Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation

New
Paperback
2011
$23.63

Close to the Edge tells the stories of a global generation that came of age with hip hop. Part memoir, part social history, the book relates the author's experiences as she traverses the hop hop globe, from Australia to Detroit and from Havana to Caracas. The book explores the elements of hip hop culture - rapping, beat making, b-boying, d-jaying, and graffiti - around the world. Close to the Edge narrates a search for solidarities across borders, a document of the diverse histories, misunderstandings and fissures that hip hop engendered as it went global, and a powerful demonstration of the power of music to forge radical political alliances.

Synopsis

Close to the Edge tells the stories of a global generation that came of age with hip hop. Part memoir, part social history, the book relates the author's experiences as she traverses the hop hop globe, from Australia to Detroit and from Havana to Caracas. The book explores the elements of hip hop culture - rapping, beat making, b-boying, d-jaying, and graffiti - around the world. Close to the Edge narrates a search for solidarities across borders, a document of the diverse histories, misunderstandings and fissures that hip hop engendered as it went global, and a powerful demonstration of the power of music to forge radical political alliances.

$23.63

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
Publisher: Verso Books
Published: 19 Sep 2011
ISBN 10: 1844677419
ISBN 13: 9781844677412

Media Reviews

Fernandes brilliantly captures the moment when a global generation curved toward a unifying language and culture and found something that was both much more and much less than what it was searching for. Close to the Edge is a beautifully told tale of the collective and the personal, the cultural and political--a classic of hip hop writing and a poignant tribute to urban youth. --Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation

Fernandes chronicles her search for a global hip hop movement through an earnest and self-reflexive approach to storytelling that is equally concerned with history and social issues. She offers fascinating and detailed snapshots of the hip-hop scenes in Sydney, Chicago, Havana and Caracas while asking broad and crucial questions about the intersections between music, identities, and politics. Close to the Edge is both thought provoking and a pleasure to read. --Raquel Z. Rivera, author of New York Ricans from the Hip Hop Zone, and editor of the anthology Reggaeton

Author Bio

SUJATHA FERNANDES is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Centre, City University of New York. She is the author of Cuba Represent! Cuban Arts, State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures and Who Can Stop the Drums? Urban Social Movements in Chavez's Venezuela.