Some things about Can't Stop Won't Stop

I finished Can’t Stop Won’t Stop a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been thinking about it little by little for a while now. I was expecting it to be something different—to name each band, sub-genre and trend in hip-hop and have Jeff Chang tell me everything I needed to know about it. I was expecting him to passionately examine the Run DMC/Aerosmith video and devote 2 to 3 chapters to the Biggie/Tupac conflict. I was pleasantly surprised though—“Walk This Way” was mentioned only in passing, and I don’t think he ever talked about Biggie, and Tupac was only mentioned as the son of Black Panther Afeni Shakur.

Instead the book was a 500-page dive into Black American history in the late 20th century. Beginning with chaos in the Bronx, i

nto the Black Belt in Long Island to gang wars in LA, he discusses hip-hop’s intimate relationship with conflicts in Black America. It’s awesome because Chang is really smart, basically, and isn’t afraid to forge a connection (that I find a lot of people are really reluctant to forge, for really fucking obvious reasons) between hip-hop and activism. The last chapter led me to believe this, at least. He also includes a portion of the (I think) historic interview with Ice Cube and Angela Davis. If you have access to JSTOR, I would sincerely recommend that you read that shit (search “Nappy Happy”).

Except this book doesn’t really discuss contemporary acts—I guess why waste ink on T.I.?—but I sort of want an update. What does Jeff Chang think when he turns on MTV today? Is he OK with it? Should G-Unit have a Minister of Information? I want him to tell me if it’s even appropriate to consider these primarily moneymaking endeavors on the same level with Public Enemy. I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that he would say NO, but I guess I’d want him to elaborate.
Also, why does he think that neo-soul is a feminist answer to the uber-masculine mainstream hip-hop? Oy vey (lolz).