Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (Music/Culture) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rap music often blasts African American rage into mainstream American culture and with its call-and-response choruses and violent, no-holds-barred lyrics, questions societal tradition and authority. These assertions aren't hard to prove. The problem lies in explaining all this without forgetting that most of this music's impact depends on having a good beat and being danceable. Rose, an assistant professor of history and Africana studies at New York University, is generally successful in putting rap in the context of the urban noise, technology and socioeconomics that nurtures it and of the "slave dances, blues lyrics, Mardi Gras parades, Jamaican patois, toasts and signifying" that preceded it. Rose addresses sexism, both in the plight of women rappers and in rap lyrics, partially excusing the latter by saying, "Rap's sexist lyrics are also part of a rampant and viciously normalized sexism that dominates the corporate culture of the music business." Supporting her thesis are direct interviews with rappers, personal remembrances and anecdotes, as well as deconstruction of lyrics and videos. Although her analyses are often fascinating, in sentences like "Rappers are constantly taking dominant discursive fragments and throwing them into relief destabilizing hegemonic discourses and attempting to legitimate counter/hegemonic interpretations," Rose becomes unnecessarily obscurantist, forgetting to let the music speak for itself. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This ethnographic study is the first detailed exploration of rap music within its social, cultural, and artistic contexts. Rose (history/Africana studies, NYU) carefully analyzes each defining element of the genre. For example, her study of the cultural and technological implications of sampling-a pillar of rap-is both impressive and unprecedented. Further, Rose's hermeneutics extend beyond the music itself to such corollary expressions of hiphop style as rap music videos and breakdancing. Rose constructs a solid bridge between hiphop and academe: she explains the former in the language of the latter and does so splendidly. However, even the most powerful words cannot recreate music. Since academicians may be unfamiliar with the works discussed, an accompanying CD or cassette would have been helpful. While Brian Cross's less-rigorous It's Not About a Salary (LJ 2/15/94) remains a better choice for public libraries, Black Noise belongs on the shelves of almost every academic collection.
Bill Piekarski, Southwestern Coll. Lib., Chula Vista, Cal.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 257 pages
• Publisher: Wesleyan; 1st edition (May 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0819562750
• ISBN-13: 978-0819562753
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #278,404 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting (but "brilliant"???), June 3, 1999

By A Customer

This is an impressive interpretation of Black musical culture, with loads of interesting information and pertinent feminist content. I've read several books with somewhat similar subject matter, from Dick Hebdige's broad and helpful survey to the rather pretentious book by Russell Potter; but none of them captured my interest as much as this one.

9 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential! Rich!, July 24, 2000

By	GILBERTO K. YOSHINAGA (São Paulo/SP (BRASIL)) - See all my reviews

Tricia Rose details the Hip-Hop Culture - and its beauty and depth - in this book I call "essential for Hip-Hoppers". For example: I'm writing 'bout Brazilian hip-hop and "Black Noise" cleared many doubts I had on hystoric, artistic, and politic aspects of the 'Culture of Streetz'. Another contribution that elevates this 'Bible of Hip-Hop' is the way Tricia Rose writes. The words flow natural, with many rich informations reduced in a very agradable text. If you don't like this book, you'll never understand the 'Black Noise' of this new millenium! Peace!

12 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars powerful topic: execution?, April 3, 2000

By	nick bollweg (minneapolis, mn) - See all my reviews

I read this book as a compulsory action for the 'Poetry of Rap' course in which I am currently enrolled at a major university. As a narrative and dialectic of black culture, or rather a single faction of black culture, this book is powerful and informative, providing analysis of many, many social thinkers of the Black Arts and later movements as well as Rose's perspective(s) on the developments of the culture. However, the execution of this text, ostensibly an academic account, is weakened by a diffuse structure, imprecise diction (beyond that necessitated by dealing with a topic heretofore untreated in academic circles with any rigor) and atrocious editing. I highly recommend the text, but by the same token recommend it with a disclaimer: hear why she says, and not what she says.