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Review: Build: The Power of Hip Hop Diplomacy in a Divided World, by Mark Katz

2021; Wiley; Volume: 33; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1525/jpms.2021.33.1.172

1533-1598

Nomi Dave,

Music History and Culture

In his new book Build, Mark Katz provides a rich account of the people, histories, problems, and successes around the U.S. State Department's use of hip hop as a diplomatic tool.Katz served as director of the government's hip hop diplomacy initiative, Next Level, from 2013 to 2018 and traveled around the world meeting artists and participating in events.These experiences and his sharp observations and thoughtful reflections about them provide for an engaging exploration of what hip hop means to so many people, from so many backgrounds, and in so many places.While the book attempts to make the case for both hip hop and diplomacy, and to make a clear bridge between the two, it is most successful when it focuses on the art form and the artists, for whom Katz clearly has deep admiration.As he sees time and time again, for countless young people across the globe, the music matters because "hip hop saved my life" (6).The book opens with a compelling story about two artists-one from Kampala, Uganda and one from New York City-who similarly found community, profession, and expression through hip hop.They meet through a Next Level event in 2015 and form not just a friendship but a working relationship through their art.Katz uses this story to introduce the idea of people-to-people diplomacy, a form of public diplomacy premised on intimate, personal connections rather than official or institutional ones.This method is key to presenting the United States as something other than a monolithic superpower.As the Ugandan artist Mark Kaweesi realizes through his experiences, "America is not one person" (14).Many others have documented global hip hop and the creative explosion of sounds, styles, beats, and moves as the genre has morphed and evolved in its travels.What distinguishes Katz's book is his focus on moments and experiences of artistic collaboration and encounter in so many varied contexts.The strongest parts of the book are the central chapters in which he takes the reader into the spaces where artists meet and create together-a dance studio in Baku, Azerbaijan; a workshop in San Salvador; a concert in a Moroccan palace.He also delves into the history of the cypher, gender ideologies around b-boying and b-girling, and a fascinating backstory of the 1955 Bandung Conference and its impact on jazz diplomacy.