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“Black culture is hip-hop culture.”
That’s a controversial statement that opens either a can of worms or a contentious set of discourses — the latter being academicese for “can of worms.” If you’d like to read more about hip-hop history and the uneasiness some people — in my experience, mostly Black people — have with letting hip-hop stand as the primary representation of Black culture, read these …
For the UK’s Academy of Music and Sound, academic/journalist Isobel Trott untangles the complex history and sociology of hip-hop, from parties to protests to problematic violence and misogyny. But she sees more good — and more complexity — than most observers, and she points a finger for hip-hop’s muddled reputation at white audiences embracing its worst aspects: “Once hip-hop entered the mainstream it became increasingly commoditised and increasingly consumed by white audiences. The ‘gangsta image’ was seized on in pop culture, and in this became a popular and essentialist way to view this generation of Black youth.”
