![]() ![]() There is nothing half-baked about the rhymes, about the potency of the words and how they flow. One of my first thoughts on reading this book? Wow, did Angie Thomas ever do a good job coming up with lyrics for Bri! The cover copy for On the Come Up explains that Thomas was once an aspiring rapper like Bri, and it shows in the lyrics she creates. Instead of dismissing something like hip hop as lacking any significant meaning, we should instead recognize that there is meaning, just meaning different from what we might comprehend given our experiences. Jay-Z’s Decoded is a great example of this: reading through his lyrics alongside his contextual explanations of what’s happening is eye-opening for a white guy like me who is from a small Canadian town and hasn’t known any of the struggles Jay-Z has. One can appreciate hip hop without context, but to truly understand hip hop one needs to delve behind the lyrics into the context of the rapper’s life. ![]() Hip hop is a tool, and like any tool it can be wielded for ends fair or foul. Hip hop is neither revolutionary nor corporate. I’m hardline New Historicist when it comes to critiquing hip hop. ![]()
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