ballistic
12-22-2007, 12:13 PM
it's edited by gena dagel caponi. it's a collection of insightful and fascinating essays on different modes of african-american expression, and this, of course, includes hip-hop. yall should brush up on yalls knowledge and pick it up; you also might glean some new perspectives to the phenomenon of hip-hop as artform and cultural expression. it helps create a context. there's also some great stuff about jazz, basketball, and Michael Jordan. one essay talks about how Lester Young, the great saxophonist, was the true progenitor of the "cool" aesthetic in Western culture. MJ's playing style is linked with the jazz aesthetic of improvisation and the idea of style being identity.