Raps of Resistance: How Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole Reignited a Hip-Hop Tradition

J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar are today’s biggest torchbearers of conscious rap, a subgenre that explores such sociopolitical issues as racism, poverty, and mass incarceration, according to this lackluster debut. McCool, an associate professor of digital media at West Chester University, and Hopkins, a culture reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, trace both artists’ ascents against the backdrop of a rap scene caught between “intellectual” writing and commercially successful hits. Cole grew up in North Carolina and developed an “introspective, vulnerable” style that speaks to issues facing “average Black people,” while Lamar used his “raw lyricism” to both expose and transcend the challenges of his gritty Compton upbringing. The authors attribute the artists’ success to their ability to subtly channel social commentary into “radio-friendly hits, block party anthems, and club bangers,” even as conscious rap declines with the rise of “talentless” social media rappers who churn out “easily consumable records” to ready-made audiences. While Cole’s and Kendrick’s achievements are undeniable, the book fails to expand much beyond its thesis, branching instead into tangents and getting lost in clunky, repetitive prose. (A chapter on the intersections between rap and college bounces between rappers who did or did not go to college, rap that references academia, college courses on rap, and Cole and Kendrick’s respective educational experiences.) This disappoints. (May)