Yvonne Bynoe is widely regarded as a leading figure among a new generation of public intellectuals. She currently provides political and cultural commentary for the National Public Radio (NPR) program, News & Notes with Ed Gordon. Bynoe’s straightforward analysis has garnered her praise from academics and average citizens. Acclaimed scholar, Manning Marable has called Bynoe “one of Hip Hop Culture’s most insightful observers.”

Bynoe is a co-founder and the former president of the Urban Think Tank Institute (2000-2004), a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating and engaging young adults about the issues that affect them as a means to facilitate new political leadership. As a law student, Bynoe published Full Disclosure: The Business of Hip Hop, a free newsletter that provided business and legal information to aspiring rap artists and entrepreneurs.

She has written and lectured extensively on politics, culture and economics and how those topics are often framed by popular culture. Bynoe is the author of two books, The Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip Hop Culture (Greenwood Press) that chronicles the history of the genre and Stand & Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership and Hip Hop Culture (Softskull Press).

Bynoe’s writings have also appeared in several anthologies including: Race and Resistance: African Americans in the 21st Century, ed. Herb Boyd, Rhythm & Business: The Political Economy of Black Music, ed. Norman Kelley and America Now!: Short Reading from Recent Periodicals, ed. Robert Antwan.

At the core of Bynoe’s work is the concept that people can be empowered, through education and information, to improve their circumstances. Bynoe’s essays have been included in curricula across the nation. She is also a frequent speaker at colleges and universities as well as at professional association conferences throughout the country.

At the 2005 National Association of Black Journalists conference, Bynoe was interviewed Republican National Committee Chairman, Ken Mehlman and Democratic National Committee Chairman, Howard Dean with fellow panelists, Suzanne Malveaux, CNN White House correspondent, and Marcus Mabry, Chief of Correspondents, Newsweek magazine. This important discussion was moderated by Farai Chideya.

In 2005 she created the Stand & Deliver: Agent of Change grant to support the work of college and community activists. For her activism, in 2003 The Network Journal magazine named her one of ten “New Yorkers Who Make a Difference.”

 

The Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip Hop Culture
Click to order via Amazon

ISBN: 0-313-33058-1
Format: Hardcover (also available as E-Book)
Pub. Date: December 2005
Publisher: Greenwood Press

The Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip Hop Culture is the first comprehensive reference book to document the history of rap music and Hip Hop in the United States. Hip Hop is comprised of four art forms: MC’ing (rapping), B-boying (breakdancing), Deejaying (music) and Graffiti (visual art). The encyclopedia examines all four elements through its 500 entries, 100 photographs, discographies after entries and a “for further listening” listing. The Greenwood Publishing Group is one of the world's leading publishers of reference titles, academic and general interest books.

According to Bynoe, “Hip Hop has existed for over thirty years and has become part of mainstream American culture, yet until now there was not one source for thorough information on the subject. The Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip Hop Culture will be an indispensable reference book for people who want to educate themselves about Hip Hop and the people who contributed to it.
 

Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership and Hip Hop Culture
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ISBN: 1-932360-10-7
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date March 2004
Publisher: Soft Skull Press

Praise for Stand and Deliver:

“Rather than get bogged down in sensational proclamations, apolitical assumptions or uninformed hip-hop activist conjecture, Yvonne Bynoe meaningfully advances the discussion of the hip-hop generation and its politics. Stand and Deliver carefully hones in on arguably the most important space for American youth today: the proving ground where hip-hop, politics, and social change meet.”
— Bakari Kitwana author of The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African-American Culture.

“Stand and Deliver is a great read! Yvonne Bynoe has written a thoughtful, passionate, and wholly original analysis or the relationship between hip-hop culture and real-life political activism. She has a nuanced understanding of these disparate worlds and her vision is vital for anyone who cares about progressive political or the future of hiphop or both.”
— Danny Goldberg, author of Dispatches From the Culture Wars: How the Left Lost Teen Spirit

“Yvonne Bynoe clearly has been a bridge between the talkers, thinkers and doers. She has no doubt been a doer and galvanizer within the hip hop nation. The Urban Think Tank as a collective has rejected the stereotype of the anti-intellectual movement while keeping the energy of the streets. Now the book “Stand and Deliver” has readied the climate to prepare for the next stages on how to persevere within the millennial socio-cultural war zone.”
— Chuck D, rap artist and activist


In Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership and Hip Hop Culture, Bynoe asserts that Black leaders have largely been "charismatic leaders," who don’t produce results or "spokespersons" who deliver complaints and exhortations to the White power structure. Bynoe is passionate about the need for a new generation of Black leadership and civic and political organizations to instead actively engage in a policy-centered relationship with the White power structure. This understanding, Bynoe
argues, should be premised on the principle that political power comes from influence and influence comes from the ability to delivery (or deny) money, votes or both to a political candidate, legislator or political party; in the words of MC Lyte, all the rest is “chitter chatter.”
 

Related Links

Learn more about Yvonne Bynoe
http://www.YvonneBynoe.com

 

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