An occasionally enlightening but uneven history of Atlanta’s hip-hop scene and influence.
A culture reporter examines the rap landscape of Atlanta, which has birthed “some of the most impactful, commercially successful and influential music of the last thirty-plus years.”
Hip-hop fame can be fleeting and inexplicable, and this oddly structured tale reflects that reality, following sensations that didn’t pan out and skipping over stars that made it big. “In human terms and in musical ones,” writes New York Times reporter Coscarelli, “Atlanta rap represents the most consequential musical ecosystem of this century so far.” However, he quickly switches from such broad declarations, bouncing quickly past Atlanta hip-hop legends like Outkast, T.I., and TLC as well as music executives like L.A. Reid and Jermaine Dupri. The author focuses on the beginnings of the influential Quality Control label, which launched the careers of current stars Migos, Lil Yachty, and, most importantly, Lil Baby. It’s a fascinating story about the struggles of hip-hop authenticity, and Coscarelli is a decent storyteller—though he leans more on interviews with Lil Baby’s mother than with the rapper himself, and his tumultuous life and artistic decisions could bear deeper consideration. Though Baby’s hit “The Bigger Picture,” inspired by the police murder of George Floyd, became incredibly influential, especially after its stunning performance at the 2021 Grammy Awards, Coscarelli only spends a short section discussing it. “I wanted to use a specific situation that would give people an understanding of where I come from,” he quotes the rapper, with little more explanation. That focus problem continues throughout much of the text, and the author offers overlong discussions of Baby’s less successful friend Lil Marlo, who was shot and killed in 2020, and the stalled career of one-time teenage phenom Lil Reek. It’s also odd that Coscarelli gives short shrift to the massively successful Lil Nas X, who also hails from the city. Lil Baby’s gripping story could’ve carried the narrative, but the author’s intellectual bait and switch drags it down.
An occasionally enlightening but uneven history of Atlanta’s hip-hop scene and influence.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982107-88-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.
An experimental, illustrated essay collection that questions neurotypical definitions of what is normal.
From a young age, writer and comedian Myers has been different. In addition to coping with obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks, she struggled to read basic social cues. During a round of seven minutes in heaven—a game in which two players spend seven minutes in a closet and are expected to kiss—Myers misread the romantic advances of her best friend and longtime crush, Marley. In Paris, she accidentally invited a sex worker to join her friends for “board games and beer,” thinking he was simply a random stranger who happened to be hitting on her. In community college, a stranger’s request for a pen spiraled her into a panic attack but resulted in a tentative friendship. When the author moved to Australia, she began taking notes on her colleagues in an effort to know them better. As the author says to her co-worker, Tabitha, “there are unspoken social contracts within a workplace that—by some miracle—everyone else already understands, and I don’t….When things Go Without Saying, they Never Get Said, and sometimes people need you to Say Those Things So They Understand What The Hell Is Going On.” At its best, Myers’ prose is vulnerable and humorous, capturing characterization in small but consequential life moments, and her illustrations beautifully complement the text. Unfortunately, the author’s tendency toward unnecessary capitalization and experimental forms is often unsuccessful, breaking the book’s otherwise steady rhythm.
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063381308
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
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