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Tricia Rose was born and raised in New York City. She spent her childhood in Harlem and the Bronx. She graduated from Yale University where she received a BA in Sociology and then received her Ph.D. from Brown University in American Studies. She has taught at NYU, UC Santa Cruz and is now Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University. 

Professor Rose is most well-known for her ground-breaking book on the emergence of hip hop culture. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America is considered foundational text for the study of hip hop, one that has defined what is now an entire field of study. Black Noise won an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation in 1995 voted among the top 25 books of 1995 by the Village Voice and in 1999 was listed by Black Issues in Higher Education as one of its "Top Books of the Twentieth Century."

She is also the co-editor of the youth music and youth culture collection: Microphone Fiends, and in 2003 published a rare history of black women's sexual life stories, called Longing To Tell: Black Women Talk About Sexuality and Intimacy. In 2008, Professor Rose returned to hip hop with: The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop-And Why It Matters. In it, Rose argues that hip hop artists are more important than ever in shaping racial and gender images, perceptions and policies. Hip Hop Wars tackles how we talk about hip hop, taking on critics and defenders alike for evading the heart of the issues that surround hip hop today. Finally, she offers a progressive, empowering way forward.
She is currently at work on a new project on African-American artists and musicians who have offered powerful visions to in helping us imagine-and thus perhaps create-just and resourceful communities.

Tricia Rose lectures and presents seminars and workshops to scholarly and general audiences on a wide range of issues relating to race in America, popular culture, gender and sexuality and art and social justice. Rose has also been featured on MSNBC, CNN, NPR and other national and local media outlets. More of her work can be found Time, Essence, The New York Times and The Village Voice to name a few.