For the Culture: Hip-Hop and the Fight for Social Justice (Music and Social Justice)

For the Culture: Hip-Hop and the Fight for Social Justice (Music and Social Justice)

Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey, Adolphus Belk
$100.00
Publication Date: March 23rd, 2022
Publisher:
University of Michigan Press
ISBN:
9780472132867
Pages:
346

Description

For the Culture: Hip-Hop and the Fight for Social Justice documents and analyzes the ways in which Hip-Hop music, artists, scholars, and activists have discussed, promoted, and supported social justice challenges worldwide. Drawing from diverse approaches and methods, the contributors in this volume demonstrate that rap music can positively influence political behavior and fight to change social injustices, and then zoom in on artists whose work has accomplished these ends.  The volume explores topics including education and pedagogy; the Black Lives Matter movement; the politics of crime, punishment, and mass incarceration; electoral politics; gender and sexuality; and the global struggle for social justice. Ultimately, the book argues that Hip-Hop is much more than a musical genre or cultural form: Hip-Hop is a resistance mechanism.

About the Author

Lakeyta M. Bonnette-Bailey is Associate Professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University.

Adolphus G. Belk, Jr. is Professor of Political Science and African American Studies at Winthrop University.

Praise for For the Culture: Hip-Hop and the Fight for Social Justice (Music and Social Justice)

"For the Culture has much to recommend. The volume offers multiple perspectives on rap’s connection to social justice, providing historical nuance and political context. The book’s greatest contribution, however, lies in its focus on contemporary social issues and present-day rap music culture. It is a welcome addition to the hip-hop studies canon and is a must-read for anyone interested in rap’s relationship to culture and politics in the twenty-first century." 
—Ethnic and Racial Studies
— Ethnic and Racial Studies

"For the Culture should appeal to anyone interested in social activism areas such as forms education, activism, electoral politics and mass movement leadership, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, or human rights and global justice. The book is eclectic and balances an array of voices. The scholarship is especially rich, thoughtful, and sound. The editors have assembled a great diversity of methods and scopes, all
united by their outstanding framework, chapter content, and documentation. This diversity mirrors the diversity in Hip Hop and in social justice activity."
—Popular Culture Review
— Lavar Pope, Loyola University Chicago

"For the Culture convincingly proclaims that hip-hop is not just a cultural form, but a way of seeing, knowing, and being in the world. Hip-hop was and continues to be part of the struggle for a more just world. Hip-hop was and continues to be beautiful."
--Journal of Popular Music Studies
— Journal of Popular Music Studies

"Bonnette-Bailey and Belk, together with the authors who contributed to For the Culture, have produced an important scholarly and activist work. They have demonstrated the multifaceted nature of hip-hop, foregrounding the political power that this genre has and its potential to help end anti-Black violence and racial oppression, and promote justice for all."
--Scholarly Connections Book Reviews
— Scholarly Connections Book Reviews

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