Promotional Information

Hip-hop evangelism—a compelling look at a rap subgroup that explores its musical, social, and political contexts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: God Hop

History and Theology of the Five Percent Nation
1. Building a Nation
2. The Five Percenter "Way of Life"

God Hop's Tools
3. Lyrics
4. Flow, Layering, Rupture, and Groove
5. Sampling, Borrowing, and Meaning
6. Album Packaging and Organization

Conclusion: Reaching the Blind, Deaf, and Dumb
Appendix: Five Percenter Rap Musicians
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Discography
Music Credits
Indexes

About the Author

Felicia Miyakawa is Assistant Professor of Musicology at the Robert W. McLean School of Music, Middle Tennessee State University. She lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Reviews

"Few books on popular music treat their subject so comprehensively, with thoughtful attention to ideology, history, and verbal and musical rhetoric. Miyakawa's approach is at once comprehensive and streamlined, making for an especially effective presentation of the issues as well as a good read." Albin Zak, author of The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records "Miyakaya provides a great deal of information and analysis that is impossible to come by elsewhere. A sterling example of culturally-engaged musicology, her book is also a significant contribution to American history." Joseph Schloss, author of Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop