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The most creative moments of African American culture have always emanated from a lower class or "ghetto" perspective. In contemporary society, this ghetto aesthetic has informed a large segment of the popular marketplace from the incendiary nature of gangsta rap, through the choreographed violence of films like Menace II Society, to recurrent debates around the use of the word "nigga," and even the assertion of this perspective in professional basketball. In each case, most of the discussion around these cultural circumstances tends to be dismissive, if not completely uninformed. In analyzing the ranges of images from the O. J. Simpson trial to Snoop Doggy Dogg, Am I Black Enough for You lo...
Challenging conventional wisdom on a range of issues, Todd Boyd examines the debates over use of the "N-word" and the "get money" ethos of hip hop moguls like Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. He also looks at hip hop's impact on a diverse array of figures, from Bill Clinton and Eminem to Jennifer Lopez.
Out of Bounds is a collection of essays that regards the media representation of professional sports through the lens of cultural studies. Editors Aaron Baker and Todd Boyd contend that the popularity of sports derives not simply from their appeal as leisure entertainment but from their contribution to discussion of larger issues of class, race, gender, and masculinity. Essays in the collection challenge media wisdom about the apolitical nature of sports by examining how they contribute to the contested process of defining social identities. Included within a broad range of works are "'Never Trust a Snake': WWF Wrestling as Masculine Melodrama," (Henry Jenkins), "Mike Tyson and the Perils of Discursive Constraints: Boxing, Race and The Assumption of Guilt" (John Sloop), and "Visible Difference and Flex Appeal: The Body, Sex, Sexuality, and Race in the Pumping Iron Films" (Christine Holmlund).
It began with Magic, Bird, and Dr. J. Then came Michael. The Dream Team. The WNBA. And, most recently, "Spree" Latrell Sprewell--American Dream or American Nightmare?--the embodiment of everything many believe is wrong--and others believe is exciting--about the game. Today, despite the NBA strike, despite home run derbies, despite football's headlock on network television ratings, despite the much-heralded return of baseball, basketball has assumed a role in American culture and consciousness impossible to imagine 20 years ago, when arenas were empty and the NBA finals were broadcast via tape delay in the wee hours. So what happened? How did a "black sport," plagued by drug scandal and decim...
Hop on Pop showcases the work of a new generation of scholars—from fields such as media studies, literature, cinema, and cultural studies—whose writing has been informed by their ongoing involvement with popular culture and who draw insight from their lived experiences as critics, fans, and consumers. Proceeding from their deep political commitment to a new kind of populist grassroots politics, these writers challenge old modes of studying the everyday. As they rework traditional scholarly language, they search for new ways to write about our complex and compelling engagements with the politics and pleasures of popular culture and sketch a new and lively vocabulary for the field of cultu...
When the weather outside starts cooling down, inside the dorm things are heating up. Can these college roommates fall in love without going out of bounds? Beaten and heartbroken, Jesse Cole is placed in a new dorm room after his last roommate attacked him. Just wanting to be left alone to heal in peace, he's shocked when tall, dark and dangerous-looking Nick Moretti walks in. Nick doesn't have time to tiptoe around his new roommate—he's too busy working in order to pay for school. But something about Jesse brings out his protective instincts. As their cautious friendship grows and becomes loaded with sexual tension, he wants to make Jesse comfortable. Enter the perfect plan: a line of tape down the center of the room. Boundaries established. But as innocent movie nights become hours-long temptation marathons, and whispered chats from across the room delve into straight-up dirty territory, crossing the line has never been so satisfying.
Sociologist S. Craig Watkins shows how the black film wave has transformed the concept and representation of "blackness" in America. Watkins contends that despite the social and economic marginalization of black youth, they have gained unprecedented access to the popular media and have influenced not only black popular culture but the broader U.S. popular culture scene as well.
The African American influence on popular culture is among the most sweeping and lasting this country has seen. Despite a history of institutionalized racism, black artists, entertainers, and entrepreneurs have had enormous impact on American popular culture. Pioneers such as Oscar Michaeux, Paul Robeson, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Langston Hughes, Bill Bojangles Robinson, and Bessie Smith paved the way for Jackie Robinson, Nina Simone, James Baldwin, Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali, Sidney Poitier, and Bill Cosby, who in turn opened the door for Spike Lee, Dave Chappelle, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan. Today, hip hop is the most powerful element of youth culture; white teenage...
In Young, Black, Rich, and Famous, Todd Boyd chronicles how basketball and hip hop have gone from being reviled by the American mainstream in the 1970s to being embraced and imitated globally today. For young black men, he argues, they represent a new version of the American dream, one embodying the hopes and desires of those excluded from the original version. Shedding light on both perception and reality, Boyd shows that the NBA has been at the forefront of recognizing and incorporating cultural shifts?from the initial image of 1970s basketball players as overpaid black drug addicts, to Michael Jordan?s spectacular rise as a universally admired icon, to the 1990s, when the hip hop aestheti...
The infamous literary hoax that fooled the art world On January 8 1960, artist Nat Tate set out to burn his entire life's work. Four days later he jumped off a Staten Island ferry, killing himself. His body was never found. When William Boyd published his biography of Abstract Expressionist Nat Tate, tributes poured in from a whole host of artists and critics in the New York art world. They toasted the troubled genius in a Manhattan launch party attended by David Bowie and Gore Vidal. But Nat Tate never existed. The book was a hoax. Will Boyd's biography of a fake artist is a brilliant probe into the politics of authenticity and reputation in the modern art scene. It is a playful and intelligent insight into the fascinating, often cryptic world of modern art.