History 271

Fall 2004

Devine

Study Questions for Nelson George, Hip Hop America

These questions will help you discern the main points of the book. If you answer them or think about the issues they raise, you should be well-prepared for the Quiz on Thursday, December 2^nd. Note that you do not have to read Chapters 2, 6, 7, and 9.

1. How did corporations change their views about the black community during the 1970s? What did record labels do to engage the black market?

2. How did the mixer change the way people listened to music in clubs?

3. In what ways did the Jamaican "sound system" set a precedent for hip hop?

4. Why did it take so long for the record industry to discover hip hop's potential?

5. What social/cultural forces were coming together in the Bronx during the '70s?

6. Other than music, what forms of expression were associated with hip hop culture?

7. What was the Zulu Nation?

8. The gains of the civil rights movement permitted upwardly mobile middle and working-class black families to move out of their old neighborhoods. How did this affect these neighborhoods?

9. Whites also were moving out of the inner cities. What is white flight and what impact did it have on inner city neighborhoods?

10. According to the author, how did heroin “embolden the black criminal class”?

11. Why does George believe the pimp is a figure of fascination and respect in the black community?

12. Why does George believe that gangsta rap is a direct by-product of the crack explosion?

13. How did the incarceration of so many black men affect the mentality of black culture?

14. Why can “arrogant pride” be essential for a black man?

15. Was hip hop ever solely black owned, controlled, and consumed? Why has hip hop been so attractive to young white people?

16. Why is live performance no longer the center of the culture? Why have producers and MCs replaced the DJ? What has been lost as a result of this process?