Michael Eric Dyson's book of interwoven essays on the importance of rapper and mogul Jay-Z is a triumph of rap academia. For far too long, Dyson (The Black Presidency) has been forced to justify his motivations for teaching university-caliber classes on hip hop (and several of its most enduring figures) to a skeptical public. Jay-Z: Made in America should put that debate to rest.
Fandom for the "Empire State of Mind" rapper is not required to appreciate Dyson's work, which focuses on three facets of the artist's oeuvre: hustle, poetry and politics. Starting with hustle, Dyson mines Jay-Z's lyrics and annotates his career to establish his thesis: that the rapper's career can be viewed as an extension of the mentality he has relied on since he was a kid in Brooklyn's Marcy housing project, selling crack "to those who couldn't take the pain." Later, Dyson's argument expands as the book's focus pivots to examine the rapper's arguably unparalleled use of language, as well as his interest and involvement in politics and justice reform. Within this overarching framework, Dyson also finds time to eulogize the life and work of the late Nipsey Hussle, to analyze the posthumous reputation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to center the career and legacy of Jay-Z in a larger conversation of black artistry and excellence. As more serious critics finally welcome (albeit tacitly) hip-hop into the pantheon of serious cultural critique, Dyson's Jay-Z: Made in America will be embraced as one example of how to do it right. --Zack Ruskin, freelance reviewer