"Hood Politics"

Abstract

This paper explores the possibility of music to transformthe way we understand each other. In particular, it looks at thegenre of hip-hop and the ways in which it can serve as a vehicle forunderstanding black experience. I argue that hip-hop’s structuralelements allow artists to convey their living narrative in a way thatrecognizes, challenges, and changes our conceptual understandingof the black body. Using the works of Darby English and HarryNethery, I examine hip-hop and apply their arguments to twospecific rappers in order to illustrate my argument.