Hip Hop, Hegel, and the Art of Emancipation : Let's Get Free

This book argues that Hip Hop’s early history in the South Bronx charts a course remarkably similar to the conceptual history of artistic creation presented in Hegel’s __Lectures on Aesthetics__. It contends that the resonances between Hegel’s account of the trajectory of art in general, and the historical shifts in the particular culture of Hip Hop, are both numerous and substantial enough to make us re-think not only the nature and import of Hegel’s philosophy of art, but the origin, essence and lesson of Hip Hop. As a result, the book articulates and defends a unique reading of Hegel’s __Aesthetics__, as well as providing a philosophical explanation of the Hip Hop community’s transition from total social abandonment to some limited form of social inclusion, via the specific mediation of an artistic culture grounded in novel forms of sensible expression. Thus, the fundamental thesis of this book is that Hegel and Hip Hop are mutually illuminating, and when considered in tandem each helps to clarify and reinforce the validity and power of the other. This book argues that Hip Hop's early history in the South Bronx charts a course remarkably similar to the conceptual history of artistic creation presented in Hegel's Lectures on Aesthetics. It contends that the resonances between Hegel's account of the trajectory of art in general, and the historical shifts in the particular culture of pre-recording Hip Hop, are both numerous and substantial enough to make us re-think not only the nature and import of Hegel's philosophy of art, but also the origin, essence, and lesson of Hip Hop. As a result, the book articulates and defends a unique and critical reading of Hegel's Aesthetics, in order to provide a philosophical explanation of the Hip Hop community's transition out of a unique form of social alienation through the specific mediation of a collectively created artistic culture. Thus, Jim Vernon suggests that Hegel and Hip Hop are mutually illuminating, and when considered in tandem, each helps to clarify the living power of the other--back cover Front Matter ....Pages i-vii Introduction (Jim Vernon)....Pages 1-27 The South Bronx, or the “State of Nature” (Jim Vernon)....Pages 29-44 Graffiti Writing, or the Symbolic Stage Art (Jim Vernon)....Pages 45-76 DJing and Breaking, or the Classical Stage of Art (Jim Vernon)....Pages 77-125 MCing, or the Romantic Stage of Art (Jim Vernon)....Pages 127-171 Knowledge, or From Art to Religion, Philosophy and Politics (Jim Vernon)....Pages 173-225 Conclusion (Jim Vernon)....Pages 227-244 Back Matter ....Pages 245-259