The Hip Hop Tree

Combining a rich blend of essays and poems by representatives from the fields of journalism activism theater film science art law and the spoken word <I>The Hip Hop Tree</I> offers a provocative take on a contemporary social expression in need of a larger perspective. With timely contributions from Bakari Kitwana author of the era-defining The Hip Hop Generation and outspoken activist and minister Paul Scott <I>The Hip Hop Tree</I> challenges both the Hip Hop and civil rights generations to explore the historic cultural and musical dimensions of this modern-day phenomenon called Hip Hop.<p><I>The Hip Hop Tree</I> is an extraordinary addition to the growing bibliography of work depicting this genre's broad cultural dimensions. The Hip Hop and civil rights generations poetically converse with the ancestors within its outstretched limbs. <br>--Hashim Shomari former aide to a U.S. Senator activist and author of <I>From the Underground: Hip Hop Culture as an Agent of Social Change</I></p>Without the hip-hop is dead cliches and revisionist history that mar many a work about this culture <i>The Hip Hop Tree</i> is a fresh fluid and enjoyable collection of serious work. For both the hip-hop outsider and insider the claimant and the hater this book places things in a necessary context--with style.<br>-Akiba J. Solomon hip-hop journalist & cultural critic</p>