Ebook: From Jim Crow to Jay-Z: Race, Rap, and the Performance of Masculinity

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.

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Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Shadow and Act: American Popular Music and the Absent Black Presence 2 The Fire This Time: Black Masculinity and the Politics of Racial Performance 3 Affective Gestures: Hip-hop Aesthetics, Blackness, and the Literacy of Performance 4 Real Niggas: Black Men, Hard Men, and the Rise of Gangsta Culture 5 Race Rebels: Whiteness and the New Masculine Desire Epilogue Appendix Notes References Index|

"Miles White's From Jim Crow to Jay-Z drops squarely into the Bermuda Triangle of critical race studies, gender and sexuality studies, and performance studies with useful new approaches to studying rappers as ambivalent cultural exemplars of black masculine performance."—H-Net Review

"Invaluable. . . . Provides a clear example of how interdisciplinary approaches to African American music and culture can provide future scholars with the tools to examine the ever changing and diverse identities within the community."—Black Grooves

"White's generative approach and application are ground-breaking, innovative, and ultimately laudable."—Popular Music and Society
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Formerly a professional musician and entertainment journalist, Miles White teaches at City University of Seattle in Bratislava, Slovakia.