Scan barcode
donasbooks's review
4.0
I found this book on my Libby app when I searched for something similar! Check the app for your local library so you can get books for free!
I think this collection of essays, arranged and edited by Derrick Darby, is pretty good. It's part of a series of texts meant for intro level philosophy students. Each component in the series seeks to introduce philosophical concepts through the inspection of a quotidian subject: in this case, hip-hop.
The historical discussions, I found fascinating, in part because the book is out of date (2005) so much of the rap cited within is the rap I loved as a young consumer. I remember everyone these essayists call to the page, so their arguments hit me in a sweet spot.
For as good as these discussions are on topics like feminism and social justice, the writers made murky connections between the points of their individual essays, and the classic philosophy the book claimed to be central to its concept. I heard a few things referenced, like Hobbes's suggestion that life is "nasty, brutish, and short," but the ideas aren't really brought into the fold of the discussion.
However, where certain philosphers appear, like Cornel West, more is done with them. Perhaps because more can be done. One of the best quotes in the book, and which sums up the text's shortcomings, is from "After Word! The Philosophy of the Hip-hop Battle" by Marcyliena Morgan: [The] art [of hip-hop] is not outside of day-to-day experience. Consequently, the critic, scholar, and especially the academic philosopher are always under suspicion. p208
Rating:
I think this collection of essays, arranged and edited by Derrick Darby, is pretty good. It's part of a series of texts meant for intro level philosophy students. Each component in the series seeks to introduce philosophical concepts through the inspection of a quotidian subject: in this case, hip-hop.
The historical discussions, I found fascinating, in part because the book is out of date (2005) so much of the rap cited within is the rap I loved as a young consumer. I remember everyone these essayists call to the page, so their arguments hit me in a sweet spot.
For as good as these discussions are on topics like feminism and social justice, the writers made murky connections between the points of their individual essays, and the classic philosophy the book claimed to be central to its concept. I heard a few things referenced, like Hobbes's suggestion that life is "nasty, brutish, and short," but the ideas aren't really brought into the fold of the discussion.
However, where certain philosphers appear, like Cornel West, more is done with them. Perhaps because more can be done. One of the best quotes in the book, and which sums up the text's shortcomings, is from "After Word! The Philosophy of the Hip-hop Battle" by Marcyliena Morgan: [The] art [of hip-hop] is not outside of day-to-day experience. Consequently, the critic, scholar, and especially the academic philosopher are always under suspicion. p208
Rating:
More...