Fight The Power: Rap, Race and Reality
Fight The Power: Rap, Race and Reality

Author: Chuck D

Publisher: KingDoMedia

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13:

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His lyrics are a lesson in history. His songs are a movement in groove theory. His book is a light out of the dark that will change the way you think about America and the world as a whole. From Rap to Hip-Hop, Gangsta to Trip-Hop, Chuck D, his Bomb Squad, and his monumental band, Public Enemy, have been a sonic, singular, and transcendental force in modern music. As a poet and philosopher, Chuck D has been the hard rhymer, rolling anthems off his tongue in an era of apathy, tapping into the youth culture of the world for more than a decade. Fight the Power, his first book, part memoir, part treatise, part State of the Union Address, is a testament to his nearly twenty years in the music business and his experiences around the world. Here is a history of one of the most important and controversial musical movements of our century, its impact on modern culture, and the heroes and victims it has created in its wake. Chuck D has never been just a rapper. He's an artist, a rock 'n' roll star who's shared the spotlight with everyone from U2 to Anthrax. He's fought to bridge the gap between musical genres and cultural differences. He is truly the voice of a generation. Startling, gripping, and uncompromising, Fight the Power is most of all the story of one man's struggle to bring about change in this difficult world at all costs. It is certain to take its place among the classics of African American experience.

Uprising
Uprising

Author: Yusuf Jah

Publisher: KingDoMedia

Published: 2019-01-10

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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In the spring of 1992 the African American neighborhoods of Los Angeles — Compton, Watts, Gardena, South Central — were irrevocably transformed by the greatest domestic disturbance of this century: the “Uprisings,” as they were then described on the streets. In the aftermath of the violence emerged a powerful spirit of reconciliation and change, as gang members who had once fought each other for years came together in an attempt to rebuild their homes, businesses, families and most importantly themselves. This new sense of peace and cooperation continued to thrive in the inner city, and now, with uprising, thirteen former Crips and Bloods give voice to their fresh hopes for the future.What these men reveal is both provocative and profound: the rites of initiation, the pressure to commit crimes, the bonds of gang brotherhood, the significance of gangsta rap, the need for self-empowerment, and the durability of racism in our culture. But Uprising has a timely moral mission as well: Mean streets similar to those of L.A. can be found in cities across the country like Chicago, Baltimore, New York, Atlanta, and Newark. Gang warfare is escalating, spreading to the heartland — and here Yusuf Jah and Sister Shah’Keyah proclaim that lives and communities must be saved. An intricate mosaic of a nuanced and often turbulent world, Uprising defines issues that confront all Americans. It’s message cannot be ignored. Uprising is a powerfully raw, intimate history of gang life in South Central L.A. In detailed interviews, gang members of the Crips and Bloods open up on a wide range of issues, including the bonds of the gang brotherhood, the significance of gangsta rap, the despair of welfare, and the scourge of drugs. "Moments of brutal clarity…One finishes the book convinced of its authentic depiction of gang life." — The New York Times Book Review

Public Enemy: Inside the Terrordome
Public Enemy: Inside the Terrordome

Author: Tim Grierson

Publisher: Omnibus Press

Published: 2015-02-25

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13: 1783233907

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Public Enemy are an American hip hop group, formed in New York in 1982, known for their politically charged lyrics and criticism of the American media. This account focuses on the highs and lows of their career, provides an overview of their album releases, and examines what the future holds for them and hip hop as a whole.

Compton Street Legend
Compton Street Legend

Author: Duane 'Keefe D' Davis

Publisher: KingDoMedia

Published: 2019-05-05

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13:

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The infamous Suge Knight, former Death Row Records CEO, and Keffe D are the only living eyewitnesses to the deadly confrontation on the Las Vegas strip between the occupants of our two vehicles. A violent confrontation that led to the deaths of two of Hip-Hop's biggest stars (Tupac Shakur & Christopher 'Notorious B.I.G.' Wallace) and changed Hip-Hop history forever. There's a strict code on the streets. One that real street players live, kill, and die by. Compton Street Legend reveals the street-level code violations and the explosive consequences when the powerful worlds of the streets, entertainment, and corrupt law enforcement collide. More than twenty years after the premature deaths of Tupac and Biggie there have been numerous TV specials, documentaries, books, magazine and newspaper, and social media dedicated to the subject. But at the end of the day, none of the private investigators, retired police officers, informants, Hip-Hop heads, actors, or academics that have weighed in on the topic truly know what happened and the reasons behind it, because none of them were there. Duane 'Keffe D' Davis, a native of Compton, California, admittedly lived most of his life as a gangster; a real gangster that did the shit that real gangsters do. He rose up the gang-banging ranks to become a shot-caller for the notorious Southside Compton Crips, while running a multi-million dollar, multi-state drug empire. Keffe D has been a central figure in both the Tupac Shakur and Biggie murders for the past 20 years. COMPTON STREET LEGEND will add valuable information about two of the biggest "unsolved" crimes in American history. It will serve as the missing piece of the puzzle that Hip-Hop Fans have been waiting for. On the surface, COMPTON STREET LEGEND will look like a story based on violence and hate, it is actually a story about Love, Family, Brotherhood, Loyalty, Trust, and Honor. It's time to set the story straight. Fasten your seatbelts.

To Live and Defy in LA
To Live and Defy in LA

Author: Felicia Angeja Viator

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2020-02-25

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0674976363

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How gangsta rap shocked America, made millions, and pulled back the curtain on an urban crisis. How is it that gangsta rap—so dystopian that it struck aspiring Brooklyn rapper and future superstar Jay-Z as “over the top”—was born in Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood, surf, and sun? In the Reagan era, hip-hop was understood to be the music of the inner city and, with rare exception, of New York. Rap was considered the poetry of the street, and it was thought to breed in close quarters, the product of dilapidated tenements, crime-infested housing projects, and graffiti-covered subway cars. To many in the industry, LA was certainly not hard-edged and urban enough to generate authentic hip-hop; a new brand of black rebel music could never come from La-La Land. But it did. In To Live and Defy in LA, Felicia Viator tells the story of the young black men who built gangsta rap and changed LA and the world. She takes readers into South Central, Compton, Long Beach, and Watts two decades after the long hot summer of 1965. This was the world of crack cocaine, street gangs, and Daryl Gates, and it was the environment in which rappers such as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E came of age. By the end of the 1980s, these self-styled “ghetto reporters” had fought their way onto the nation’s radio and TV stations and thus into America’s consciousness, mocking law-and-order crusaders, exposing police brutality, outraging both feminists and traditionalists with their often retrograde treatment of sex and gender, and demanding that America confront an urban crisis too often ignored.

It's Bigger Than Hip Hop
It's Bigger Than Hip Hop

Author: M. K. Asante, Jr.

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2008-09-16

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1429946350

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In It's Bigger Than Hip Hop, M. K. Asante, Jr. looks at the rise of a generation that sees beyond the smoke and mirrors of corporate-manufactured hip hop and is building a movement that will change not only the face of pop culture, but the world. Asante, a young firebrand poet, professor, filmmaker, and activist who represents this movement, uses hip hop as a springboard for a larger discussion about the urgent social and political issues affecting the post-hip-hop generation, a new wave of youth searching for an understanding of itself outside the self-destructive, corporate hip-hop monopoly. Through insightful anecdotes, scholarship, personal encounters, and conversations with youth across the globe as well as icons such as Chuck D and Maya Angelou, Asante illuminates a shift that can be felt in the crowded spoken-word joints in post-Katrina New Orleans, seen in the rise of youth-led organizations committed to social justice, and heard around the world chanting "It's bigger than hip hop."

Young, Rich, and Dangerous
Young, Rich, and Dangerous

Author: Jermaine Dupri

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2008-12-30

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0743299817

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A behind-the-scenes account of the platinum musical producer and songwriter traces his first productions as a teen, his education in the music business, and his experiences with such artists as Lil Jon, Mariah Carey, and Kriss Kross.

Other People's Property
Other People's Property

Author: Jason Tanz

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2011-01-15

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 1608196534

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Over the last quarter-century hip-hop has grown from an esoteric form of African-American expression to become the dominant form of American popular culture. Today, Snoop Dogg shills for Chrysler and white kids wear Fubu, the black-owned label whose name stands for "For Us, By Us." This is not the first time that black music has been appreciated, adopted, and adapted by white audiences-think jazz, blues, and rock-but Jason Tanz, a white boy who grew up in the suburban Northwest, says that hip-hop's journey through white America provides a unique window to examine the racial dissonance that has become a fact of our national life. In such culture-sharing Tanz sees white Americans struggling with their identity, and wrestling (often unsuccessfully) with the legacy of race. To support his anecdotally driven history of hip-hop's cross-over to white America, Tanz conducts dozens of interviews with fans, artists, producers, and promoters, including some of hip-hop's most legendary figures-such as Public Enemy's Chuck D; white rapper MC Serch; and former Yo! MTV Raps host Fab 5 Freddy. He travels across the country, visiting "nerdcore" rappers in Seattle, who rhyme about Star Wars conventions; a group of would-be gangstas in a suburb so insulated it's called "the bubble"; a break-dancing class at the upper-crusty New Canaan Tap Academy; and many more. Drawing on the author's personal experience as a white fan as well as his in-depth knowledge of hip-hop's history, Other People's Property provides a hard-edged, thought-provoking, and humorous snapshot of the particularly American intersection of race, commerce, culture, and identity.

Police Brutality: An Anthology
Police Brutality: An Anthology

Author: Jill Nelson

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2001-05-17

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0393249417

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A landmark work by twelve leading critics and community leaders—essential reading for anyone interested in the history of American race relations. Ignited by the infamous shooting of Amadou Diallo, unarmed and innocent, at the hands of New York City police officers, journalist Jill Nelson was moved to assemble this landmark anthology on the topic of police violence and brutality: an indispensable collection of twelve "groundbreaking" (Ebony) essays by a range of contributors—among them academics, historians, social critics, a congressman, and an ex-New York City police detective. This "important and valuable book" (Emerge) places a centuries-old issue in much-needed historical and intellectual context, and underscores the profound influence police brutality has had in shaping the American identity. "[S]hould be read by anyone concerned about ending brutality, and should be required reading in police academies throughout America!"—Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Harvard Law School "Without hysteria or hyperbole, [Nelson] examines the issue of police abuse in literary form."—Emerge "A memorable and useful contribution to an increasingly volatile national dialogue."—Publishers Weekly "[N]ot only timely, but explores and exposes the sickness of this unbalanced, uncivilized Western pastime thoroughly."—Chuck D of Public Enemy, author of Fight the Power: Rap, Race, and Reality