Desi Rap: Hip Hop and South Asian America

by Ajay Nair DevOps Architect, Murali Balaji Temple University, Utkarsh Ambudkar, DJ Rekha, Deepti Hajela

Overview

Desi Rap is a collection of essays from South Asian American activists, academics, and hip-hop artists that explores four main ideas: hip-hop as a means of expression of racial identity, class status, gender, sexuality, racism, and culture; the appropriation of Black racial identity by South Asian American consumers of hip-hop; the furthering of the discourse on race and ethnic identity in the United States through hip-hop; and the exploration of South Asian Americans' use of hip-hop as a form of social protest. Ultimately, this volume is about broadening our horizons through hip-hop and embracing the South Asian American community's polycultural legacy and future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739127223
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	10/17/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Ajay Nair is Associate Vice Provost at the University of Pennsylvania. Murali Balaji is a lecturer and doctoral fellow at the College of Communications at Pennsylvania State University.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 Part I
Chapter 3 Chapter 1. My Hip Hop Life
Chapter 4 Chapter 2. Polyvalent Voices: Ethnic and Racialized Desi Hip Hop
Chapter 5 Chapter 3. Hip Hop Agitprop
Chapter 6 Chapter 4. B-Boys and Bass Girls: Sex, Style, and Mobility in Indian American Youth Culture
Chapter 7 Chapter 5. How Hip Hop Helped an Indian Girl Find Her Way Home
Chapter 8 Chapter 6. Making Brown Like Dat: South Asians and Hip-Hop
Chapter 9 Chapter 7. Outcaste
Part 10 Part II
Chapter 11 Chapter 8. Spoken Word
Chapter 12 Chapter 9. The Disjointed Artist
Chapter 13 Chapter 10. Beats, Rhythm, Life
Chapter 14 Chapter 11. Sounds from a Town I Love
Chapter 15 Chapter 12. Words from the Battlefront
Chapter 16 Chapter 13. An Ear to the Streets and a Vibe in the Basement
Chapter 17 Afterword

Editorial Reviews

Finally, a book that speaks to the full complexity of immigrant and Asian American lives through the Desi youth who are taking on the 'isms' and creating American culture through hip-hop solidarity. A must-read story about the future of America that is here today.

Helen Zia

South Asian Americans have created a unique, remix identity and culture at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, class, and nation as revealed in Desi Rap, a collection of smart, engaging essays by some of the finest scholars and artists of the genre. Moreover, South Asian American hip-hop culture, the authors show, was conceived in resistance to oppression and mobilized a brown liberation movement.

Gary Y. Okihiro

Finally, a book that speaks to the full complexity of immigrant and Asian American lives through the Desi youth who are taking on the 'isms' and creating American culture through hip-hop solidarity. A must-read story about the future of America that is here today.--Helen Zia, author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People

South Asian Americans have created a unique, remix identity and culture at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, class, and nation as revealed in Desi Rap, a collection of smart, engaging essays by some of the finest scholars and artists of the genre. Moreover, South Asian American hip-hop culture, the authors show, was conceived in resistance to oppression and mobilized a brown liberation movement.--Gary Y. Okihiro

From the Publisher