Customer Reviews

It's Bigger Than Hip Hop: The Rise of the Post-Hip-Hop Generation

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M.K. Asante Jr. is a gem. His book It's Bigger Than Hip Hop is one of the most in depth investigative books from our own community in quite some time. Asante's writing style is reminiscent of the great James Baldwin. The ancestors are watching and speak through Asante.

Hip Hop has become one of the most financially successful music genres of an entire century. Hip Hop reaches all ages, classes, races and countries. However, the image of Hip Hop that has spread in our communities and worldwide has changed over the years from its underground message of unity to consumerism/materialism by any means necessary. We have lost control of our own music yet when considering other black music genres from the past; blues, jazz, R &B we have never `owned' our music. History repeats itself. In retrospect, Ray Charles and Prince, to name a few, understood the need for us to own our lyrics, music, distribution houses, etc... (ex. When Prince wrote slave on his head to get out of a music contract and own his music).

Almost 40 years after the Civil Rights Movement and where are we? We integrated yet we never asked once what will happen to us after integration? We never had a plan. If considering that the former African-American segregated communities were small nations how is it that once we gained our `independence' we did not have a well thought out plan? Asante's book addresses some of those issues post-Civil Rights, post hip-hop. Every chapter needs to be read and analyzed in classrooms but specifically read between parent and child. This book needs to get in the hands of every African (Latinos too)
in the U.S., the rest of the Diaspora and Africa to fully understand our current state of affairs.

Chapter Glimpses:

Chapter 2: Keepin' It Real vs. Reel, The Truth about Commercialized Hip Hop artists (Not really hood at all but rather came from the middle class and two parents' home, ex. ODB) But why would ODB or any other artist sell their soul like that?
Chapter 3: What's Really Hood? A Conversation with the African-American Ghetto? This will be a classic in literature. A one on one interview with Asante and Hip Hop.
Chapter 5: It's Bigger Than Hip Hop: Time Line (1965 -1991) A historical time line that puts politics, hip hop, our history in perspective.
Chapter 6: Old White Men (or, Who Owns Hip Hop) Who really owns Hip Hop? Viacom? Bald Head Israeli's? Discusses Mos Def's underground never aired classic "The Rape Over".
Chapter 7: Beyond Jena: Free `Em All.Assata Shakur, Political Prisoners, Slave working Prisoners.
Chapter 8: FTP, F' the Police. Cameras on our blocks, police brutality. Interview with Dead Prez.
Chapter 9: Universal Language: Black and Brown. Common Struggles. Immortal Technique.
Chapter 10: Two Sets of Notes: Asante suggests to students to take two sets of notes, theirs and ours.
Chapter 12: (State Property) The linguistics of Clothes. State Property Brand Beanie Sigel. Marketing death and eternal imprisonment to black boys/men.French philosopher Focault. The history of the prison.
Chapter 13: Conquering the division. Middle class vs. Underclass, Elders vs. Youth. Are we saying the same thing but not getting through to each other?
Chapter 14: A Lesson Before Dying: A Phone Interview with Hip Hop. Final Interview with Asante and Hip Hop

It's a challenge to describe this book because it is very different from most of the books I've read on hip hop and youth of color. For one, the writer is young and his voice feels authentic and real. It's evident from the onset that the writer loves hip hop. But even more than that, he uses examples from conscious and politically-progressive hip hop to make interesting and often timely points about what many youth of color are going through. Also, he uses personal examples from his life that I'm sure many young, urban folks can relate to.

The book is profound in its message and creative in its delivery. Powerful points are often highlighted with equally powerful hip hop lyrics that really emphasize the point. Other creative things he does is conduct a phone interview with hip hop, an interview with the ghetto which gives the reader an understanding of the racist policies and zoning laws that created the ghetto. And finally this book is inspiring for me. I'm 20 years old and I feel like the authors energy and love come through the pages in a way that makes me want to take action and speak up! A great book.

I was hip hop. A `70s baby, my teenage years stretched across hip
hop's awakening into proud and empowering lyrical expression. It
was a chain link of similarities, connecting the dots of every urban
experience, expressing the voice of every ghetto. Like Common, I
used to love H.E.R. But then, somewhere in my twenties, she abandoned
me. I became nothing more than a groupie, a video accessory and a
derogatory term. And my male counterparts became
unrecognizable, fake shadows of long forgotten pimps and, "keeping
it real," fools.

M.K. Asante remarkably captures the incredulous struggle that those
like me, the post hip hop generation, face when reconciling past hip
hop loyalty with current hip hop disdain.
IT'S BIGGER THAN HIP HOP is a classic work, a creative and
innovative approach to examining what hip hop was and is, and how
its growth and subsequent stagnation affect generations.

An example of his entertaining approach is demonstrated in Chapter
3, What's Really Hood?, when M.K. Asante engages in a colorful and
testy interview with "the ghetto." Yes, the ghetto finally speaks
and he has some truth to spread. As "the ghetto" explains his
history dating back from 1611, correlating past "ghettoization" with
modern Urban Renewal, he reminds the post hip hop generation of the
ignorance in blaming the poor for poverty.

In Chapter 10, Two Sets of Notes, M.K. Asante captures the struggle
of being taught incomplete truths, being fooled by "selective
memory," losing who we are as a people inside of the incessant white
lies. His poem reminded me of my public school frustration, when
black and brown history was a footnote on the school agenda and I
had to join the Youth NAACP and, to my Baptist mother's horror, the
Nation of Islam seminars in an attempt to learn about me.

M.K. Asante won me over early on, when he articulated how the reel
becomes the real. It's an argument you thought you heard before, but
never quite applied in this way. But M.K. Asante's logic makes
perfect sense, especially if you, like me, often wonder why a
suburban black boy tries so hard to be "thug life" or a middle class
black child works overtime to prove his "realness." It's a mind-
boggling epidemic that I never understood, until now.

IT'S BIGGER THAN HIP HOP speaks candidly to the post hip hop
generation, challenging us to take a deeper look and a more
introspective approach into who and what we really are, reminding us
that the struggle is ever present.

Reviewed by a. Kai
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

The title says it all. This book is a brilliant document of 21st century Black thought and life. I especially dug the combination of scholarship, poetry, creative non-fiction, analysis, conscious rap lyrics and LOVE that the author transfers through the page. All of these elements are needed when dealing with the huge issues he tackles in this book. This is not another dry academic hip hop book or anything like that. This book actually needs it's own category. I most definitely recommend this for all thinking people!

Professor M.K. Asante Jr did a eloquent job on this book. He writes in a very conservationist sort of way. Reading was easy everything flowed wonderfully. This book challenged me to seek more from hip-hop than the commercialized material that is in the mainstream today. The black community has many issues and as professor Asante says, "Only through social justice can our race make any progress." Asante describes the post hip hop generation who will be key to leading a revolution on the black and brown communities. This book will wake you up to many issues that blacks face. Whether blacks in the music industry, prisons, or schools. We have a lot of issues and this book will launch you to activism! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READ FOR EVERYONE!

What do popping collars and bling have to do with a revolution? How are people who know nothing about hip hop defining its culture? It's Bigger Than Hip Hop by M.K. Asante Jr. shows how these things, and more, have everything to do with hip hop's transformation. Asante Jr. goes beyond surface facts like the first rap song to top music charts or defining acronyms (i.e. D.J., M.C., etc.). The author eloquently cannon-balls into the grudge today's youth have with what hip hop stands for because of what it stood for initially. From the perspective of a generation deep in awareness and appreciation of the need hip hop used to fill, readers will learn why hip hop no longer represents them, what they feel is needed for its resurrection, and what was ultimately sacrificed when we became all about the Benjamins. Asante Jr. examines conversations with his college students, rap lyrics, speech sound bytes, etc and hits on political, historical, racial, and economical issues that play vital roles in the unrest and revolution-ready, conscious young adults of today.

The author's passion for the topic is what gripped me from the first page. As a self-professed hip hop head, it was challenging to wrap my thoughts around, and accept, how disabled the culture has become. When I began having my own uncomfortable moments with hip hop, I could not quite define why. It's Bigger Than Hip Hop describes in detail the exact reasons I was on the brink of discontent. Moving beyond what this book has clarified for me, the writing is fresh, excerpts were used effectively, and the pictures painted parallel free verse poetry. Readers who enjoy hip hop culture and those who have grown weary of hip hop would really enjoy It's Bigger Than Hip Hop.

Reviewed by Darnetta Frazier
APOOO BookClub

I pre-ordered this book over the summer anticipating a great read, as I am a fan of M.K. Asante, Jr.'s poetry. I already have Like Water Running Off My Back Like Water Running Off My Back: Poems and Beautiful. & Ugly Too Beautiful. And Ugly Too. After reading It's Bigger Than Hop Hop, I am truly blown away by the insight and energy put into this new non-fiction work. I really enjoy the innovative interviews Asante conducts with the "Ghetto" and "Hip-Hop" and the call to action for 'Artivists' by any medium necessary. Unlike anything I've read so far about the corporate controlled hip hop industry, the book explores the break away from that fakeness by a new generation. And there is so much music I need to hear now after reading the myriad of quotations and excerpts included in this book. The photos are great too! A must read!!

This book is extremely well written. I read the whole thing in a day and could not put it down. It contains the truth behind hip hop that everyone should know. I have studied hip hop music all my life and I still learned a lot in reading this book. The author does an amazing job in explaining the history of hip hop and what the whole culture is really about. It also explains how some powerful negative forces have been leading hip hop in a very sad direction, but it gives us hope by detailing how independent, conscious artists are fighting back to keep creativity, positivity, and intelligence in this form of music. If you only read 5 books in your life - make this one of them. And if you enjoy this book and want to hear hip hop that is about more than money, cars, jewelery, and ignoring injustice and inequality then be sure to check out Tha Truth's CD Tha Miseducation of the Masses and other conscious artists like Immortal Technique and Dead Prez.

It's Bigger Than Hip Hop is an incredibley deep piece that really touches on alot of things past and current. Asante's voice is whats needed today and should be a mandatory read for any young person (or old) involved in the struggle. Keep fighting, reading and involved in the movement. But we must keep our eye focused on the prize and truly educate and not just repeat information. A heart felt thanks to Asante for being the needed voice in today's trying times.