Abstract
In vivid and graphic detail, Oware describes the large structural changes in urban areas across the United States leading to the birth of hip hop culture in New York. Deindustrialization, urban renewal programs, and the criminalization of poor and working-class minorities intensifies in the late 1960s and 1970s. Oware contends that these factors negatively impact residents, hollowing out communities through middle-class flight, the relocation of manufacturing jobs to overseas countries, and the targeting of poor people of color by politicians and law enforcement. Referencing key studies and scholars, Oware details the deleterious effects on inner-city residents in the Bronx and Los Angeles. Yet, out of this despair, drawing on their creativity, residents create hip hop and rap music.
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Oware, M. (2018). Urban Spaces and Bodies. In: I Got Something to Say. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90454-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90454-2_2
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