A few months ago, I picked up the book "Hip-Hop & Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason". Published in 2005, the book explores the ideas in hip-hop culture and music and compares them to ideas and concepts in classical and modern philosophy. It attempts to bring academia to pop culture as it discusses the social and impact and messages in hip-hop culture and music.
Overall, I thought the book was pretty good. Especially when it covered what is now "conscious hip-hop" - songs with social lyrics. Also interesting were chapters on the use of the words "nigga" and "bitch" and their impact on listeners. Also covered is an exploration in the messages of inner city struggle and how hip-hop is a vessel for communication, a motivating message, and vent for frustration.
Hip-hop has always been a culture with two sides: a playful, party minded side, where MC and DJ entertain and try to captivate the crowd with wicked wordplay and a blend of beats that keeps folks dancing, and a serious side, where urban story tellers broadcast stories of the streets. What these two sides celebrate or denounce is widely covered in Hip-Hop & Philosophy. For example, the book attempts to answer why lawlessness is often celebrated in hip-hop crime songs. Are these stories fantasy or a reflection of a broken social contract between the artist's environment and his/her society?
The cited works in Hip-Hop & Philosophy is a who's who of lyrical talents. The works of Public Enemy, Nas, Common, Ice Cube, and Dead Prez are often quoted as examples of hip-hop taking a social stand. Meanwhile, quotes by 50 Cent, Nelly, and several others show hip-hop's non-socially conscious and often not socially acceptable side.
My biggest critique with Hip-Hop & Philosophy is in the opening essays. Too often the authors in the beginning of the book try to hard to inject hip-hop slang into the text. For example, Derrick Darby in an attempt to question the power of God, writes how God would be challenged to roll a blunt too big for Him to smoke or how God couldn't create a glock too big for Him to wield. Surely, Darby could have found better examples. Darby also injects far too much slang in his essay, making it almost unreadable.
Co-editor Tommie Shelbie is almost as bad as Darby in his essay on love. With quotes such as "Socrates rocks the mic with heavy doses of logic, irony, and aggression", Shelbie also panders to hip-hop ignorance. Older readers know Socrates never rocked a mic in Ancient Greece and younger readers should be taught honestly Socrates method of communication. It is perfectly acceptable to say he preached or spoke his word to the masses in the manner he did. The point is to make the comparison between modern hip-hop and the ancient philosophers, not to lose readers by making Socrates "hip".
Ten years after its publication, the messages discussed in Hip-Hop & Philosophy are still relevant, perhaps even moreso. There is no doubt this book can help those who don't understand the Black Lives Matter movement. Many of the messages of the movement are spoken in hip-hop and discussed in the book. Of course, also still relevant are the negative elements in hip-hop - the idea that women are "bitches and hoes" and the goal is to make money or acquire power by any means necessary. I wonder what Hip-Hop & Philosophy would say about "trap rap", southern rap, and other sub-genres that have created several culture clashes within hip-hop.
Overall, Hip-Hop & Philosophy wasn't a bad read. It is not a bad book to keep between my philosophy classics and books on African-American culture such as Soul on Ice, Soledad Brother, and the Autobiography of Malcolm X.
Would I read it again? Maybe not cover to cover, but I might reference it at some point when writing about modern social movements.
Overall Grade: B
