I will assume you didn't even read the synopsis of the book about hip hop. The premise is that hip hop is of course not a culture or religion but some people take it that way. Which is dangerous because it sets them up to get a direct feeding tube of philosophy from MTV.

He points out how some people view all the BS in mainstream hip hop as ironic and some people drink the kool-aid. Specifically he is talking about how black people sometimes feel they need to buy into the whole thing to remain authentic.

I remember reading Robin Hobb's Assassins books when I was younger, and as I recall there were characters named Prince Regal and King Shrewd. So Cedric actually sounds like an improvement!