Desi Rap: Hip Hop and South Asian America

(Paperback)

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Description

Desi Rap is a collection of essays from South Asian American activists, academics, and hip-hop artists that explores four main ideas: hip-hop as a means of expression of racial identity, class status, gender, sexuality, racism, and culture; the appropriation of Black racial identity by South Asian American consumers of hip-hop; the furthering of the discourse on race and ethnic identity in the United States through hip-hop; and the exploration of South Asian Americans' use of hip-hop as a form of social protest. Ultimately, this volume is about broadening our horizons through hip-hop and embracing the South Asian American community's polycultural legacy and future.

Reviews

Finally, a book that speaks to the full complexity of immigrant and Asian American lives through the Desi youth who are taking on the 'isms' and creating American culture through hip-hop solidarity. A must-read story about the future of America that is here today. -- Helen Zia, author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People
South Asian Americans have created a unique, remix identity and culture at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, class, and nation as revealed in Desi Rap, a collection of smart, engaging essays by some of the finest scholars and artists of the genre. Moreover, South Asian American hip-hop culture, the authors show, was conceived in resistance to oppression and mobilized a brown liberation movement. -- Gary Y. Okihiro

Author Bio

Ajay Nair is Associate Vice Provost at the University of Pennsylvania.

Murali Balaji is a lecturer and doctoral fellow at the College of Communications at Pennsylvania State University.