Scarecrow Press
Pages: 176
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9½
978-0-8108-6008-7 • Hardback • November 2009 • $30.00 • (£25.00)
978-0-8108-6145-9 • eBook • November 2009 • $28.50 • (£19.99)
Alexs Pate is Associate Professor of African American and African studies at the University of Minnesota. Pate is the best-selling author of Amistad: A Novel Based on the Screenplay and Losing Absalom, which received a Minnesota Book Award and was named Best First Novel by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.
The best parts of the book are those where Pate lists the words from popular rap music and opens the readers' minds to the imagery, the meaning, the structure, form, rhythm, and flow of the words . . . Pate does an excellent job of providing the reader with a new light and better perspective on rap music and its significant role in all of society but especially the African American culture.
— Pop Culture Books, November 2009
A sophisticated analysis of rap/poetry such as this is necessary if rap is to be evaluated for its composition, permanence, and significance. Pate's accessible writing style will captivate scholars as well as fans of rap, poetry, and the evolving culture of hip-hop.
— Library Journal, December 2009
Pate presents a strong case for the artistic and cultural importance of rap, analyzing lyrics and artists from multiple angles....This warts-and-all study of one of the preeminent art forms of today is vital and compelling, especially for dedicated listeners.
— Publishers Weekly, January 2010
What Pate has accomplished here is nothing less than an aesthetic standard for rap as poetry, which he tests against various examples of the rap genre….This is a groundbreaking work, necessary for connoisseurs of both poetry and rap music.
— Sacramento News and Review, May 6, 2010
My son [Ahi Baraka] put the book in my hand and said, 'This is one of the best books I've read.'
— Amiri Baraka