Professor Perry

Dear Imani Perry,

I am interested in learning how a law professor like yourself just decides to write a book about Hip-Hop. You wrote about Hip-Hop in such a nuanced way in the section titled Discourse. There is a real value for "speaking your piece" in this genre of music, and no subject is off limits. Respectability doesn't police Hip-Hop's bounds, and you articulated that so well. You made it occur to me that the democratic phrase "speak your peace" embodies classic liberal ideas about free flow of ideas. Who would have thought there was liberalism in Hip-Hop?

Also, I thought it was always funny how Tupac is from New York but became "Westside 'til we die! / Out here in California." Affiliations indeed do matter more than origins. Rappers really have to freedom to "play" for any reason they want if they fit into the vibe of region.

P.S. I would love to know more about your ideas about "Moynihan constructs of debilitating black matriarchy and cultures of poverty" that many black people have accepted as sound theories.

Best regards,
Kory