“From Doo Wop to Hip Hop: The Bittersweet Odyssey of African Americans in the South Bronx” Summary

The theme addressed in the article “From Doo Wop to Hip Hop”, is the life of African Americans living in South Bronx. The author, Mark Naison focuses on the African Americans that moved to South Bronx, either from the South, Harlem, and the Caribbean after WW2. In the 1960s, children were brought up with families that fell apart, where heroin use was also the reason why “children were too often forced to raise themselves”. Hip hop began as an icebreaker of social order in a society where parental guidance was nowhere to be found. In the article, the author addresses the upgrade, environmental factors, and the influences of hip hop to their everyday lives living in Southern Bronx.