Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership, and Hip Hop Culture [Paperback]

Yvonne Bynoe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2004

The phrases “hip hop” and “activism” aren’t always heard together, but it’s a marriage that must be made if black empowerment is to succeed. In Stand and Deliver, Bynoe eloquently advocates replacing charismatic but ineffectual black leaders who beg for crumbs from the white power structure with “citizen-leaders” who actively engage in a policy-centered relationship with that structure. Bynoe shows how hip hoppers can create a more sophisticated dialogue about what constitutes leadership, politics, and political action. This understanding, she argues, comes from influence, and influence comes from the ability to deliver — or deny — money, votes, or both to a political candidate, legislator, or political party. In the words of MC Lyte, all the rest is “chitter chatter.”

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The essays and interviews collected in this volume are passionately addressed to one of the most troubling enigmas of contemporary American life: why is it that the African-American community has entered a period of comparative political stasis at the same time that hip hop has become a dominant cultural force? Bynoe, who publishes the newsletter Full Disclosure: The Business of Hip-Hop, contends that today’s black leadership has failed to consolidate and build on the achievements of the civil rights era, and her book argues that the tradition of effective activism might be revived by tapping into the enormous energies of the hip hop explosion. Bynoe offers a detailed, critical overview of activism since the 1960s (including a reprinting of the Black Panther’s 10-point plan), interviews with such figures as Clarence Lusane (Hitler’s Black Victims) and Kate Rhee of the Prison Moratorium Project. Bynoe’s concerns throughout are largely practical, and she is impatient with any theory that lacks real-world application. Her thumbnail profiles of such "young political turks" as Newark city councilor Cory Booker and hip hop entrepreneurs like Sean "Puffy" Combs are incisive; she’s keenly aware of limitations to power and influence both actual and self-imposed. On the issue of hip hop culture itself, Bynoe is less satisfying, subscribing to an oversimplified and moralistic division between "conscious" rappers and their gangsta colleagues. Such phenomena as the worldwide reach of hip hop are not explored. And the careers of such rappers as the late Tupac Shakur, who could move between conscious social critic and unrepentant gangsta within the same song, do not really fit into Bynoe’s manichaean thesis. However, Bynoe’s urgent critique is nonetheless timely and worthwhile, and her insights are founded on a deep understanding of the uphill battles facing those who would effect meaningful social change.
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Review

"One of hip culture's most insightful observers."

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press (March 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932360107
• ISBN-13: 978-1932360103
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #662,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hip Hop vs. Old School?, July 25, 2004

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership, and Hip Hop Culture (Paperback)

It is probably obvious to any thinking Black American that the movement toward an equitable society is lacking in leadership today. The old school civil rights leaders are not connecting with the Hip Hop generation and the Hip Hop generation does not relate to where the civil rights leaders from the sixties and seventies are coming from. Yvonne Bynoe explores the reasons for this disconnect in the Black community. Her book, STAND AND DELIVER, is rich with the history of the civil rights era and also delves deeply into the psyche of the Hip Hop generation. She is equitable in placing responsibility for shortcomings from both generations where they belong and gives credit where it should be given. Bynoe thoughtfully explores the history and the reasoning behind each generation and gives reasonable explanations about why people do the things they do.

What makes her book an outstanding read is that she doesn't just ask the questions; she also provides reasonable solutions and outlines exactly how activism can once more be a part of the Black community. She gives concrete suggestions for the questions the Hip Hop generation must ask, such as how do we make America an equitable society. She even gives information on how to disagree without destroying a movement. In addition, she reminds those from other generations that they must come to the Hip Hop generation as equals, not with a snobbish attitude that suggests that they know without a shadow of a doubt, how to solve the problem of inequality in America. Bynoe also reminds us that in the new century, we can no longer exclude people from the movement because of race, class, or economic condition but we must find a common ground to insure that all Americans have an equal chance to be the best that they can. I frequently found myself nodding in agreement as I read her words. She is a voice to be reckoned with.

Reviewed by alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reader from PA, April 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership, and Hip Hop Culture (Paperback)

This is an excellent and timely book! Ms. Bynoe provides new and important insights about how we should critique and engage political leaders and activists. She is truly an independent thinker who is more interested in people improving their communities than in them propping up ineffectual Black leaders, young or old----based on out-dated rules about party or race unity. Her thoughts about Hip Hop activism are on the money. It is time that the Hip Hop generation move beyond the rhetoric of political activism to actually implementing the tried and true, long-term organizing and mobilizing strategies that actually helped us to make progress years ago. Registration drives without plans to get folks to the polls are not effective! People who talk about problems but who have no solid plans to solve them are irrelevant! Read "Stand and Deliver," Yvonne Bynoe is definitely a new and important voice that we should pay heed to.