Hip Hop’s Li’l Sistas Speak, a new book by Bettina L. Love, an assistant professor in the department of elementary and social studies education, explores how young women navigate the space of hip-hop music and culture to form ideas concerning race, body, class, inequality and privilege.
Atlanta serves as the background against which these youth consume hip-hop. The book examines how the city’s socially conservative politics, urban gentrification, race relations, Southern-flavored hip-hop music and culture, and booming adult entertainment industry rest in their periphery.
Through interviews and observations conducted with six black middle and high school girls, the book looks at the girls’ exploration of hip-hop and coming of age in Atlanta. The author also shares her love for the culture, struggles of being a queer educator and a black lesbian living and researching in the South and reimagining hip-hop pedagogy for urban learners.