Jay-Z

Julius Bailey is a visiting professor of philosophy at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio and lead professor of philosophy and religion at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. He has written about music for numerous publications, including Vibe Magazine and The Source Hip Hop Magazine.

“offers a strong pedagogical tool for introducing readers to the socially urgent and complex issues that hip-hop has always evoked...at the end of each essay, questions are included for further discussion, providing excellent teaching tools on significant social, cultural, and political issues”—ARSC Journal.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      viiiForeword: On Jay-Z and Hip Hop StudiesCORNEL WEST      Introduction: In Search of Meaning: Sign, Symbol, and ShawnJULIUS BAILEY      Part I: The Groundwork1. Jigga Speaks: The Tradition of Black Oratorical GeniusTONI BLACKMAN      2. The Authentic Cultural AgentG. JAHWARA GIDDINGS      3. The Meeting with a President and a “King”DAVEYD      4. A Urban Singer of Tales: The Freestyle Remixing of an Afro-Homeric Oral TraditionNICOLE HODGES PERSLEY      5. The Prodigal God and the Legacy of Socially Responsible HipT. HASAN JOHNSON      Part II: The Challenges6. Zen and the Art of Transcending the Status Quo: The Reach from the Hood to the SuburbsBAKARI KITWANA      7. Black Marketing Whiteness: From Hustler to HNICSTEPHANY ROSE      8. A Forty Million Slave’s Moment of ClarityDAYLAN DUFELMEIER      9. Hip Hop’s Prospects for Womanist MasculinityMELINA ABDULLAH      Part III: The Classroom Freestyles10. Complicating Shawn Carter: Race, the Code, and the Politics of SchoolDAVID STOVALL      11. Oedipus-Not-So-Complex: A Blueprint for Literary EducationA.D. CARSON      12. The Culture Industry: Mainstream Success and Black Cultural RepresentationGIL COOK      13. The Self-Reliant Philosopher King: Shawn Carter ExoneratedSHA’DAWN BATTLE      About the Contributors      Index