Holy Hip Hop in the City of Angels

Christina Zanfagna

book: Holy Hip Hop in the City of Angels

Open Access Published by University of California Press 2017

Holy Hip Hop in the City of Angels

Christina Zanfagna

Volume 19 in the series Music of the African Diaspora

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780520968790

Overview
Contents

About this book

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program for monographs. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

In the 1990s, Los Angeles was home to numerous radical social and environmental eruptions. In the face of several major earthquakes and floods, riots and economic insecurity, police brutality and mass incarceration, some young black Angelenos turned to holy hip hop—a movement merging Christianity and hip hop culture—to “save” themselves and the city. Converting street corners to open-air churches and gangsta rap beats into anthems of praise, holy hip hoppers used gospel rap to navigate complicated social and spiritual realities and to transform the Southland’s fractured terrains into musical Zions. Armed with beats, rhymes, and bibles, they journeyed through black Lutheran congregations, prison ministries, African churches, reggae dancehalls, hip hop clubs, Nation of Islam meetings, and Black Lives Matter marches. Zanfagna’s fascinating ethnography provides a contemporary and unique view of black LA, offering a much-needed perspective on how music and religion intertwine in people's everyday experiences.

Author / Editor information

Zanfagna Christina :

Christina Zanfagna is Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Ethnic Studies at Santa Clara University.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction: Earthquake Music and the Politics of Conversion Open Access Download PDF	1
1. “Now I Bang for Christ”: Rites/Rights of Passage Open Access Download PDF	28
2. Hip Hop Church L.A.: Shifting Grounds in Inglewood Open Access Download PDF	55
3. Beyond Babylon: Geographies of Conversion Open Access Download PDF	82
4. The Evangelical Hustle: Selling Music, Saving Souls Open Access Download PDF	106
5. Roads to Zion: Hip Hop’s Search for the City Yet to Come Open Access Download PDF	128
Epilogue: Aftershocks Open Access Download PDF	145
Acknowledgments Open Access Download PDF	147
Notes Open Access Download PDF	151
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	177
Musical Links Open Access Download PDF	189
Index Open Access Download PDF	193

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 218

eBook

Published: August 29, 2017
ISBN: 9780520968790