The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture — Volume 4, Issue 1: It Ain’t My Fault
The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture — Volume 4, Issue 1: It Ain’t My Fault
It Ain’t My Fault: Blame It on Hip-Hop examines why hip-hop is repeatedly blamed for broader social anxieties around race, youth culture, politics, and violence. Bringing together scholars, artists, and cultural critics, the issue challenges these narratives and reframes hip-hop as a lens for understanding media, power, and cultural resistance.
Format: Digital Download (PDF)
Publisher: Words Beats & Life Inc.
Publication: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture
Volume: 4
Issue: 1
Publication Year: 2012
Inside This Issue
Scholarly Essays
Omar El-Khairy – Hip-Hop’s Global Soundscape
Examines hip-hop as an international cultural language shaped by migration, empire, and resistance.Nina Otchere-Oduro
Analyzes the policing of race and public space through hip-hop fashion and youth presence in Charlottesville, Virginia.Tatyana Varshavsky
Explores how media narratives around graffiti erase its cultural and educational significance.Eitan Prince – The Ellis Report: The Rap on Obama
Examines hip-hop’s political engagement during a pivotal electoral moment.
Interviews & Conversations:
Tricia Rose
David Banner
Kevin Powell
These conversations explore responsibility, representation, and generational debates within hip-hop culture.
The issue also includes dialogue with political and cultural organizers, including Brandon Brice of the Hip-Hop Republicans, challenging simplistic political interpretations of hip-hop.
Poetry
Kyle G. Dargan: Featured poet whose work reflects urban memory, lineage, and language, reinforcing hip-hop’s role as a site of literacy and cultural critique.
Visual Art
Cover Art: Julius Hutchins & Matas Yongvongpaibul from the DC Urban Arts Academy.
Illustrations: Aniekan Udofia
Additional Artwork: Asad “Ultra” Walker
The issue also features illustrated portraits of Tricia Rose, David Banner, and Kevin Powell.
