Is Hip Hop Dead? ― The Past, Present, and Future of America's Most Wanted Music

When rapper Nas released his 2006 album Hip Hop is Dead, he became yet one more voice warning that excessive commercialism had killed off the vitality of the music. Hess (English, Rider U.) explores the relative validity of these fears through analysis of issues of authenticity as expressed in the lyrics of rap artists. Over the course of the discussion, he discusses how the artists represent their career paths and their roles in the music industry, complications of hip hop's basis in autobiography in the lyrical personas of such artists as Digital Underground and MF DOOM, the ways white artists such as an Eminem frame their autobiographies within the model of hip hop authenticity, and the role of parody in confronting racial stereotypes related to social privilege. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Mickey Hess is Assistant Professor of English at Rider University, and the editor of Greenwood Press's Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture.