"Numbers...A Gangsta's Child", based on true events, is a fascinating story about a young southern girl who leaves her parent's home to seek success on Wall Street. While she pursues the American dream, a chain of events leads her into the underworld of organized crime, a dark and dangerous place where she is challenged by men in power. Against all odds STEELE rises to the top of her game as a MOB BOSS.
'A fairytale of hip-hop success ... teens will enjoy the thrilling music fantasy, while many will identify with the smart, talented boys who grow up quickly and rescue themselves' Booklist An electrifying novel from hugely popular performance poet and novelist Benjamin Zephaniah, exploring the rap music scene, inequality and three boys caught up in it Just what do you do with talent from the wrong side of town? Benjamin Zephaniah draws on his own experiences with school and the music business to create a novel that speaks with passion and immediacy about the rap scene. Ray has trouble at home, and he has trouble at school – until he's permanently excluded and ends up sleeping on the floor of a record shop. What happens to a boy like Ray? If he's lucky, maybe he gets a chance to shine. The story of three boys who aren't easy. They don't fit in. They seem to attract trouble. But they know what they want, and they've got the talent to back it up ... Brilliantly written and with a real ear for dialogue, fans of Angie Thomas and Malorie Blackman will love Benjamin Zephaniah's novels for young adult readers: Refugee Boy Face Gangsta Rap Teacher's Dead
On September 4, 2012, Joseph Coleman, an eighteen-year-old aspiring gangsta rapper, was gunned down in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. Police immediately began investigating the connections between Coleman’s murder and an online war of words and music he was having with another Chicago rapper in a rival gang. In Chicago Hustle and Flow, Geoff Harkness points out how common this type of incident can be when rap groups form as extensions of gangs. Gangs and rap music, he argues, can be a deadly combination. Set in one of the largest underground music scenes in the nation, this book takes readers into the heart of gangsta rap culture in Chicago. From the electric buzz of nightclubs to the sights and sounds of bedroom recording studios, Harkness presents gripping accounts of the lives, beliefs, and ambitions of the gang members and rappers with whom he spent six years. A music genre obsessed with authenticity, gangsta rap promised those from crime-infested neighborhoods a ticket out of poverty. But while firsthand experiences with gangs and crime gave rappers a leg up, it also meant carrying weapons and traveling collectively for protection. Street gangs serve as a fan base and provide protection to rappers who bring in income and help to recruit for the gang. In examining this symbiotic relationship, Chicago Hustle and Flow ultimately illustrates how class stratification creates and maintains inequalities, even at the level of a local rap-music scene.
Fresh out of law school, headed into the fast track of her career. Courtney yearns for thrill. Amidst pure expectations; she’s hesitant to act on those cravings. Until an unexpected attraction, sets her body and soul ablaze. Relinquishing old ways tears at Raphael’s soul constantly. Desperately seeking clarity, the sign he’s awaited presents itself; after an abrupt; yet passionate encounter. As they transcend into immense desire and pleasure. Their bond is threatened by reckless mistakes and consequences. Will corruption and naïve realities be the demise of their relationship? Or will a gangsta’s lovin’ conquer all obstacles?
Now that Tasheem had found out her son may be alive, she will stop at nothing to find the truth, even if it means teaming up with the person who hates her the most. After hearing Lori admit to setting up the ambush with her cousin, Tone, Yariah decides she’s heard enough and takes matters into her own hands. Unfortunately, it’s at a high cost, and Caleek will do anything possible to save her. With Tarshay still out there, Bongi decides to stay away from Aphrodite, hoping to keep his ex from causing any more harm. However, with him and Ro in a fresh relationship, they couldn’t be away from each other too long. The time will come for Bongi to confront Tarshay, but at what cost? Will she learn to respect his life, or will he have to take hers? Amara is forced to make a decision when it comes to her marriage. Not knowing what to do, she tried her best to stay away, but Cazi isn’t giving her the time she needs. The situation is devastating, yet she has to make a choice. In the final installment, will these couples make it, or will one, if not all, go their separate ways to avoid any more drama?
On 9 June 2003, a 43-year-old coloured man named Magadien Wentzel walked out of Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town. Behind him lay a lifelong career in the 28s, South Africa's oldest and most reviled prison gang, for decades rumoured to have specialised in rape and robbery. In front of him lay the prospect of a law-abiding future, and life in a household of eight adults and six children, none of whom earned a living. Jonny Steinberg met Wentzel in prison in the dying months of 2002. By the time Wentzel was released, he and Steinberg had spent more than 50 hours discussing his life experiences. The Number is an account of their conversations and of Steinberg's journeys to the places and people of Wentzel's past. Wentzel had lived a bewilderingly schizophrenic life, wandering to and fro between three worlds: the arcane universe of prison gangs, steeped in a mythology of banditry and retribution, where he was known as JR; the fringes of South Africa's criminal economy, where he lived by a string of stolen names and learned the arts of commercial fraud; and his scattered family which eked out a living int the coloured ghettos of the Cape flats. The Number visits each of those worlds in turn. It is a tale of modern South Africa's historic events seen through the eyes of the country's underclass. Surprisingly, perhaps, it is neither a story of passivity nor despair, but of beguiling ingenuity and cool cynicism. Most of all, the book is an account of memory and identity, of Wentzel's project to make some sense of his bewildering past and something worthy of his future. When Steinberg met him, Wentzel was embarking on a quest to retrieve the name he had been given at birth. He was also beginning the daunting task of gathering together the estranged children he had sired into a nuclear family. It was an eccentric and painful venture for a man with his past, but it has led him to construct an account of himself that begs to be told.
Gwop’s dedication the his set takes him to the top of the food chain, but could his dedication mean more than the love of his life. As he struggles to see which one wins his strong points will be revealed in the next move he makes.
In the last decade of the twentieth century, the «safe sex» message - advocating the use of condoms to prevent pregnancy and curb the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases - has endured relentless attacks by conservative religious groups who seek to instill doubt and promote an abstinence-only theme in American public schools. The essays in this book provide a stimulating historical and cultural inquiry into the multiplicity of meanings attributed to one prophylactic: the condom. Given the vast array of sexual attitudes toward condom usage within American culture and around the world, Culture and the Condom will provoke readers into examining significant dominant discourses and alternative perspectives by viewing condoms through the lens of cinematic and television imagery, artistic representations, statistical analyses, commercial advertising, and animation.
This fun-to-read, easy-to-use reference has been completely updated, expanded, and revised with reviews of over 12,000 great albums by over 2,000 artists and groups in all rock genres. 50 charts.
