Speaking of Comments, Thomas Chatterton Williams is Likely to Stir Up Lots of Them

Link to May 14 San Jose Mercury News article, "Hip-hop holds African-Americans back, author says".

Excerpt:   A group of teenagers armed with little more than an attitude and some turntables created a rebellion 30 years ago in the Bronx. The fire spread across the globe, from Beirut to Beijing, where youths use hip-hop to rap about being denied freedom, power and a voice.

Back at home, the lingua franca of the counterculture has become the language of vapid commercialism and empty values, according to author Thomas Chatterton Williams.

The argument he makes in his book, "Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture," is not about high culture versus low culture. Neither is the book — Williams' first — a thinly disguised attempt to make money by offering lurid details about hip-hop's royalty.

The stakes are too high for that, especially for African-Americans, said Williams by telephone during a national book tour that touches down Friday at the Book Passage in Corte Madera.