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Bottom of the pile
13
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
9/100Critics
17/100Scholars
Author:
Daniel Levin Becker
Publisher:
City Lights Publishers
Date:
February 1, 2022
Over a series of short chapters, each centered on a different lyric, Daniel Levin Becker considers how rap's use of language operates and evolves at levels ranging from the local (slang, rhyme) to the analytical (quotation, transcription) to the philosophical (morality, criticism, irony), celebrating the pleasures and perils of any attempt to decipher its meaning-making technologies.
What The Reviewers Say
... an often hilarious, surprisingly moving and always joyful paean to rap’s relationship to words.
Levin Becker has an infectious, Whitmanesque enthusiasm for rap’s demotic versifying but sometimes lapses into mannered critical theory...Still, his writing crackles when his shrewd insights collide with punchy evocations of hip-hop’s vigor and style.
Levin Becker delivers stunningly deep readings of 50 Cent’s In Da Club and takes odd swipes at Jay-Z’s occasional nods to rhymes from other rappers, and he discusses the use of the N-word and hip-hop’s preoccupation with drug dealing as a metaphor or plot point. Whether or not you agree with the author’s feelings on those issues, or even the success of the book itself, will likely depend on your point of view and interest in the minutiae of lyrics and song construction—not to mention asides on nearly every page. Levin Levin Becker is candid about how his life differs from those of many rappers.
