The Hip Hop generation; young blacks and the crisis in African-American culture - Current Topics - Book Review

KITWANA, Bakari. The Hip Hop generation; young blacks and the crisis in African-American culture. Perseus. 230p. index. c2002. 0-465-02979-5. $14.00.

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Bakari Kitwana. executive editor of The Source: The Magazine of Hip-Hop Music, Culture, and Politics and author of The Rap on Gangsta Rap, offers an in-depth look at the politics and history of the issues affecting the hip hop generation. here defined as black youth born in the years 1965 to 1984. Reading like a long, riveting magazine article, The Hip Hop Generation spells our how this age group has become the locus of all things media with pervasive influences on clothes, film, music, and all forms of advertising. Kitwana's strength comes from not only demonstrating the historic and political context of problems facing the hip hop generation, but also showing how the lack of understanding from black leadership (like the Civil Rights-era leaders heading the NAACP and the Urban League) has led to the absence of activism in modern youth. The author names what he considers the true issues of this generation and then goes on to offer examples of successful political figures and movements that have managed to rea ch through hip hop apathy The only weakness of this work is its lack of footnotes or a bibliography, which would have been helpful as a primer to reading the many works cited in the text. An essential addition for senior high and public libraries. Courtney Lewis, Libn., Groton Sch., Groton, MA

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