Interesting review. I'd still disagree on many points, but the reviewer is right that Brown's interpretations are limp, and that he blows up the importance of Stagolee somewhat. For example, Brown claims that hip-hop culture's use of consumption practices as a status symbol (wearing certain brands of clothes, for example) is a result of Stagolee doing so. But obviously, the fact is that BOTH Stagolee AND hip-hop culture are actually reflecting the lives of real black people, for whom clothes are and have been status symbols; it's not a case of hip-hop imitating the blues, but of art imitating life.

That said, despite what the author of the review may think, those baggy pants and brand names really WERE about status, however they might have originated in prisoners' culture or the necessity of wearing clothes designed for whites. So both guys get some things right and others wrong, methinks... and the book is still worth a read.