Cheryl L. Keyes: Rap Music and Street Consciousness

The book that I decided to choose was Rap Music and Street Consciousness by Cheryl Keyes. In this book, Keyes gives a retrospective look to rap music by tracing its roots and thoroughly examining hip-hop culture. This book struck me as interesting because as soon as I read the first page, I was instantly in the middle of reading an argument on the origin of hip-hop. While some hip-hop artists were claiming that hip-hop came from West Africa, others did not believe it and questioning where it came from. Rather than just saying that it came from Africa, Keyes strengthens the connection between hip-hop and its African roots by bringing up the impact of the book, Roots. While that connection may seem far-fetched, she brings it all together and says that since the popularity of Roots, West African griots or musicians have been expanding their performances and rap artists could have easily seen them and recognized the connection. It is arguments like these that make the book interesting to read and help you identify more with what the author is saying. She supports her claims and point of view with testimonials from the actual hip-hop artists themselves, which makes her a lot more believable in what she is stating.

Keyes, an associate professor at the University of California, specializes in areas that deal with African American music and gender studies. In addition to researching hip-hop culture all across U.S and Africa, she also serves as the U.S president of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music. Along with this, she also plays the piano and flute and is close to finishing an album. All of this proves that she is more than capable of writing this book based on her experience in studying and researching hip-hop music.