B.D.:
I can't figure out whether this is your post, but I
agree with many of the thoughts (particularly the need to
argue). As for authenticity, I do not know what that means.
Neither does Bill Cosby or Michael Eric Dyson. I do think the
proper term is resonate. There is a varied life experience
among African Americans [BTW, that half-middle class stat is
incorrect, check the U.S. census], nonetheless many common
feelings, emotions and predicaments resonate with Africans
throughout the Diaspora. That was what I referred to.
Nonetheless, you're right, the intra-cultural wrangling is
necessary.
As for authors, check out Zane [The Heat Seekers],
Teri Woods [True to the Game],Tracy Brown [Chyna Black], or
Shannon Holmes [Never Go Home Again], to name a few. There
are more and more each week. Some of the best sell out of the
trunks of their cars or with vendors in the major
cities.
Also, I believe "street lit" is more than a passing
fad. It seems to be part of an evolution in African-American
literature. That means, as hip-hop music, the genre threatens
to go global and challenge the authenticity of the
"mainstream."
vincent f. a. golphin
"B. D. Roye" <
broye54@comcast.net> wrote:
DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net wrote:
>Vincent wrote:
>
>"Those factors seem to be the spur to increasing wave
of "street lit"
>authors. The emerging genre, which seems to gain some
respect now that
>white-owned publishers are picking up some of the
bestselling authors,
>seeks to make sense of black ghetto life."
>
>I've been wanting to check out some of this recent
street lit, but I
>wasn't sure where to start. Can you recommend some
titles and/or
>authors?
>
>"The stories about drugs, prostitution, violence and
prison are an
>indication for a style of novel that is more
authentic to the African
>American mass culture, . . ."
>
>However, I've got to quibble with this claim of
authenticity (even
>beyond my quibbles with the whole myth of
authenticity). While it may
>be "authentic" to some, even many, African Americans,
I find the idea
>that there is one true African American experience
very troublesome.
>When you figure that at least half of African
Americans are middle class
>or higher, this concept starts to crumble. And you
don't have to look
>very hard to see the intra-race, often inter-class,
debate over African
>American culture, at least as far back as the Harlem
Renaissance. It
>recently made headlines with Bill Cosby's remarks
about poor Blacks, but
>his remarks were part of a long tradition, in many
ways updating the WEB
>Dubois/George Washington Carver debate. For most of
its history, hip
>hop has been a focus of and platform for this debate.
And I wouldn't be
>surprised if street lit prompts similar divides. I do
know that the
>shortlived Syndicate books, which planned to wrap hip
hop soundtrack CDs
>with the books, caused controversy, with some
claiming it was more
>glamorization of the street, while they countered it
would get kids
>interested in reading (gotta argue it's good for you
in Puritanical
>America -- just being entertaining ain't good
enough).
>
>Mark
>
>
>
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>
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>
>
>
>
>
I believe the writer of this note meant Booker T. Washington
not George Washington Carver who a scientist
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