Deconstructing Tyrone

Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation
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by Natalie Hopkinson & Natalie Y. Moore

ISBN: 1573442577
Pub. Date: October 2006
Format: Paperback, 246pp
Publisher: Cleis Press

�Hip-hop, whose entire aesthetic, at least as promulgated on cable and Radio, seems to be based on the world's oldest profession; all men are pimps and all the women are hos. As a whole, the Hip-Hop Generation has found prostitution to be an apt metaphor for American capitalism, which� has taken the literal and figurative pimping of black culture to new depth�
�Excerpted from Chapter 6, The Pole Test

It's too bad that a book as good as this one would have as misleading a title and cover photo as Deconstructing Tyrone. The authors, Natalie Hopkinson and Natalie Y. Moore, obviously had a sense that there was a problem, because they devoted most of their introduction to explaining the meaning of �deconstruction� and the derivation of the word Tyrone (Greek for �king�) before explaining that Tyrone isn�t a individual, or even one type of black man, but �an abstract idea� which �tends to evoke a range of emotions.�

But both Natalies more than make up for that distracting digression by following it up with a superb, thorough, and intellectually honest examination of the present-day African-American male. Leaving no stone unturned, the two assess how such phenomena as homophobia, the incarceration rate, brothers on the down-low, abandonment by baby-daddies, gangsta� rap's influence, academic underachievement and underemployment have contributed to what they see as an unfortunate schism between brothers and sisters.

Self-described feminists, with impressive journalistic credits on their resumes, Moore and Hopkinton structure the book by taking turn writing chapters. Nonetheless, Deconstructing Tyrone reads seamlessly, and with a clarity in terms of tone and a singularity in perspective, as if the work of one person.

So, the only issue is whether you�re ready to hear these sage social scientists weigh-in about how �black women have developed coping strategies' in dealing with their �tortured relationship� with hip-hop. For example, they are not exactly fond of Nelly for sliding a credit card through the anal cleft of a dancer as if he's paying her for sex in his music video �Tip Drill.�

The fundamental question the book raises repeatedly, but in a myriad of ways, is �How can you love your culture, hip-hop, but love yourself, too?� Can a self-respecting black woman embrace the typical black male in spite of the gender frictions without capitulating and accepting the �video ho� label?

Overall, the authors are surprisingly optimistic in their conclusions, since they ostensibly see their own fates as inextricably linked to African-American mates, though they remain resolute in their refusal to be defined as sex objects to be impregnated and abandoned.

An excellent, urgent opus designed to initiate a healthy, long-overdue debate about the prospects and direction of the Hip-Hop Generation by exposing its prevailing male imagery as unacceptably misogynistic, and as more emasculated than macho.

��
Natalie Hopkinson, Photograph by Marvin Joseph
Natalie Y. Moore Photograph by Regina Boone.

Related Links

Cleis Press Author Spotlight
http://www.cleispress.com/Natalies_spotlight.html

Hip Hop Book Club Articles
http://hiphopbookclub.com/articles.htm