Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America

by Tricia Rose

Book Overview

A comprehensive look at the lyrics, music, cultures, themes, and styles of rap music.

Winner of the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation (1995)

From its beginnings in hip hop culture, the dense rhythms and aggressive lyrics of rap music have made it a provocative fixture on the American cultural landscape. In Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, Tricia Rose, described...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0819562750
• ISBN13: 9780819562753
• Release Date: May 1994
• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• Length: 257 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up

Customer Reviews

Pretty good

Arrived pretty fast. Is in a good condition even though I was not expecting that many highlighted pages.

Thorough

Hip Hop is founded on the valorization--rather than villification--of recontextualization, revision, and redaction. In a examplary work of musical and cultural studies scholarship, Rose traces the ways prior black musical/oral traditions, technological advances, and sexism undergird the discourse (just to mention a couple of the lens through which she takes on rap). The work highly accessible to hip hoppers non hip hoppers alike, furthermore. Finally, it is to Rose's benefit that she comes from an "insider's" vantage point, giving the text a genuine concern for where the music comes from, finds itself, and is indefatigably headed towards.

Essential! Rich!

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!

Very interesting (but "brilliant"???)

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.

"more brilliant than the sun"

brilliant, exhausting and informative... provides a feminist point of view from the inside for all important aspects... read it and love it...