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A brilliant look at the pervasive belief that African American men are prodigiously endowed, from the author’s own experiences to sharp analysis of how black male sexuality is expressed in art, literature, media, sports, and pornography “Scott really goes there, talking honestly and telling secrets about the black phallus and its, uh, massive impact on America.” —Touré “Hung” is a double entendre, referring not only to penis size but to the fact that black men were once literally hung from trees, often for their perceived sexual prowess and the supposed risk it posed to white women. As a poignant reminder, Scott Poulson-Bryant begins his book with a letter to Emmett Till, the te...
Two veteran music journalists provide the ultimate trivia test, quizzing on every black music genre from the funk and soul of the '70s to the rap and R&B of today. Two-color throughout. 60 photos.
Scott Poulson-Bryant brings the heat in this rip-roaring tale of secrets, sex, and betrayal. On a steamy June day in New York City, mega-star rapper TNT gathers a group of four successful men together, childhood friends who called themselves "the VIPs," signaling the big dreams they all once had. Leo Bradford is a gay publishing magnate who is learning to love again after a devastating tragedy. Barry Chambers is a playboy attorney with a working-class background who is starting to realize that the chip he's carried on his shoulders all these years doesn't go too well with the bespoke suits that have become his trademark. Joey Ramirez is a high-flying fashion designer who has managed to trium...
From its beginnings in hip hop culture, the dense rhythms and aggressive lyrics of rap music have made it a provocative fixture on the American cultural landscape. In Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, Tricia Rose, described by the New York Times as a "hip hop theorist," takes a comprehensive look at the lyrics, music, cultures, themes, and styles of this highly rhythmic, rhymed storytelling and grapples with the most salient issues and debates that surround it. Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and History at New York University, Tricia Rose sorts through rap's multiple voices by exploring its underlying urban cultural politics, particularly the influent...
In a brilliant, multilayered look at the pervasive belief that African-American men are prodigiously endowed, Poulson-Bryant interweaves his own experiences as a black man in America with witty analyses of how black male sexuality is expressed in books, film, television, sports, and pornography.
Reality first appeared in the late 1980s—in the sense not of real life but rather of the TV entertainment genre inaugurated by shows such as Cops and America’s Most Wanted; the daytime gabfests of Geraldo, Oprah, and Donahue; and the tabloid news of A Current Affair. In a bracing work of cultural criticism, Eric Harvey argues that reality TV emerged in dialog with another kind of entertainment that served as its foil while borrowing its techniques: gangsta rap. Or, as legendary performers Ice Cube and Ice-T called it, “reality rap.” Reality rap and reality TV were components of a cultural revolution that redefined popular entertainment as a truth-telling medium. Reality entertainment...
Mary J. Blige is an icon who represents the political consciousness of hip hop and the historical promise of soul. She is an everywoman, celebrated by Oprah Winfrey and beloved by pop music fans of all ages and races. Blige has sold over fifty million albums, won numerous Grammys, and even played at multiple White House events, as well as the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Displaying astonishing range and versatility, she has recorded everything from Broadway standards to Led Zeppelin anthems and worked with some of popular music’s greatest artists—Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Whitney Houston, Sting, U2, and Beyoncé, among them. Real Love, No Drama: The Music of Mary J. ...
How does one pay homage to A Tribe Called Quest? The seminal rap group brought jazz into the genre, resurrecting timeless rhythms to create masterpieces such as The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders. Seventeen years after their last album, they resurrected themselves with an intense, socially conscious record, We Got It from Here . . . Thank You 4 Your Service, which arrived when fans needed it most, in the aftermath of the 2016 election. Poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib digs into the group’s history and draws from his own experience to reflect on how its distinctive sound resonated among fans like himself. The result is as ambitious and genre-bending as the rap group itself. Abdurra...
"[A] tart, funny, lurid little bomb of a book. It's all p.c., of course, but not at all predictable, and a lot of righteous information gets dispersed in record time." -- BUST Magazine We were Guerillas before we were Gorillas. From the beginning, the press wanted publicity photos. We needed a disguise. No one remembers, for sure, how we got our fur, but one story is that at an early meeting, an original Girl, a bad speller, wrote 'Gorilla' instead of 'Guerilla.' It was an enlightening mistake. It gave us our mask-ulinity. Ever wonder about the abundance of naked male statues in the Classical section of your favorite museum? Did you know medieval convents were hotbeds of female artistic expr...
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • “Grisham meets Ludlum on Wall Street . . . a fast-paced roller coaster of love and lust, murder and betrayal, politics and business.”—USA Today “Entertaining and energetic . . . superbly taut . . . Frey keeps up the suspense right to the end.”—Financial Times Investment banker Andrew Falcon is spearheading the biggest hostile takeover in Wall Street history—and counting on a staggering five-million-dollar fee if he can pull it off. But Falcon doesn't realize that he has stumbled onto the secret power of a shadowy organization known only as The Sevens. He discovers a scheme so interwoven in financial and political sabotage, so vast and brilliantly designed, that it staggers the imagination. His only chance to stop it depends on taking overwhelming risks—and learning which of the two beautiful women in his life can be trusted. Andrew Falcon's struggle for survival begins as he tries to outwit his betrayers—and a hidden enemy whose hatred is implacable.