An elaborately detailed, darkly surprising, definitive history of the LA gangsta rap era.
A provocative, multifaceted portrait of essential rap pioneers who ushered the hip-hop music scene to greatness.
After covering Southern rap artists, former L.A. Weekly music editor Westhoff (Dirty South: OutKast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop, 2011) profiles four key performers who had a vitally influential pull on the West Coast rap community in the 1980s and ’90s. His in-depth report begins with Eazy-E, a young, mentally sharp, womanizing Compton drug dealer who was as smooth-talking as fellow rapper Dr. Dre, whose success emerged after he joined the World Class Wreckin’ Cru and then N.W.A. to become a defiant “turntablist who knew what the crowd wanted but wasn’t always willing to play it.” Though Ice Cube’s early rhymes clearly disparaged gang activity, after his ascent up the rap ranks from N.W.A. to Da Lench Mob and a string of successful solo ventures, his career became fraught with tense rivalries, censorship, jealousy, and animosity among record labels like Death Row, Ruthless, and Bad Boy Entertainment. These problems also plagued the career of Tupac Shakur, whom Westhoff illustrates best and whom he considers “the fiercest West Coast rapper of all.” As the 1990s surged, so did the popularity of gangsta rap and the lure (and pitfalls) of an excessive, hedonistic lifestyle for its artists, who would go on to battle through the renowned East Coast–West Coast feud and many racially charged travesties of justice. As raw, authoritative, and unflinching as the music his narrative chronicles, Westhoff comprehensively uncovers the factual roots of the gangsta rap movement and admirably credits those whose footprints paved the way for the younger rappers emerging today. The author concludes with reminders of rap music’s cultural and anti-oppressive benefits—though its legacy of thuggery and violence resulted in the homicides of the Notorious B.I.G. and Shakur (the book’s release date coincides with the 20th anniversary of Shakur’s death).
An elaborately detailed, darkly surprising, definitive history of the LA gangsta rap era.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-38389-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Hachette
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
A heartfelt if somewhat unsurprising view of old age by the former president. Carter (Living Faith, 1996, etc.) succinctly evaluates the evolution and current status of federal policies concerning the elderly (including a balanced appraisal of the difficulties facing the Social Security system). He also meditates, while drawing heavily on autobiographical anecdotes, on the possibilities for exploration and intellectual and spiritual growth in old age. There are few lightning bolts to dazzle in his prescriptions (cultivate family ties; pursue the restorative pleasures of hobbies and socially minded activities). Yet the warmth and frankness of Carter’s remarks prove disarming. Given its brevity, the work is more of a call to senior citizens to reconsider how best to live life than it is a guide to any of the details involved.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1998
ISBN: 0-345-42592-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
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