Our national conversation about race is out-of-date. Hip-hop is the key to understanding how things are changing. In a book that will appeal to hip-hoppers both black and white and their parents, Kitwana teases apart the culture of hip-hop to illuminate how race is being lived by young Americans. He poses and answers a plethora of questions, among them: Does hip-hop belong to black kids? What in hip-hop appeals to white youth? Is hip-hop different from what R&B, jazz, and even rock 'n' roll meant to previous generations? What does class have to do with it? How do young Americans think about race, and how has hip-hop influenced their perspective? Kitwana addresses uncomfortable truths about America's level of comfort with black people, challenging preconceived notions of race. With this brave tour de force, Bakari Kitwana takes his place alongside the greatest African American intellectuals of the past decades.—From publisher description.