Synopses & Reviews
Our generation made hip-hop. But hip-hop also made us. Why are suburban kids referring to their subdivision as “block”? Why has the pimp become a figure of male power? Why has dodging the feds become an act of honor long after one has made millions as a legitimate artist? What happens when fantasy does more harm than reality?—From the IntroductionHip-hop culture has been in the mainstream for years. Suburban teens take their fashion cues from Diddy and expect to have Three 6 Mafia play their sweet-sixteen parties. From the “Boogie Down Bronx” to the heartland, hip-hops influence is major. But has the movement taken a wrong turn? In Beats Rhymes and Life, hot journalists Kenji Jasper and Ytasha Womack have focused on what they consider to be the most prominent symbols of the genre: the fan, the turntable, the ice, the dance floor, the shell casing, the buzz, the tag, the whip, the ass, the stiletto, the (pimps) cane, the coffin, the cross, and the corner. Each is the focus of an essay by a journalist who skillfully dissects what their chosen symbol means to them and to the hip-hop community.The collection also features many original interviews with some of raps biggest stars talking candidly about how they connect to the culture and their fans. With a foreword by the renowned scholar Michael Eric Dyson, Beats Rhymes and Life is an innovative and daring look at the state of the hip-hop nation.
Review
"At last! A real book about a deeply elusive topic—Black people and the possibility of what Sun Ra used to call the Alter Destiny. Ytasha Womack takes us on a quantum romp through the Afro-Multiverse: she explains some of the biggest, brightest, fastest, heaviest and loudest things in the known world—and beyond! At heart, Afrofuturism gives you a vast and intuitive feel for some of the most pressing issues facing young progressives in the early 21st Century.” —DJ Spooky
Synopsis
Hip-hop culture is now in the mainstream.Suburban teens take their fashion cues from Diddy and expect to have Three 6 Mafia play their sweet sixteen parties.From the Boogie Down Bronx to the heartland, hip-hop’s influence is greater than its pioneers could have imagined. But has the movement taken a wrong turn? How do those who have been there all along feel about the MTV-ization of their music?
In Beats Rhymes and Life, co-editors Kenji Jasper and Ytasha Womack have focused on the most prominent symbols of the genre: the fan, the turntable, the ice (diamonds), the dance floor, the shell casing, the buzz, the tag (graffiti), the whip (cars), the ass, the stiletto, the (pimp’s) cane, the coffin, the cross, and the corner. Each is the focus of an essay by a prominent journalist who skillfully dissects the evolution of the culture through the lens of that symbol.
Some of the contributors call for change, like Lisa Pegram, who believes that rap’s depictions of sex are destroying black intimacy; others ruminate on the more positive (and humorous) developments, like Robert Meadows, who admits a fondness for MC Hammer and old school dance moves.
The collection also features candid interviews with some of hip-hop’s biggest stars talking about their relationship to the culture. With a foreword by media darling Michael Eric Dyson, Beats Rhymes and Life is a thoughtful exploration of the hip-hop nation.
Synopsis
2014 Locus Awards Finalist, Nonfiction Category
In this hip, accessible primer to the music, literature, and art of Afrofuturism, author Ytasha Womack introduces readers to the burgeoning community of artists creating Afrofuturist works, the innovators from the past, and the wide range of subjects they explore. From the sci-fi literature of Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler, and N. K. Jemisin to the musical cosmos of Sun Ra, George Clinton, and the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am, to the visual and multimedia artists inspired by African Dogon myths and Egyptian deities, the book’s topics range from the “alien” experience of blacks in America to the “wake up” cry that peppers sci-fi literature, sermons, and activism. With a twofold aim to entertain and enlighten, Afrofuturists strive to break down racial, ethnic, and social limitations to empower and free individuals to be themselves.
About the Author
Ytasha L. Womack is a filmmaker, futurist, and the author of Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African American Identity and 2212: Book of Rayla. She is the creator of the Rayla 2212 sci-fi multimedia series, the director of the award-winning film The Engagement, the producer and writer of Love Shorts, and the coeditor of Beats Rhymes and Life: What We Love and Hate About Hip Hop. She has written for many publications including Ebony and the Chicago Tribune and has appeared on E! True Hollywood Stories: Rappers Wives.