TO: Amy Chastain
FROM: Paige Foster
SUBJECT: English 108
DATE: May 7, 2010

Reader’s Response:

Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap

This book, to me, was a very difficult read. While it provides a great historical timeline of how hip-hop has developed and all the controversy surrounding it, I just don’t feel it is appropriate for an English 108 class to study. I guess my justification of this is only because of the language used to write the book. The author, Jeffery O. G. Ogbar uses too many words to make a statement and the words are often beyond a 108 level. For example, a sentence that I randomly pulled out of chapter two reads “The era of the art’s birth bears great responsibility to the oppositional culture that remains the cornerstone of hip-hop, which was largely an extension of the Black Power movement that waned as hip-hop crystallized among urban youth” (Ogabr 38). Honestly, I don’t understand the message that sentence is trying to convey. I definitely got lost in all the words and had trouble finding meaning. I don’t feel like I am below average for a 108 student, so I would guess that many other students in the same class would feel the same way as I did. Even as a professor you acknowledged this because you posted a word bank on the classroom blog, that could help us along with our reading.

The content itself is valuable. While I can’t really relate a lot of it to myself, I can see why a research class would find this information useful. If the message was communicated in a simpler way, then I would probably recommend this book, but I just think that 108 students will feel alienated with this book, as I did, and struggle a bit.

Basically, if a 108 student can get through reading Hip-Hop Revolution, I doubt they will have the want or ability to write about and explore the issues in this book. I know I found paper two the hardest to write, because I was so frustrated with the book, that I sort of gave up on reading it. The only reason I picked a topic for my paper was because you gave us ideas on the blog. Without your help, I would have been lost. I just do not feel 108 students are ready for this book.