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toebean5's review
1.0
There is so much one could say about being a woman and liking hip hop; this author is just really failing to say anything. We'll see.
Nope, it didn't get better. Back to the library.
Nope, it didn't get better. Back to the library.
ebonyutley's review
2.0
if you're already into hip hop and gender the book is pretty much a review of the basics; i thought she would be more of a hater, but she really is about an open dialog about gender (feminism) and hip hop;i totally dig the arguments about sex as a transaction/commodity in hip hop culture
chichi27's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good book dealing with female troubles in hip hop. My big complaint would be that she only focuses on the negative. Come on, give us some hope...
juliacreson's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
While Sharpley-Whiting elucidates gender constructs within hip hip culture, she also elides black women’s sexual agency in their hip hop performances by arguing they reify racist constructs of black women and réinscrive masculine toxicity.
bluenicorn's review against another edition
1.0
There is so much one could say about being a woman and liking hip hop; this author is just really failing to say anything. We'll see.
Nope, it didn't get better. Back to the library.
Nope, it didn't get better. Back to the library.
vreadsabook's review against another edition
4.0
This short book provides a lot of insight into the role of women in hip hop culture. Sharpley-Whiting points out that hip hop is built on a paradoxical relationship to women, in which it simultaneously needs women to survive as an industry, but at the same time it exploits women in many ways. The author is sympathetic to hip hop culture and does a great job of examining the nuances of where women's agency fits into this picture. Nonetheless, Sharpley-Whiting is still engaged in a feminist project. She wants to know how, or if at all, hip hop can continue to "keep it real" without being so harmful to women. Particularly, she wants to know what women women who are fans of hip hop can do to make the culture more female-friendly. Although Sharpley-Whiting makes some suggestions, the book ultimately functions more as a rumination on these issues than a piece that provides clear answers to these questions.
From an academic perspective, I read this book for a history class I am CAing for on Black Women in America. Ultimately, while this book was certainly interesting and held my students' interest because of the author's use of slang and topics from modern culture, I do not know that the book was necessarily appropriate for the course, since the piece is much more of a sociology piece or feminist treatise than a historical text. Moreover, some of the slang and the recording artists that are mentioned were a bit before my students' time, and those students not from the time period in question or unfamiliar with hip hop had to use a lot of Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary to understand the text. I would not use this as a primer on feminism and hip hop culture for those unfamiliar with the scene.
From an academic perspective, I read this book for a history class I am CAing for on Black Women in America. Ultimately, while this book was certainly interesting and held my students' interest because of the author's use of slang and topics from modern culture, I do not know that the book was necessarily appropriate for the course, since the piece is much more of a sociology piece or feminist treatise than a historical text. Moreover, some of the slang and the recording artists that are mentioned were a bit before my students' time, and those students not from the time period in question or unfamiliar with hip hop had to use a lot of Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary to understand the text. I would not use this as a primer on feminism and hip hop culture for those unfamiliar with the scene.
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