In Young, Black, Rich, and Famous, Todd Boyd chronicles how basketball and hip hop have gone from being reviled by the American mainstream in the 1970s to being embraced and imitated globally today. For young black men, he argues, they represent a new version of the American dream, one embodying the hopes and desires of those excluded from the original version. Shedding light on both perception and reality, Boyd shows that the NBA has been at the forefront of recognizing and incorporating cultural shifts—from the initial image of 1970s basketball players as overpaid black drug addicts, to Michael Jordan’s spectacular rise as a universally admired icon, to the 1990s, when the hip hop aesthetic (for example, Allen Iverson’s cornrows, multiple tattoos, and defiant, in-your-face attitude) appeared on the basketball court. Hip hop lyrics, with their emphasis on “keepin’ it real” and marked by a colossal indifference to mainstream taste, became an equally powerful influence on young black men. These two influences have created a brand-new, brand-name generation that refuses to assimilate but is nonetheless an important part of mainstream American culture. This Bison Books edition includes a new introduction by the author.

Todd Boyd is the Katherine and Frank Price Endowed Chair for the Study of Race and Popular Culture and professor of critical studies in the University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts. He is also a media commentator and author whose six books include The Notorious PhD’s Guide to the Super Fly ’70s, The New H.N.I.C., and Am I Black Enough For You?

“A powerful and provocative history of modern basketball and how issues of race, class and popular culture have played out both on and off the basketball court.”—Publishers Weekly

“An insightful look at how African American basketball players and rappers have gone from being reviled by mainstream audiences to being imitated around the world.”—Essence

“Boyd effortlessly threads the past thirty years of basketball culture, the cost of being outspoken, and the pressures of a power structure and media glare that both cheers and reviles.”—Upscale