The Haunting of Hip Hop
A Novel
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
A ghost story with a beat . . . Bertice Berry follows her finely pitched Blackboard bestselling debut novel, Redemption Song, with a mesmerizing cautionary tale about urban hip hop culture.
In ancient West Africa, the drum was more than a musical instrument, it was a vehicle of communication–it conveyed information, told stories, and passed on the wisdom of generations. The magic of the drum remains alive today, and with her magnificent second novel, Berry brings those powerful beats to the streets of Harlem.
Harry “Freedom” Hudson is the hottest hip hop producer in New York City, earning unbelievable fees for his tunes and the innovative sound that puts his artists on the top of the charts. Harry is used to getting what he wants, so when he’s irresistibly drawn to a house in Harlem, he assumes he’ll be moving in as soon as the papers can be drawn up. The house, after all, has been abandoned for years. Or has it?
Rumors are rife in the neighborhood that the house is haunted; that mysterious music, shouts, and sobbing can be heard late at night. Ava, Harry’s strong-willed, no-nonsense agent, dismisses it all as “old folks” tales–until she opens the door and finds an eerie, silent group of black people, young and old, gathered around a man holding an ancient African drum. They are waiting for Harry and bear a warning that touches his very soul: “We gave the drum back to your generation in the form of rap, but it’s being used to send the wrong message.”
The Haunting of Hip Hop is a reminder of the importance of honoring the past as a means of moving safely and firmly into the future. It is sure to raise eyebrows and stir up controversy about the impact, good and bad, of rap culture.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When hip-hop producer/songwriter Harry "Freedom" Hudson decides to buy a reputedly haunted brownstone in Harlem he inadvertently disturbs a passel of fretful ghosts, in Berry's (Redemption Song) latest novel. Freedom directs his lawyer, Ava Vercher, to check on the property, which brings Ava into contact with a childhood friend, real estate attorney Charles Campbell III. While Ava, with her African-inspired clothes and Brooklyn- and Harlem-connected clients, clings to her roots, Charles, who spent his childhood being bullied, made it out of the 'hood to Princeton and "came back white." When the two go to check on the house, they confront an alarming gathering of the dead. These "spirit memories" include Ngozi, an African drummer whose life was brutally interrupted by slavery; Bella, a singer murdered by her white gangster lover; and Johnny, a boy who was killed by his father. Ngozi wants to pass down his beat--which contains the love that has gone out of rap music--to Freedom, while Bella just wants revenge. Charles's grandmother, Dora, who has the gift of seeing spirits, comes from down South to protect Charles from the spirits, but she can't act in time to prevent Freedom from foolishly venturing into the house. Underneath the gothic trappings is a meditation on the price of forgetting history. Like a Bill Withers song, Berry's writing is infused with an aching nostalgia for an earlier time, when there was "more to life than what we could see, touch, hear or feel."
Customer Reviews
Greeaaaat
I love her books. They are inspiring,engaging,and they make you accountable for your actions... Meaning when you read her books you see yourself. It's like a literary Mirror that you must face and make that change.