Author: Gerrick D. Kennedy
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501134930
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288

View

Book Description
Experience the stunning rise, fall, and legacy of N.W.A. and how they put their stamp on pop culture, black culture, and hip-hop music forever in this “incredibly vivid look at one of music’s most iconic groups” (Associated Press). In 1986, a group was formed that would establish the foundation of gangsta rap and push the genre forward, electrifying fans with their visceral and profane lyrics that glorified the dark ways of street life and brazenly challenged the police system. Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella caused a seismic shift in hip-hop when they decided to form N.W.A in 1986. With their hard-core image, bombastic sound, and lyrics that were equal parts poetic, lascivious, conscious, and downright in-your-face, N.W.A spoke the truth about life on the streets of Compton, California—then a hotbed of poverty, drugs, gangs, and unemployment. Going beyond the story portrayed in the 2015 blockbuster movie Straight Outta Compton, through firsthand interviews, extensive research, and top-notch storytelling, Los Angeles Times music reporter Gerrick Kennedy transports you back in time and offers a front-row seat to N.W.A’s early days and the drama and controversy that followed the incendiary group as they rose to become multiplatinum artists. Kennedy leaves nothing off the table in his pursuit of the full story behind the group’s most pivotal moments, such as Ice Cube’s decision to go solo after their debut studio album became a smash hit; their battle with the FBI over inflammatory lyrics; incidents of physical assault; Dr. Dre’s departure from the group to form Death Row Records with Suge Knight; their impact on the 1992 L.A. riots; Eazy-E’s battle with AIDS; and much more. A bold, riveting, “non-stop, can’t-put-it-down ride” (Library Journal), Parental Discretion Is Advised unveils the true and astonishing history of one of the most transcendent and controversial musical groups of the 1980s and 1990s.

Author: Eric D. Nuzum
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061976733
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 482

View

Book Description
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Music Your Parents Never Wanted You To Hear Believe it or not, music censorship in America did not begin with Tipper Gore's horrified reaction to her daughter's Prince album. The vilification of popular music by government and individuals has been going on for decades. Now, for the first time, Parental Advisory offers a thorough and complete chronicle of the music that has been challenged or suppressed -- by the people or the government -- in the United States. From Dean Martin's "Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma'am" to Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar; from freedom fighters such as Frank Zappa and in-your-face rappers such a N.W.A. to crusaders such as Tipper Gore, this intelligent and entertaining book shows how censorship has crossed sexual, class, and ethnic lines, and how many see it as a de facto form of racism. With nearly one hundred fascinating photographs of musicians, record burning, and controversial cover art; illuminating sidebars; and a decade-by-decade timeline of important moments in censorship history, Parental Advisory is by turns frightening and hilarious -- but always revealing.

Author: Joel McIver
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780711986770
Category : Rock musicians
Languages : en
Pages : 0

View

Book Description
Like many other pivotal bands the primary emotion behind the music of Slipknot is anger. The nine man masked outfit from Des Moines, Iowa, have been labelled nu-metal, a term first placed on LA emo-rockers, Korn. The author aims to explain why he considers them nothing less than a phenomenon.

Author: Leslie Rule
Publisher: Citadel Press
ISBN: 0806539992
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 420

View

Book Description
In the tradition of her acclaimed mother, Ann Rule, author of The Stranger Beside Me, bestselling author Leslie Rule exposes the trail of a sadistic sociopath, identity thief, and killer . . . It was a bleak November in 2012 when Cari Farver, thirty-seven, vanished from Omaha, Nebraska. Texts sent indicated that the hardworking mother had quit her job, abandoned her son, and cut ties with everyone. Cari’s boyfriend, Dave Kroupa, accepted the breakup at face value. Her mother, Nancy Raney, however, had doubts. “I need to hear your voice,” Nancy begged. When the texter refused to speak, Nancy reported Cari missing. While no one saw or spoke to Cari, more than 12,000 sinister emails and texts were sent in her name over the next years. Police believed Dave and his girlfriend, Shanna “Liz” Golyar, when they reported that the missing woman was cyberstalking them. The tormentor was eerily aware of Dave’s every move, knew when Liz visited and threatened the couple. It never occurred to Dave that Cari was a victim—that the real stalker had killed before, and was planning to kill again. Leslie Rule tracks the heart-pounding path to long-awaited justice—from a twisted past to the deadly deception and the high-tech forensics that condemned the killer to prison. “Rule's first true crime book hits the mark.” —Katherine Ramsland, author of Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader the BTK Killer “A deft, fascinating true crime story of obsession.” —Library Journal (Starred Review) With a New Update by the Author Includes Reading Group Guide

Author: Arion Berger
Publisher: Universe Publishing(NY)
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 136

View

Book Description
Secretly dreaming of sporting metal-rap 'ho or masta' pimp fashions? Can't turn the music up loud enough? Angry for no apparent reason? Constantly feel the need to break something? Or would you do it all for the nookie? If you've just answered yes to all these questions you're worthy of the label "mook," a term that has its roots in hip-hop and has evolved into its own popular and provocative form of music. From urban skater-kids to suburban mid-Western teens this genre of music has transcended all social and economic levels to become the "it" music for a post-grunge generation. A cutting edge category that is ferocious, in your face, and brutally honest, mockdom is becoming the sound of the century. This book documents the fusion of metal, rock, and hip-hop stomping the airwaves and making teen pop-queens cry. Find out how the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy laid the foundation and why the media made instant stars out of today's well-known acts such as Eminem, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Shootyz Groove, 311, Orange 9mm, Rage Against the Machine, Korn, and others. Pimps, trailer trash, and attitude problems--love them or hate them these are the new crossover pop-stars; see them "fully exposed" in this gritty and intensely illustrated celebration on the family tree of metal-rap.

Author: Michael P. Jeffries
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226395855
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 274

View

Book Description
State of the hip-hop union -- The meaning of hip-hop -- From a cool complex to complex cool -- Thug life and social death -- The bridge : summary of chapters two and three -- Hip-hop authenticity in black and white -- Parental advisory : explicit lyrics -- The last verse -- Obama as hip-hop icon.

Author: Jen O'Hara
Publisher: Scarletta Press
ISBN: 1938063201
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 338

View

Book Description
Shannon O'Hara, skating down the ice chasing after the puck, comes face to face with a larger-than-life opposing team player. Never one to back down from anything, barely five feet fall, Shannon tangles with the player and ends up with a penalty. As she sits in the penalty box--only thinking about getting out in two minutes--no one would ever imagine that this beautiful, vibrant, and competitive young spirit will be gone in 54 days. The devastating news that 12-year-old Shannon is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor is unfathomable, surreal, and unimaginable. This is the raw and emotional story of the O'Hara's as they prepare for the fight of their lives, and their ultimate loss. Written and inspired by a blog that Dan and Jen O'Hara wrote to keep in touch with their family, friends, and supporters near and far, the story follows the yearlong battle from diagnosis to death and exemplifies how to live the "new normal" every day, no matter what it entails. Shannon's struggle reveals why family, faith, and hope are so important in our daily lives and how the support of a community plays such a vital role through the good times and especially the bad.

Author: Bruce Quan, Jr
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 282

View

Book Description
This account of five generations of one family's life in America could simply be called an historical drama--the "characters" are all people who lived and breathed and walked the earth of China and California, from the 1850s to the present day. It is my hope and intention that these fact-based stories will enlighten, encourage and inspire whoever reads them: students, historians, Asian Americans and all other peoples of different races who may recognize themselves or their families in this drama--in short, we human beings who inhabit our world with skins of different shades, and languages made of different sounds, but with minds and hearts aligned to what is good and true in life, taught to us by our mothers and fathers, aunties and uncles, brothers and sisters and family friends, down through the generations. -- Bruce Quan, Jr.

Author: Gerrick Kennedy
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1647000475
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 282

View

Book Description
Named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR... SO FAR by The New Yorker Named a BEST BOOK OF THE MONTH by The Washington Post A candid exploration of the genius, shame, and celebrity of Whitney Houston a decade after her passing On February 11, 2012, Whitney Houston was found submerged in the bathtub of her suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. In the decade since, the world has mourned her death amid new revelations about her relationship to her Blackness, her sexuality, and her addictions. Didn’t We Almost Have It All is author Gerrick Kennedy’s exploration of the duality of Whitney’s life as both a woman in the spotlight and someone who often had to hide who she was. This is the story of Whitney’s life, her whole life, told with both grace and honesty. Long before that fateful day in 2012, Whitney split the world wide open with her voice. Hers was a once-in-a-generation talent forged in Newark, NJ, and blessed with the grace of the church and the wisdom of a long lineage of famous gospel singers. She redefined “The Star-Spangled Banner.” She became a box-office powerhouse, a queen of the pop charts, and an international superstar. But all the while, she was forced to rein in who she was amid constant accusations that her music wasn’t Black enough, original enough, honest enough. Kennedy deftly peels back the layers of Whitney’s complex story to get to the truth at the core of what drove her, what inspired her, and what haunted her. He pulls the narrative apart into the key elements that informed her life—growing up in the famed Drinkard family; the two romantic relationships that shaped the entirety of her adult life, with Robyn Crawford and Bobby Brown; her fraught relationship to her own Blackness and the ways in which she was judged by the Black community; her drug and alcohol addiction; and, finally, the shame that she carried in her heart, which informed every facet of her life. Drawing on hundreds of sources, Kennedy takes readers back to a world in which someone like Whitney simply could not be, and explains in excruciating detail the ways in which her fame did not and could not protect her. In the time since her passing, the world and the way we view celebrity have changed dramatically. A sweeping look at Whitney’s life, Didn’t We Almost Have It All contextualizes her struggles against the backdrop of tabloid culture, audience consumption, mental health stigmas, and racial divisions in America. It explores exactly how and why we lost a beloved icon far too soon.

Author: Jerry Heller
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416917942
Category : Sound recording executives and producers
Languages : en
Pages : 338

View

Book Description
The maverick music mogul who put rap on the map recounts his riveting career comprising delirious highs and shocking lows, cocaine-fueled mega-deals, brutal wranglings, and the uncanny insight that made a middle-aged, Jewish white guy the most successful record company executive of the rap era.