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Reviews tagging 'Racism'
Go ahead in the rain: Notas para a tribe called Quest (ALPHA DECAY) by Hanif Abdurraqib
3 reviews
bella_cavicchi's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Hanif Abdurraqib is a man who knows his way around a word. I know so little about rap, and so beyond the obvious (that every sentence here is a gift and a treasure!), what I loved most about GO AHEAD IN THE RAIN is the opportunity it presents us to see artistry proclaimed and dissected with such abundant love.
Graphic: Racism, Grief, Death, and Cursing
Moderate: Racial slurs, Violence, and Racism
Minor: Murder and Police brutality
displacedcactus's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Abdurraqib writes how I would love to be able to write about the things I care this strongly about -- with a mix of deep knowledge, passion, and affection, weaving facts with personal anecdotes, reflections, and the occasional divergence into a distantly related topic. It's a hard balance to get right; I've read similar essay collection style books where I found myself bored with the author's dives into their own life.
I think I especially related to this book because the author and I are of a similar age, and both grew up poor, but beyond that, we of course had very different lives. I'm a white woman and he's a Black man; I grew up in California and Arizona, and I believe he was in Ohio. I grew up on country music while he was listening to hip-hop. This book was a real window into a completely different childhood than I had, of the different emotional impact of historic events, and the feuds and deaths of artists who were mere blips on my radar if I heard about them at all.
And so this is a book about A Tribe Called Quest, and a book about hip-hop in general, but it's also about growing up Black in America in the 80s and 90s. It's also about being an adult, and losing the artists you love, and witnessing the disaster that was 2016.
All in all, an excellent read and one I recommend, even if (especially if?) like me, you are largely clueless about A Tribe Called Quest and the history of hip-hop.
I think I especially related to this book because the author and I are of a similar age, and both grew up poor, but beyond that, we of course had very different lives. I'm a white woman and he's a Black man; I grew up in California and Arizona, and I believe he was in Ohio. I grew up on country music while he was listening to hip-hop. This book was a real window into a completely different childhood than I had, of the different emotional impact of historic events, and the feuds and deaths of artists who were mere blips on my radar if I heard about them at all.
And so this is a book about A Tribe Called Quest, and a book about hip-hop in general, but it's also about growing up Black in America in the 80s and 90s. It's also about being an adult, and losing the artists you love, and witnessing the disaster that was 2016.
All in all, an excellent read and one I recommend, even if (especially if?) like me, you are largely clueless about A Tribe Called Quest and the history of hip-hop.
Moderate: Racism, Gun violence, and Death
Discusses both the beating of Rodney King and several of the more recent instances of police killing Black men.aargot1's review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Violence
Moderate: Murder and Sexism
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