ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the cultural and racial politics of London's 'conscious' hip hop milieu, born in intervening years. It demonstrates how nostalgia-tinged ontological concerns of UK post-hip hoppers generate three key cultural political questions: 'What is the real hip hop?' 'To whom does hip hop belong?' and 'For what constructive purposes can hip hop be put to use?' The book also considers how post-hip hop seeks to penetrate mainstream cultural and educational institutions in an effort to make the latter better reflect vernacular cultural realities and developments. It also examines a series of public lectures in London in which black activists from US and UK of a neo-traditional bent attempt to frame an account of hip hop culture and rap music as metaphysically divisible and to use this as a way to define and defend a black 'hip hop family'.
