Young, Black, rich, and famous

In this controversial look at the impact of cutting-edge black urban culture on contemporary America, Dr. Todd Boyd, the man CNN deemed "the hip-hop professor," uses the intertwining worlds of basketball and hip hop as a powerful metaphor for exploring the larger themes of race, class, and identity. In the 1970s, as a direct result of both the civil rights and the black power movements, black popular culture became a visible, influential presence in mainstream film, television, music, and sports. Basketball, in particular, reflected the changing landscape. The NBA came to be dominated by young black men whose potent combination of fame and wealth, often coupled with a defiance of white mores, profoundly disrupted the status quo. At the same time, hip hop music was emerging from the streets of New York City. An expression of and a response to urban conditions, it served as a way of being heard when many other forces attempted to suffocate the black voice. It, too, aroused strong reactions. In Young, Black, Rich and Famous, Todd Boyd chronicles how basketball and hip hop have gone from being reviled by the American mainstream to being embraced and imitated globally. For young black m