This anthology of critical essays explores the history of hip-hop.  The essays explore the various forms of hip-hop such as gangsta rap, message rap, Latino rap and feminists rappers.  There are also close examinations of the origins of hip-hop music.

In the essay “Women Writin’ Rappin’ Breakin’”, Nancy Guevara states that “since theirs is an oral genre, rappers are more concerned with the delivery of words than with the correctness of grammar and spelling on paper.  Verbal ability and memory are emphasized over writing, and words are often altered to fit the rhythm” (55).  This essay supports my argument that there are connections between the methods used in the oral tradition of the past to the Spoken Word, Slam and hip hop of the present.  The tools that contemporary oral artists employ are very similar to the means utilized by people of the past to memorize and convey their words.

Tricia Rose argues in her essay, “Hidden Politics:  Discursive and Institutional Policing of Rap Music” that “as the case for cultural production in general, the politics of rap music involves the contestation over public space, the meanings, interpretations, and value of the lyrics and music, and the investment of cultural capital” (236).  Black cultural expression is constantly being scrutinized, policed and misinterpreted.  Rose also argues that “the struggle over context, meaning and access to public space is critical to contemporary cultural politics.  Power and resistance are exercised through signs, language, and institutions.  Consequently, popular pleasure involves physical, ideological, and territorial struggles” (236).   Rose explains that these struggles are depicted within “Rap’s hidden politics” and need to be “revealed and contested; otherwise, whether we believe the hype or not won’t make a difference” (254).  The struggles of Black Americans are often misinterpreted or manipulated by the media in order to maintain a repressive social order.  This need for an accurate cultural translation of Rap music reminds me of the work that has been done and needs to continue related to accurately translating oral traditions from around the world and revisiting translations from the past that have been both inaccurate and oppressive.  Several translations have removed the works from their cultural context and altered their meanings.