Prison and Sexism, Hip-Hop Style

I just want to start this week’s blog off by saying how much I liked this book. Usually I find myself getting bored when I read the more academic literature, but I devoured this book. It might be the fact that it’s written as a series of interviews, but I may have actually liked this more than the Toure book, and I’ve actually had several of my friends read that. I’m hopefully going to do this same with this.
It shouldn’t be surprising that I’m the most interested in the chapters/sections where Dyson discusses the more criminal aspects of hip-hop, specifically when discussing hip-hop’s role in the justice system. I also enjoyed the chapter about misogyny in hip-hop. It helps that that is something I’m interested in. I don’t really have a lot to add to what Dyson said about the prisons and how it affects hip-hop. However, he did have some very insightful points. I really liked how he pointed out that, just like the stars of hip-hop, many of big name civil rights leaders, like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, went to prison. And while a lot of our culture idolizes civil rights leaders while it condemns hip-hop artists, a lot of them meet the same violent end (being shot/murdered). I guess Biggie and MLK have more in common than I thought!
The only other thing I found particularly interesting in regards to prison was how he referred to prison as “natural” to black people. Due to the fact that 1/3 (if I am correctly recalling my statistics) of all black people are in prison at some point in their lives, his joke (?) that most of them are either on their way, in, or coming out of prison it especially poignant.
Of all the chapters, the one about sexism in hip-hop was probably my favorite. And as I find myself running out of words for this blog post, I’ll try to rush some of my favorite moments out. In my opinion, the best part of the section was when he compared the similarities between hip-hop stars and the conservative right. While both believe (at least in practice, if not openly) in the subjugation of women and both hate homosexuals, they also revile each other. While there have been groups brought together and united with less, these two can still be very similar and yet very antagonistic. I also now realize that my two favorite segments of the book are both Dyson relating two groups that appear to be vastly different but share many qualities. I guess I just find stuff like that amusing, even if it might not be the most important.