American beaten for style (4)
I believe the answer is:
afro
'style' is the definition.
(Afro is a type of hairstyle)
'american beaten for' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'beaten' indicates anagramming the letters (letters beaten up or destroyed).
'for' with letters rearranged gives 'fro'.
'a'+'fro'='AFRO'
(Other definitions for afro that I've seen before include "One cut" , "Hairstyle adopted by the young Michael Jackson" , "Type of hairstyle - from Africa" , "Hair in tight curls" , "little Malian, for example" .)