Hip Hop World (Groundwork Guides)

Product Description

In
Hip Hop World, Dalton Higgins comprehensively examines the hip hop scene as it exists throughout the world. The book reveals the form’s musical inspirations from Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, African American sex satirists, comedians, civil rights-fuelled funk musicians, spoken word luminaries, and dub and Nuyorican poetry. Author Higgins examines hip hop’s racial, multicultural, and multilingual listening audiences, the development of global rap slanguage and its influence on standard English lexicons, and hip hop herstory and cultural taboos around sexuality. He highlights the burgeoning Aboriginal hip hop scenes in Canada and Australia, and movements in colleges across North America and Europe that use hip hop lyrics and artistry to help engage students in learning. Critical of hip hopsters’ use of language, the cult of bling, violence, and money, this book takes readers beyond a superficial look and delves into all the issues surrounding this form. Higgins taps into his own powers of pop culture prognostication to predict the future of the genre and the youth culture that spawned it, as this irresistible musical and cultural form spreads literally to the furthest reaches of humanity.

From Booklist

Unique among youth titles for its international scope, sociological inquiry, and insider’s view, this survey of global hip-hop music, part of the Groundwork Guides series, will satisfy both hard-core fans and newcomers alike. Journalist Higgins reaches deeply into hip-hop’s roots, and teens (and adults) will be fascinated by the connections that he draws between today’s music and forms such as Extempo Calypso, a 1920s style popular in Trinidad and Tobago. Also fascinating is his survey of the contemporary hip-hop scene, far off the North American mainstream media’s radar, from Morocco to Cuba to South Africa. Higgins casts a frank, critical eye on hip-hop’s impact, including its notorious sexism and homophobia, as well as the influence of religion and social justice on the movement. The author is upfront about his biases and beliefs (“We can all thank Jah for blessing the world with YouTube”), but for many readers, that personal candor will only add to the book’s appeal. Time lines, interviews, and sidebars complete this must-have choice for older readers seeking hip-hop knowledge. Grades 9-12. –Gillian Engberg