8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Beat, but Can Anyone Dance To It?, January 3, 2009
This review is from: All about the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can't Save Black America (Hardcover)
McWhorter makes a compelling case for a subject that seems obvious enough only if you are who McWhorter is: one of the world's preeminent linguists. Since he spends all day listening to languages to determine their meaning, why not do the same to hip-hop? And when you take away the beat (which the author claims is the primary draw to it) and the theatrics, what's left is not much. Even today's "conscious" rappers can't seem to fit more than a few sentences of actual message into each song, and the "message" that ends up there isn't much more than an upraised middle finger. Instead of encouraging action through music, the author encourages action through service, work, and education, and all three are more relevant that the political activism that is encouraged by such music. Don't turn it off, but don't rely on it as the be-all, end-all. The author has a very relational, understandable style, and his arguments are fairly tight. Very much worth your time.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It Is Entertainment, Not a Political Forum., November 28, 2008
"Hip-hop presents nothing useful to forging political change in the real world. It's all about attitude and just that. It's music. Gkood music, but just music." (Kindle edition, loc. 178)
This is the thesis of John McWhorter's "All About the Beat." Hip-hop mlght be good music, but it makes for empty political commentary. It is time, McWhorter says, to treat hip-hop as what it is and not more than what it is.
Before buying this book - and if you are interested in the subject, you really should pick it up - we need to be clear on what this book is NOT. The book is not dissing hip-hop. It is not a conservative screed decrying the lack of family values in hip hop. It is not arguing that hip-hop is ruining the fabric of society. It's point is simply that hip-hop music, often touted as political commmentary laced with a beat, is nothing of the sort; it is music that OCCASIONALLY TRIES (and fails) to be political commentary.
McWhorter first focuses on the 'big' rappers - 50 Cent, Young Jeezy, et. al. - and, not suprisingly, finds this music virtually bereft of any real political statement other than "f... the man!" Next, McWhorter focuses on the "conscious" rappers - Mos Def, Common, the Roots - and finds that while their lyrics may be more about positivity than the thug life, these rappers still offer only very surface-level "political commentary." Rather than, "f... the man," these rappers say essentially the same thing in more tidy and seemingly thoughtful words - "rebel against the machine," perhaps.
McWhrter's strongest point, at least to me, is the idea that what passes as political commentary in rap is so light that it would not, and should not, be seen as political commentary at all. Let me quote directly from McWhorter on this score:
"Yet people apparently see great drama in young black men of humble circumstances knowing something about current events. The quiet assumption is that for a white person, being an intellectual means making points sustained with argumentation, and possibly writing it down. But a black person is intlelectual if he or she just says the names of W.E.B. Dubois and Malcolm X in a rap." (loc. 961)
What some say is "political commentary" in rap is usually just mention of some current social ill, civil rights, or big words like "manifest." Through some sustained analysis of supposedly deep rap lyrics, McWhorter demonstreats this phenomenon again and again; any "political message" in rap music is generally confined to a few lines, inordinate amounts of vagueness, and compulsive emphasis on moaning problems rather than spitting solutions.
So, why did I give this book 4 stars rather than 5? To be honest, a large reason was that McWhorter's points are so obvious, that I kept wondering why a book was written on it at all. Aside from about 5 scholars (Michael Eric Dyson being the most prominent), I don't think that many folks take seriously rap - or ANY form of music - as astute political commentary. While the book was a fun read, and the analysis of rap lyrics fascinating, it is still a book written to counter a handful of ivory tower academics.
This brings me to my next point. I REALLY would have liked to see a chapter or section comparing rap's present situation to that of 60's protest music, which somewhow was considered political commentary. What, if anything, makes the two situations different. (My guess is that the music of the 60's, like rap, can be called political commentary only in the sense that it contained sprinkles of rageing lyrics that managed to tap into people's anger, but could not really be seen as sustained political analysis.) It REALL would have been nice to see a section exploring this, though, because I suspect that the scholars that want to see rap as a potential political art-form probably model this desire on hopes that it will recreate what 60's folk was to the hippie generation.
All in all, this is an interesting book, even though its scope is a lot smaller than some will expect. Those who hope for a screed against rap as art will be very disappointed, as will anyone expecting a dissertaion on rap's supposed immorality. McWhoter confines himself to a much narrower thesis, and makes it forcefully.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, but who's the audience??, January 9, 2010
I enjoyed this book. I recommend it for anyone who is interested in hip-hop. with that being said, I think Mcwhorter's idea of political change is different that most hip-hop heads. I agree with most points that the author makes: Hip-hop is arguing for the sake of arguing in many cases, but there have been times where people have been fired up as a result of hip-hop. Hip-hop has brought to light many cases that would normally be obscure. I remember Chubb Rock talking about Yusef Hawkins, which caused me to do the research and find out what happened. Without Rap, I would have been in the dark. So to emphasize: Rap is not in the business of changing the political landscape, or even working within the political landscape most of the times. Rap is an empowerment tool that is designed to inform and hopefully get people to think. The problem is, which McWhorter has definitely pointed out, is that you can't be taken seriously when you make a brilliant political rap, then you are right back talking about Hoes, and money, and selling drugs. Nas is a prime example, also Tupac. Nas is brilliant at times, but then he slinks right back to talking about sex, drugs, or other mundane topics. You have to take the good with the bad, but let's not push rap off as meaningless when it comes to political movements. You may need to scale down your expectations. Check out my new book Plain Talk volume 1 on Racism and stereotypes. Oh yeah, buy this book as well!!!
Plain Talk - Volume 1
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