Generated Much Controversy And Comment From Both Ends Of The Political Spectrum. 1. Black Studies: A New Story -- 2. The Black Urban Bear: Rap And The Law -- 3. Expert Witnesses And The Case Of Rap -- 4. Hybridity, Rap, And Pedagogy For The 1990s: A Black Studies Sounding Of Form Houston A. Baker, Jr. Includes Index. The relationships among Black Studies as an intellectual discipline and rap music are explored. It is argued that black urban culture has provided much of the impetus for Black Studies, and that the academy and those involved in the black studies discipline should feel a responsibility to take rap music seriously as the expression of urban youth, black male youth in particular. Black Studies has gone beyond the ideas of traditional disciplines by laying claims to disciplinary status as an academic subject even as its energies removed the boundaries of subjectivity and disciplined academic knowledge. Mapping the force of black urban expressivity in its relationship to American law and order is a multivocal Black Studies enterprise that requires that rap music be taken seriously, both in its positive social manifestations and its negative. Rap has become an archive in which postmodernism is sampled for the future. It is the job of Black Studies to provide it an adequate hearing. (SLD) From its hip-hop origins to its major record label status, rap music has reflected the energies and tensions of the black urban scene. At the same time, the "political correctness" wars have spotlighted the critical presence of black studies and issues of multiculturalism in universities across the nation. Rap and black studies converge explosively in Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy, the latest book from a leading African American intellectual. Houston A. Baker, Jr. offers a vigorous commentary on the cultural importance of rap and a passionate argument for the responsibilities of intellectuals to this newest form of urban expression. (Back cover)

in This Explosive Book, Houston Baker Takes Stock Of The Current State Of Black Studies In The University And Outlines Its Responsibilities To The Newest Form Of Black Urban Expression—rap. A Frank, Polemical Essay, black Studies, Rap, And The Academy Is An Uninhibited Defense Of Black Studies And An Extended Commentary On The Importance Of Rap. Written In The Midst Of The Political Correctness Wars And In The Aftermath Of The Los Angeles Riots, Baker's Meditation On The Academy And Black Urban Expression Has Generated Much Controversy And Comment From Both Ends Of The Political Spectrum.

In this explosive book, Houston Baker takes stock of the current state of Black Studies in the university and outlines its responsibilities to the newest form of black urban expression—rap. A frank, polemical essay, Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy is an uninhibited defense of Black Studies and an extended commentary on the importance of rap. Written in the midst of the political correctness wars and in the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots, Baker's meditation on the academy and black urban expression has generated much controversy and comment from both ends of the political spectrum.