Dyson publishes Analysis of a HipHop Classic

Author, activist, and apologist Michael Eric Dyson is putting the polish on his next book Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic, which promises to be a serious academic analysis of Nas's debut album, considered by some (including me) to be one of the best representations of pure street-hop ever committed to plastic. no word on when Born drops, but pre-orders are being taken on Amazon even as we speak...
uno.
gM

6 comments:

  1. Now that I find interesting.
    I'll be most intrigued to see how that works.

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  2. word. Dyson did a book about 2pac called "Holla If You Hear Me" a while back, but i haven't read it.

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  3. Not trying to hate, but I would much rather just listen to the CD, then to read Dyson wax poetic about the album.

    Represent was the only blatant flaw on the CD though. Around that time, HOW MANY EMCEES had a song called "REpresent?"
    At least Nas didn't record a song called "It's REal."
    - No, Real Talk. ;-)

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  4. well I guess my desire to read something like this is to see the views of something like this from another side.

    It's like critiquing art. You listen, view, think or experience it enough pretty soon you have questions, or at least I do.

    This joint came out around '92 and I probably broke the tape twice over the years. It still holds up lyrically and beat wise in my opinion.

    By all means, accept it for what it is and jam. I, however, "think too much" as some have told me and have recently accepted myself for who I am. If his synopsis is wack so be it and I'll buy another CD to scratch up. However I'd like to see someone attempt another perspective to something I grew up with.

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  5. i'm a self-professed hip hop nerd... i want to hear academic theory about hip hop, if only to debunk it by submitting my own.

    i read a book about comics called "how to read superhero comics and why" that compared superhero comics to 18th century epic poetry or something, and i was amazed! it was a fantastic book!

    if it's real academia, i'll probably like it. BUT if i catch dyson talking down to me, he'll get the gas face...

    (OH! and there were definitely MMAAAAAADDD records called "Represent". some went so far as to call their song "I Represent" or the classic "You Gotta Represent"...)

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