You’re right. BUT! My intention was not equate being a book critic with being white, but to highlight how misunderstood hip-hop is in the context of modern literature. Context is the whole point–hip-hop is entirely different when it’s removed from its environment, such as it is in Yale’s anthology. Even though he proclaims to be “evangelically excited” about hip-hop, Anderson is only furthering its misconception by intaking it in such a bizarre way. Why did it take NPR for the critic to finally listen to the music he was reading? Shouldn’t he have developed an intrinsic interest in listening, in going to the source? The critic was content with his small-minded impression, when one of the most revolutionary things about hip-hop is how it has stretched way beyond stories and rhymes. “Rap really is poetry!” is an annoying but ubiquitous revelation–like, of course it’s poetry! But it’s so much more! And why couldn’t Anderson understand that? Because he is interpreting hip-hop within his own boundaries–boundaries set by normal literary critique, by the mass media, many of which come from misunderstanding on the part of the white people, a world apart from the hip-hop world of the 80’s and 90’s, who set these deep-set boundaries in the first place. Hip-hop is beautiful because it conveys its environment, it encourages people with no roots in its world to stretch their boundaries. Most hip-hop fans, especially white ones, found hip-hop on their own. It really is a learning experience. While it’s great that the critic is so emphatic about his newfound love, I wish he knew how much he’s missing out on and thus perpetuating the misconception! I guess it was hypocritical of me to perpetuate one of my own.

The Indignant Generation: A Narrative History of African American Writers and Critics, 1934-1960- Lawrence P. Jackson