The critical study of rap music and hip-hop culture has the potential to expand Americans understanding of race and culture in the United States. Hip-hop culture as a multiracial, multiethnic phenomenon reveals the ways in which race relations over the past thirty years have become increasingly complex. The theories and concepts that they use to…

Hip-hop is an interethnic contact zone that allows for the creation of new expressive cultures and new identities for young people. Its openness derives in part from the wide range of expression and interpretation allowed in 182 "McFarland" African musics. Moving beyond the often stifling options offered by an earlier generation that focused on…