Spectacular vernaculars : hip-hop and the politics of postmodernism / Russell A. Potter.

Author/creator Potter, Russell A., 1960-
Format Book
Publication InfoAlbany : State University of New York Press, ©1995.
Descriptionx, 197 pages ; 24 cm.
Subjects
Rap (Music)--Political aspects.
Hip-hop--Political aspects.
Postmodernism.

SeriesSUNY series in postmodern culture
SUNY series in postmodern culture. ^A682667
Contents Introduction -- Coming to terms: rap music as radical postmodernism -- Gettin' present as an art: a signifyin(g) hipstory of hip-hop -- Postmodernity and the hip-hop vernacular -- The pulse of the rhyme flow: hip-hop signifyin(g) and the politics of reception -- History -- Spectacle -- Resistance -- "Are you afraid of the mix of black and white?": hip-hop and the spectacular politics of race.
Abstract This book examines hip-hop's cultural rebellion in terms of its specific implications for postmodern theory and practice, using the politics of reception as its primary rhetorical ground. Hip-hop culture in general, and rap music in particular, present model sites for such an inquiry, since they enact both postmodern modes of production--the appropriation of tropes, technologies, and material culture--and a potential means of resistance to the commodification of cultural forms under late capitalism. By paying specific attention to the historical and cultural context of hip-hop as a black artform and locating its practice of resistance in terms of a postmodernist reading of consumer culture, this book offers a complex reading of hip-hop as a postmodern practice, with implications both for theories of postmodernism and cultural studies as a whole.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 183-191) and index.
LCCN 94024990
ISBN0791426254 (HC : acid-free paper)
ISBN0791426262 (PB : acid-free paper)

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML3531 .P68 1995 ✔ Available Place Hold