PositiveThe Washington PostKatz, a self-described white \'middle-aged professor,\' might not seem like the most obvious emissary for a culture born among black and brown youth in the 1970s South Bronx. For those young artists then and for many more today, hip-hop is equipment for living, an essential lifeline for self-expression and communication. Katz respects this. Through his difference and his deference, Katz models a way of being at home in a culture that is not one’s own. He earns respect from the artists by his commitment to the cause; by his efforts to practice, however imperfectly, the art himself; and, most important, by his willingness to listen to and learn from those whose personal connections to hip-hop run deep ... Throughout much of the book, Katz renders himself nearly invisible, acting as a watchful chronicler of the remarkable cross-cultural exchanges happening among the artists.
