Matt Smith-Lahram interviews Reiland Rabaka, author of Hip Hop’s Amnesia: From Blues and the Black Women’s Club Movement to Rap and the Hip Hop Movement. Brandon Maxwell on hip hop: A free-market history. Anarchy on hip-hop: While it’s clear from their music that some rappers actually get the punk thing, others are clearly posing. A case for the Michael Boltons of this world: If Rap’s opponents could see the value it brings, how it keeps people moving, how it gets them excited, they might not be so quick to dismiss it. Who put the heeb in the hippity hippity hop? For the last nine years, three friends have been making long-format rap songs dedicated to the NBA All-Star Game — is it impolite to ask why? Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” and Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” are wildly popular, signifying either a tremendous cultural victory for hip-hop or the moment when hip-hop has begun to lose its meaning. Adam Tod Brown on 4 classic rap albums that ruined rap music.
