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Charlie D. Hankin
2023-07-26
Winner of the Modern Language Association's Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies
Hip hop is a global form of creative expression. In Cuba, Brazil, and Haiti, rappers refuse the boundaries of hip hop’s US genesis, claiming the art form as a means to empower themselves and their communities in the face of postcolonial racial and class violence. Despite the geographic and linguistic borders that separate these artists, Charlie Hankin finds in their music and lyrics a common understanding of hip hop��s capacity to intervene in the public sphere and a shared poetics of neighborhood, nation, and transatlantic yearnings. Situated at the critical intersection of sound studies and Afro-diasporic poetics, Break and Flow draws on years of ethnographic fieldwork and collaboration, as well as an archive of hundreds of songs by more than sixty hip hop artists. Hankin illuminates how new media is used to produce and distribute knowledge in the Global South, refining our understanding of poetry and popular music at the turn of the millennium.
This book is a deep dive into the heart and soul of hip-hop culture. Jeff Chang breaks down the evolution of the genre in a way that's both informative and authentic. He connects the dots between the beats, the lyrics, and the social movements that shaped hip-hop. It's like he's giving you the real talk about the culture that's been a part of my life since I was a kid. The way he highlights the contributions of key artists and the impact of hip-hop on urban life is next level. It's a solid 5 for anyone who's into the music and the culture.
