Build

Since 2001 the U.S. Department of State has been sending hip hop artists abroad to perform and teach as goodwill ambassadors. There are good reasons for this: hip hop is known and loved across the globe acknowledged and appreciated as a product of American culture. Hip hop has from its<br>beginning been a means of creating community through artistic collaboration fostering what hip hop artists call <em>building</em>. <p/>A timely study of U.S. diplomacy <em>Build: The Power of Hip Hop Diplomacy in a Divided World</em> reveals the power of art to bridge cultural divides facilitate understanding and express and heal trauma. Yet power is never single-edged and the story of hip hop diplomacy is deeply fraught. Drawing from<br>nearly 150 interviews with hip hop artists diplomats and others in more than 30 countries <em>Build</em> explores the inescapable tensions and ambiguities in the relationship between art and the state revealing the ethical complexities that lurk behind what might seem mere goodwill tours. Author Mark<br>Katz makes the case that hip hop at its best can promote positive productive international relations between people and nations. A U.S.-born art form that has become a voice of struggle and celebration worldwide hip hop has the power to build global community when it is so desperately needed. <p/><em>Cover image: Sylvester Shonhiwa aka Bboy Sly Harare Zimbabwe February 2015. Photograph by Paul Rockower.</em><br>