This book offers an interdisciplinary study of hip-hop music written and performed by rappers who happen to be out black gay men. It examines the storytelling mechanisms of gay themed lyrics, and how these form protests and become enabling tools for (black) gay men to discuss issues such as living on the down-low and HIV/AIDS. It considers how the biased promotion of feminised gay male artists/characters in mainstream entertainment industry has rendered masculinity an exclusively male heterosexual property, providing a representational framework for men to identify with a form of “homosexual masculinity” – one that is constructed without having to either victimise anything feminine or necessarily convert to femininity. The book makes a strong case that it is possible for individuals (like gay rappers) to perform masculinity against masculinity, and open up a new way of striving for gender equality.

Masculinity and hip hop are two topics that have been gaining wide attention in recent years. However, research has often been limited to solely criticizing the hip hop movement and examining the culture from a very parochial outsider’s perspective. An in-depth study of the relationship between hip hop and black masculinity, with commentary from the very men who are affected by it, is missing from the academia. It is with this thought that I have written my book. I wish to give a voice to those who have not yet been heard from, to examine and bring to light the damaging as well as positive affects that hip hop has on black men by talking to every day black men themselves, and to show that the hip hop phenomenon can be used as a great political tool for mobilizing this generation. This book examines stereotypical definitions of black manhood and looks at how specific images and lyrics in hip hop promote these stereotypes. I discuss how young black men, often growing up without fathers, look to the males in hip hop as role models. I argue that negative aspects of hip hop are really affecting young black men and that artists need to be more conscious of their impact and role in the black community. I also discuss many positive hip hop artists and music and that conscious hip hop is kept underground intentionally by corporations. I have integrated a case study throughout the book, where I interviewed young black men on ideas of masculinity, education and hip hop. I end by discussing the positive in hip hop, and by giving examples of how it can be taken so much farther, especially to connect the young urban community with politics and social awareness.

This multilayered study of the representation of black masculinity in musical and cultural performance takes aim at the reduction of African American male culture to stereotypes of deviance, misogyny, and excess. Broadening the significance of hip-hop culture by linking it to other expressive forms within popular culture, Miles White examines how these representations have both encouraged the demonization of young black males in the United States and abroad and contributed to the construction of their identities. From Jim Crow to Jay-Z traces black male representations to chattel slavery and American minstrelsy as early examples of fetishization and commodification of black male subjectivity. Continuing with diverse discussions including black action films, heavyweight prizefighting, Elvis Presley's performance of blackness, and white rappers such as Vanilla Ice and Eminem, White establishes a sophisticated framework for interpreting and critiquing black masculinity in hip-hop music and culture. Arguing that black music has undeniably shaped American popular culture and that hip-hop tropes have exerted a defining influence on young male aspirations and behavior, White draws a critical link between the body, musical sound, and the construction of identity.

A portrait of today's African-American male evaluates both archetypes and stereotypes, exploring black masculinity as it is represented by a range of personalities, from professionals and hip-hop figures to family men and criminals. Original.

State of the hip-hop union -- The meaning of hip-hop -- From a cool complex to complex cool -- Thug life and social death -- The bridge : summary of chapters two and three -- Hip-hop authenticity in black and white -- Parental advisory : explicit lyrics -- The last verse -- Obama as hip-hop icon.

Traces the origins of Black body politics in the United States and its contemporary manifestations in hip-hop music and film.

Discusses media portrayals of black men who are outside the expected roles of stock characters and are thus, "illegible" to spectators.