Between God and gangsta rap : bearing witness to black culture

Resource Information

The work Between God and gangsta rap : bearing witness to black culture represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in DC Public Library System. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Between God and gangsta rap : bearing witness to black culture

Title remainder

bearing witness to black culture

Statement of responsibility

Michael Eric Dyson

Creator

• Dyson, Michael Eric

Subject

• African American arts
• African American arts
• African Americans -- Social conditions
• African Americans -- Social conditions -- 1975-
• Since 1975

Language

eng

Summary

• A former welfare father from the ghetto of Detroit, Michael Eric Dyson is today a critic, scholar, and ordained Baptist minister who has forged a unique role: he is a compelling spokesman for the concerns of the black community, and also a leader who has a genuine rapport with that community, particularly with urban youth. In his essays, lectures, sermons, and books, he has emerged as one of the leading African-American voices of our day
• There is a section of wonderful profiles Dyson calls "Testimonials"--Studies of black men, from O.J. Simpson to Marion Barry, and from Baptist preacher Gardner Taylor to Michael Jordan and Sam Cooke. In "Obsessed with O.J.," Dyson offers an extremely personal and insightful series of reflections on the case. In "Lessons," Dyson takes up the subjects of politics and racial identity. Newt Gingrich and moral panic, Qubilah Shabazz, Carol Moseley Braun, the NAACP, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X all figure in these insightful and accessible pieces. And "Songs of Celebration" draws from Dyson's writings for the popular press such as Rolling Stone and Vibe, and explores the joys and pitfalls of black expression, from the black vernacular bible to gospel music, R & B, and hip-hop. Dyson concludes with an essay framed as a letter to his wife, which offers a positive counterbalance to the opening address to his brother
• The letter serves as a tribute to the redemptive powers of love, the black family, spirit, and change. Arguing that the richness of black culture today can be found in the interstices - between god and gangsta rap - Dyson charts the progress and pain of African Americans over the past decade. As a compendium of his thinking about contemporary culture Between God and Gangsta Rap will find a wide audience among black and white readers

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

305.896/073

Index

index present

LC call number

E185.86

LC item number

.D94 1996

Literary form

non fiction