Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America [Hardcover]

Bakari Kitwana (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2005

Our national conversation about race is ludicrously out-of-date. Hip-hop is the key to understanding how things are changing. In a provocative book that will appeal to hip-hoppers both black and white and their parents, Bakari Kitwana deftly teases apart the culture of hip-hop to illuminate how race is being lived by young Americans. This topic is ripe, but untried, and Kitwana poses and answers a plethora of questions: Does hip-hop belong to black kids? What in hip-hop appeals to white youth? Is hip-hop different from what rhythm, blues, jazz, and even rock 'n' roll meant to previous generations? How have mass media and consumer culture made hip-hop a unique phenomenon? What does class have to do with it? Are white kids really hip-hop's primary listening audience? How do young Americans think about race, and how has hip-hop influenced their perspective? Are young Americans achieving Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream through hip-hop? Kitwana addresses uncomfortable truths about America's level of comfort with black people, challenging preconceived notions of race. With this brave tour de force, Bakari Kitwana takes his place alongside the greatest African American intellectuals of the past decades.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Caucasian parents anxiously seeking explanations for either the descending waistlines of their children's trousers or the distressing contents of their iPods won't find them in Kitwana's repetitive, digressive and rather dated book, which is better at throwing out questions than following up on them. To the title question, former Source executive editor Kitwana (The Hip-Hop Generation) offers little more than variations on the stock answers of "alienation" and declining economic opportunity. The flip side—Kitwana's belief in hip-hop's liberatory potential (he sees it as "the last hope of America")—belongs more to the era of an engaged Fear of a Black Planet than the bling of The Game. But a bigger problem is that the book fails to spend much time discussing its putative subject; names are checked and scenes are discussed, but music and lyrics are rarely cited (a long chapter on Eminem quotes his lyrics exactly once). Similarly, the author has a way of invoking "opportunists," "the media" and "the few" with a maddening lack of specificity that blunts the book's already diffuse message. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Kitwana explores the appeal of hip-hop culture to young whites and their overall fascination with black youth culture. Part of the appeal of hip-hop to alienated white youths is its use as a means of expression for the voiceless in America. The integration of telecommunications and consumer culture has resulted in the broadening of acceptance of hip-hop among whites. Kitwana argues that this area of common ground for black and white youth provides a space of interracial interaction that challenges the old status quo that he designates "old racial politics." One example is the popularity of Eminem, the white rapper who has succeeded in a perceptively black medium. Yet Kitwana questions those who overvalue the appreciation of the white market for hip-hop at the cost of devaluing the essential black root to the culture. While Kitwana is clearly optimistic regarding hip-hop's potential impact on racial politics in America, he acknowledges that the hip-hop generation, and society in general, will continue to struggle with the reality of the old racial politics. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Basic Civitas Books (May 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465037461
• ISBN-13: 978-0465037469
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #648,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No substance, No evidence, Not much fun, September 23, 2005

By 

J. C. Bale "Pakk-Mann" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America (Hardcover)

*sigh*... I'm always on the lookout for books about hip-hop (as a music form, culture, and generation) as it relates to American culture. More specifically, I'm interested in the social ramifications of the culture as a whole. Thus, when I was given this book by a friend, I was hoping for a good social science read. Unfortunately, I was highly dismayed, finding this particular selection to be a sloppily written manuscript with virtually no empirical evidence anywhere.

For much of this book, the author makes vague statements which are supposed to be evidence (I.E. - "First and foremost among the reasons white kids love hip-hop is the growing sense of alienation from mainstream American life they experienced in the 1980s") but then makes little or no effort to show proof of such theories. This is discouraging.

What makes matters worse is that the author later goes on to dismiss the limited evidence that does exist showing whites are the dominant purchasers of hip-hop albums, and instead of inserting evidence which shows otherwise, he launches into page upon page of bizarre hypothesis' for potential ways blacks might still be the majority purchasers (ironically mentioning bootleg CDs). Ultimately I grew tired of reading his writing which became increasingly less academic.

His "expert" sources are also questionable - while at times he does move towards legitmate figures in the hip-hop community - I felt he vastly stretched for some of the opinions gathered for this book. For instance, I seriously wonder whether it was wise to include a very long section on a 19 year-old white female for who "hip-hop has been mainstream culture" for her entire life. Her priciple credits for being mentioned appear to be that she once dated a black guy, doesn't mind the b-word, and got hooked on hip-hop when she heard "Hypnotize" while developing film. I was not impressed.

If you are looking for an actual intelligent and informed book on hip-hop, please look elsewhere. Reading this, you'll mainly come away with disjointed personal theories of the author, as well as numerous plugs for THE SOURCE magazine.

1/5 Stars

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Why Authors Need Copyeditors, September 29, 2005

By 

Donald Earl Collins "Author" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America (Hardcover)

I think that the issue Kitwana attempts to explore in Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop is interesting. But his approach to taking on this topic was both sloppy and simplistic. It starts in the preface, where he says that the hip-hop generation (which in reality covers two generations) is the first one to grow up without experiencing de facto segregation. I'm sure that White suburbanites in Scarsdale and Orange County would be interested in knowing that there are phantom people of color floating around their communities.

Kitwana also overemphasizes the impact of hip-hop on the emergence of African Americans in popular culture and their impact on young Whites during the 1980s and 1990s. He concentrates so much on Michael Jordan and his first Nike ads with Spike Lee that he forgets about Dr. J, Mean Joe Green, and a host of others that paved the road for Jordan in the first place.

But Kitwana's biggest error is in glossing over the distance between Whites embracing hip-hop culture and Whites living anti-racist, social justice oriented lives. Like John Tuturro's character in Do the Right Thing, there are at least as many Whites who are hip-hop lovers but have as stereotypical an opinion of Blacks and other people of color as Whites who listen to honky-tonk. I don't that everything Kitwana says in Why White Kids Love Hip Hop is incorrect -- his book is just selectively incomplete.

49 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Everything Old Is New Again, July 17, 2005

By 

B. Kehinde "Social Critic" (Washington D.C.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America (Hardcover)

Can you say "sanctimonious hot air", boys and girls? This author should know better. I only got through the first few pages of this while I was bookstore-browsing one day before I tossed it aside with a roll of my eyes. Kitwana completely misses the point. The "loss of a mainstream cultural identity among whites" doesn't turn these kids onto hip-hop. Nor do today's underclass whites' socioeconomic status (identifying with being a minority) and being raised in more racially-integrated neighborhoods solely make them idolize and mimic rappers.

The reason Eminem is the biggest selling rap artist today among white youth is the same reason Elvis and the Beatles were huge in the 50s: APPROPRIATION, black American creativity in the Arts and Music arena is a CASH COW. We live in a Capitalist society, we worship the Almighty $$$, and any time there's money to be made off of the popularity of some new thing, it is pimped out for all it's worth. Everything is for sale here and inviting any other theory for this "whites loving what blacks do" argument is akin to spinning your wheels in a ditch. One major support for my opinion is this: blacks had to do much assimilating into the white Anglo-Saxon culture of the U.S. in order to achieve success, wealth, and equal representation of their civil rights under protection of the law. "Survival of the Fittest" in a social context is common sense - adapt/adopt the ways and habits of the ruling class to raise yourself and your family up, and you will be tolerated (but still not truly welcomed, trusted or appreciated).

Black culture, marketed and sold as an image, a lifestyle, to other races is a big moneymaker because interracial love and whites with blacks is still taboo to many (and I daresay MOST) people. All sorts of bizarre, racist lies and jokes are still popular (just not PC) and feed the psychological flames of fear of the unknown. The psychology of racism works both ways - as a tool for fear, hatred and ignorance (the three-headed dragon that never dies) and as an emotional vessel for the expression of exotic sensuality, sexuality and rebellion. I call it the rape of the African queen, but that may be too harsh for some.

From the antebellum period of the 1600s when slavery was constitutionally protected, up until the Civil Rights Movement, whites have always admired, patronized, supported and profited from black art forms, not just Music (Jazz, Bebop, Rock and Roll and the Blues before Rap, all of which have deep roots in Afro-Caribbean culture) but our achievements in the Sciences, in Engineering, Sports, Medicine, Education, Dance, Theatre, and so on. Even when black American athletes were treated worse than dogs in the street at home, they were sent to Greece in the 40s to participate in the Olympics, because EXCELLENCE cannot be ignored. It is costly to hold talented black people back, and when they excel, they are considered ASSETS (instead of second-class citizens or property). But it's still all about money.

Americans must have the most short-term memory of any other creature on the planet when it comes to race. Either that, or they just like living in a dream world. Books like this one try to convince the reader that there's something going on other than white folks turning a buck off of hard black labor (akin to the slave days). The fact that now, in today's society, more blacks have education and affluence, have more equality under the law, and can make nearly as much money as "The Man" (lol) doesn't change the reality that CAPITALISM makes it all possible. It's a conceit there's anything else going on BUT the mass exploitation of race. There's always been a strong, historical undercurrent of attraction/revulsion of whites toward blacks, this dangerous sexual paradox, and it continues to this very day. This book should be four pages long, at the most, with a picture of Al Jolson in blackface on a $100 dollar bill. Or, better yet, Eminem, since our TiVo, Xbox, Internet and Ipod generation of profligate youth don't study their own history (unless it's about war or Christianity) and wouldn't know who Jolson is.

Even though I don't mean to equate ALL Rap music as Minstrelsy, to a disturbingly large degree, the most anti-social, anti-law, violent and "proudly thuggish" Gangsta Rap is an update on the stereotypical Black Menial, all brute strength and raw sexuality, but no brains. Gangsta Rap is self-destructive, but it is based on something all men love - the extravagant power of the Mafia. A dark-skinned millionaire with gold teeth, dressed in a suit and tie (or track-star party clothes !!!), spending all his money on jewelry, cars and mansions, carrying a Glock - this is the updated Black Buck of the 21st century. Like Shaft, dangerous and cool. And we can all appreciate a scary "urban" legend. Besides, Christian values are full of duality - white/black, good/evil, rich/poor, and this is one way for whites to celebrate that walk on the wild side. To play with fire but not get burned.
So out of a compulsive Liberal-guilt-for-white-privilege complex (which is self-pitying behavior) or a delusion that the differences between whites and blacks no longer matter (which is insulting), many young whites co-opt black styles until they grow tired of it, subvert it, or find a way to exploit it themselves. I'm just letting you know how this works through a CAPITALIST perspective. It's just business as usual. And I guess after my explanation, it still must be said that to most black people, Jewish people are white people, too. We don't differentiate.

The use of the terms "wangsta" and "wigger" are laughable and obnoxious at best, not damaging to any white person's psyche, because they're still white, no matter what music scene they're into. There are sociocultural reasons. Many whites grow up in mostly black neighborhoods, and like any other group in that environment, many of them learn to take on the appearance and mannerisms of the prevailing ethnic group. They "talk in ebonics" and throw up gang signs to be ironic... is this odd behavior funny to the rest of us not raised in these environments? Sure, you bet. We love to poke fun at people who don't quite fit. Human nature, I guess. But this book doesn't even begin to articulate or provide any measures to eradicate the problem of racism or classism. Classism combined with racism is worse these days. Rich white kids especially think it's cool that they can somehow "be down" and "get gangsta" with disenfranchised black kids, which is really downplaying the seriousness of the social disparity among blacks and whites, as if the world's just a great big ferris wheel of stupid fun. Some would say maybe it is and I need a sense of humor. But tell you what. Instead of reading this book, read a book by Dr. Cornell West or Tony Brown instead. Even "Soul On Ice" by Eldridge Cleaver. Then you'll begin to understand why whites love rap music so much. And why most blacks still mistake flattery for fellowship.