A Time Before Crack, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, Come Hell or High Water: Katrina and the Color of Disaster, Confessions of a Video Vixen, Drama Factor, Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, Explicit Content

A Time Before Crack Category: Photo Journalism Author: Jamel Shabazz (Photographer), Richard Green, Charlie Ahearn, Claude Grunitzky, Terrence Jennings Publisher: powerHouse Books ISBN: 1576872130 Length: 114 pages Release Date: May 2005

Synopsis: Once upon a time before crack, inner city communities were blighted by poverty and unemployment but not by the drug wars that tore families apart, destroying lives with needless violence and mindless addiction. Once upon a time before crack, pride and style were as inseparable as a beatbox and mixtape, or as a pair of shoes and matching purse. Once upon a time before crack, Jamel Shabazz was on the scene, working the streets of New York City, capturing the faces and places of an era that have long since disappeared.

Best known as hip hop's finest fashion photographer for his blockbuster best-selling monograph, Back in the Days (powerHouse Books, 2001), Jamel Shabazz revisited his archive and unearthed an extraordinary collection of never before published documentary photographs collected for his third powerHouse Books release, A Time Before Crack. A visual diary of the streets of New York City from the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties, Shabazz's distinctive photographs reveal the families, the poses, and the players who made this age extraordinary.

Ooh Papi Says: Overall: B

Jamel Shabazz and Charlie Ahearn come together to put pictures and words together that capture an era. With contributions from Fab 5 Freddy and others the hip hop flavor dominates A Time before Crack. That era capturing is limited to Brooklyn, New York and not as encompassing as the title suggest but if you are a new Yorker this is a must have collectors item. The two book composers are quite unique but move in similar circles. Charlie Ahearn is the director of the classic, 1982 hip hop movie Wild Style. He is the coauthor of  Yes Yes Y'all (Da Capo, 2002)

Jamel Shabazz is an author of note, his earlier works include Back in the Days and The Last Sunday in June. His photographs have appeared in publications including The Source, Vibe, TRACE, Flaunt, Mass Appeal, Jalouse, Black Book, OneWorld, and Honey. Shabazz's work has also been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Once upon a time before crack, depicts inner city communities blighted by poverty and unemployment-but not by the crack wars that tore families apart, destroying lives with needless violence and mindless addiction. It's captured so eloquently in the pages and is sure to be a hit with other photographers, 1970 era voyeurs, dumpster divers (yours truly), backpackers, parents, hip hop purists and anybody who likes books like Back In The Days, The Last Sunday in June, Hip Hop Files: Photographs, 1979-1984, Where'd You Get Those? New York City's Sneaker Culture: 1960-1987 , Hip Hop Immortals: The Remix, or Yes Yes Y'All: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop's First Decade.

Although I grew up a neighbor to New York I felt a really close kinship with this book and the era but I am not sure it will do the same for all who came up in that time before crack and are not familiar with the northeastern style of life and urban living. Regardless it will make for a great pictorial example that contrast poverty and illicit crime. The pathologies are not one in the same. A picture is sometimes worth a thousand words and solely through the use of pictures a message of innocence and poverty is conveyed before the drug called crack changed the urban landscape and the hip hop scene.

I leave you with the words off of Ghostface Killah's Ironman Album. The track is called "Fish" and the interlude goes like this, "These are the men who lead the crime families of America. I control 26,000 men. Except for dope, we operate in all aspects of organized crime. And if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that drugs destroy your mind and destroy your home.In the end it'll only lead our country into ruin."

Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation Category: Ficti Author: Jeff Chang, D. J. Kool Herc (Introduction) Publisher: St. Martin's Press ISBN: 031230143X Length: 560 pages Release Date: February 2005

Synopsis: Based on original interviews with DJs, b-boys, rappers, graffiti writers, activists, and gang members, with unforgettable portraits of many of hip-hop's forebears, founders, and mavericks - including D. J. Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D, and Ice Cube - Can't Stop Won't Stop chronicles the events, the ideas, the music, and the art that marked the hip-hop generation's rise from the ashes of the '60s into the new millennium. Here is a cultural and social history of the end of the American century and a look into the new world that the hip-hop generation created.

Bruce Banner Says: Overall: A

After watching “And You Don’t Stop,” VH-1’s week long documentary on the history of hip-hop, a former advertising and marketing executive and now Hip-Hop culture Critique Hadji Williams penned a open letter asking the question “Will the real Hip Hop "Documentarians" please stand up”. Outside of Hip hop novelist and activist Sofia Quintero, not many people stood up to answer that question. But after the release of this 550-page book, its clear that Jeff Chang is real and standing up. In fact the humility he exhibited in writing and researching this book has allowed him to be standing above everyone else.

I was shocked to behold the size of this book and the amount of research that Chang invested into documenting hip hop culture from graffiti, break dancing and scratching to the actual rap stars and personal anecdotes. He doesn’t stop there however, inside this massive work Chang documents important events in the hip-hop radio industry and magazine industry. Actually it's the first book I have even reviewed in which I have only read half of it. But in the 275 pages I have read, I was quite impressed especially with chapters 1,2,9,10,17,18,19. Chang contacts and checks with the right people, and opts out of the revisionist and commonly traveled path of commercializing hip-hop history. His work is authentic.

In hip hop Journalism he starts from the beginning when The Source Magazine was nothing but a 2-page newsletter similar to the Davey-D music report, which started around the same time. He gives critical analysis and perspective about The Source Magazine’s only African American Co-Founder James Bernard. He deals with important things below the radar in discussing how early Hip-Hop pioneers like Darryl James, Sheena Lester, Dane Webb,  Selwyn Hinds were among a group of elite constructing a hip hop nationalist worldview that was hard, complicated and not controlled by corporations.

In Hip Hop Radio he lets insiders tell about the evolution of hip-hop on air through commentary and quotes. Those who love constructive criticism will appreciate the cultural, political and societal undertaking that Chang went through to present the hip hop generation that includes all happening and growing up during a certain era, whether they liked participating in Hip-Hop or not.

How good is the book, well in my opinion it’s twice as good as the VH1 special? Consider this Kool Herc was honored at the VH1 30 years of HIP HOP special but Kool Herc has gone on the record and said that he did not think that VH1 folks did their homework on their special and it missed a lot.

On the other hand Kool Herc has written the brief introduction for this book as authentic. Equally foreboding is that this book gets open endorsements from intellectuals who grew up as part of the hip-hop generation. Individuals like William Jelani Cobb, Farai Chideya whose writings on Hip-Hop are relevant and dynamic. This herein may lead to the one problem with Can’t Stop wont Stop. This book is so thorough that unless you already understand that Hip-Hop has evolved into something else from whence it started, you may miss significant relevance. Today most people especially younger people think Hip-Hop and rap music are the same, thus those readers may not be able to appreciate all within its pages. Chang should have used a few more pictorials to help those who are more students of hip hop completely understand what he is documenting. In the end readers will find that Chang has stood up and represented. Its official the “Can’t Stop Wont Stop" music, mentality and culture is now trademarked by the Hip-Hop generation. - Nuff said

Come Hell or High Water: Katrina and the Color of Disaster Category: Current Affairs Author: Michael Eric Dyson Publisher: Perseus Books Group ISBN: 0465017614 Length: 258 pages Release Date: March 2006

Synopsis: The first major book to be released about Hurricane Katrina, Dyson's volume not only chronicles what happened when, it also argues that the nation's failure to offer timely aid to Katrina's victims indicates deeper problems in race and class relations. Dyson's contention that Katrina exposed a dominant culture pervaded not only by "active malice" toward poor blacks but also by a long history of "passive indifference" to their problems is both powerful and unsettling. Through this history of neglect, Dyson suggests, America has broken its social contract with poor blacks who, since Emancipation, have assumed that government will protect all its citizens. Yet when disaster struck the poor, the cavalry arrived four days late. 

Ooh Papi Says: Overall: A

In this book Dyson exhaustively paints the picture of the factors leading up to the Katrina disaster and the fallout. I hope that Spike Lee consults this book for his documentary film because I have never seen anybody gather so much information in such a short period of time, and I don't think that it can be done without it. There is no other Katrina document like this available. Its amazing Dyson told AOL, "I worked 18 hours a day for three months writing this book. The book has over 500 footnotes. I did my work because it's necessary to do meticulous work in order to make an argument to defend principles and persons who are vulnerable. If you don't do that work intellectually, then you make those people even more vulnerable." I was thoroughly impressed with the research although I did not feel the need to read every last page to get overwhelmed by Dyson. Thankfully Dyson separates fact from fiction take for example it turns out, approximately ten people were dead from community violence, not this 200 and 300 people the media was claiming and the sensationalized accounts of people raping seven-year-old babies and so on where inaccurate and still unproven according to police and hospital records. That does not mean no rapes occurred at all but the truth will amaze you. The facts and evidence go into why you heard this or that and what really went on, it's just amazing stuff inside this book that the press has still never reported on.

It's so monumental that its best I give you outstanding points instead of trying to sum it up. I do recommend you buy it , regardless of any personal biases because trust me you have yet to read anything like it anywhere. It's a complete package and gives me a new found respect for Dyson and his ability to present all sides of a debate.

The authenticity of the rumors are captured in the book for example Darnell Herrington, a Katrina survivor he's walking, and suddenly he feels burning in his chest and realizes he has been shot by buckshot in the front from his neck down, on his chest. He falls on the ground, rises back up to try to walk again and is shot in his back. Remarkably, he survives. His cousin runs off. He goes to several houses trying to get help. They turn him down, mostly white people. He saw a black man. He tried to go to him for help. The black man said, "Come on in," but there was a white woman in this house that said, "You've got to get out of here. I can't help you." He had to go back out. He saw two white gentlemen in a truck. He went up to them. "Please, please, help me." They used the N word, which of course Dyson doesn't use anymore and told Herington "We're liable to kill you ourselves, so get out of our faces." Then he found a White woman in a house, I think with a black family, who took him in and who lied -- because the guys who had shot him came looking for him, and they lied and said he wasn't there. Come to find out it was some White men who shot him because it was total anarchy out there and that's just one of the many things that people got away with while the press had a rumor orgy and didn't give people truth or facts. At the same time the press left out stories of White lynch mobs going around killing and threatening to kill innocent Black people , calling theem Ni@@ers and how the media was fueling all of this hysteria.

Dyson gives rappers their props for being the most honest in talking about the Katrina debacle and even points out something many are not aware of which is that southern rappers were dealing with the poverty exposed due to Katrina long before Katrina began. They talked about it many times amd in their videos although it was not in a political form, and also some may have been exploiting the poverty in New Orleans, at least in my opinion.

Dyson politely blast the White House, FEMA and the fourth government branch called the media who consistently used racist terms and descriptions from "finding Vs looting" to TV pundits which included White "liberals" calling people "refugees" to CNN's Wolf Blitzer saying "LOOK AT THEM, SO POOR SO BLACK. In short Dyson leaves no stone unturned in such a short time. It's nothing short of a great reading material. I only wished I could have read it as fast as he wrote it and it does re-open some sores but nonetheless nothing short of impressive.

Confessions of a Video Vixen Category: Biography Author: Karrine Steffans, Karen Hunter Publisher: Amistad ISBN: 0060842423 Length: 224 pages Release Date: June 2005

Synopsis: Confessions of a Video Vixen is the widely anticipated memoir of Karrine Steffans, the once sought-after sexy siren who appeared in the music videos of multiplatinum hip-hop artists such as Jay-Z, R. Kelly, and LL Cool J. A top-paid video dancer, Karrine transitioned to film when acclaimed director F. Gary Gray picked her to costar in his film A Man Apart, starring Vin Diesel. But the movie and music video sets, swanky Miami and New York restaurants, and trysts with the celebrities featured in the pages of People and In Touch magazines only skims the surface of Karrine's life.

This memoir -- part tell all, part cautionary tale -- shows how Karrinne came to be the confidante of so many, why she kept their secrets, and how she found herself in Hollywood after a life marked by physical abuse, rape, and drugs -- all before she was twenty-six. By sharing her emotionally charged story, she hopes to shed light on an otherwise romanticized industry.

Bruce Banter Says: Overall: C

Karrine Steffans goes by the nickname of "Superhead". It's a moniker that she describes as having both a positive and a negative meaning. The meaning of the negative moniker is what we all know about and what has driven the surprisingly superb sales of this book. In laymen term Superhead performs the best blowjobs in the world. This video vixen turned industry whore unleashed her oral skills on the entertainment world with a concentration in the rap and R&B community. Her pet name became her scarlet letter and once she decided to do a "Tell All Book" for profit a lot of married men were nervous as to what might be inside. One good thing we learn is that she was basically an anomaly and most video vixens are not sexing the stars, but she was that one who gave all vixens a bad name.

Steffans opens up the book chronicling her life of being emotionally and sexually abused. As well as serving witness to the life of her mother who was also a promiscuous and needy women according to Steffans. This historical family backdrop allows readers to sympathize with her as we watch her experiment with every drug imaginable, allow chronic abusive behavior at the hands of men, and prostitutes herself time and time again.

Some "Superhead" detractors have tried to dismiss everything in her book, as a lie but her intimate access and celebrity filled rolodex authenticate her as a hip hop Heidi Fleiss. Working as a team of one she is said to have corralled the entertainment industry and what she writes comes off as authentic. Her writing style is light and easy; it's very minimal for a writer. Although she does write professionally for XXL Magazine producing a monthly sex column of about 500 words the same sort of style doesn't exactly ring as sharp in a book. The main flaw hip-hop heads will find with the book is its awful chronology. In the latter portion of the book "Superhead" skips around on dates and times of events/encounters with various celebrities. She jumps around from 2002 to 2000 to 2004 it messes with the flow of the book and may stir questions of her stories validity. Those time periods in question coincide with her heavy drug usage and a period where she herself started to get drug seizures that caused blackouts and inevitable memory loss. The periods before the heavy drug usage are written crisp and the difference in her ability to document is noticeable.

After reading this book hip-hop fans might never view some rap personalities the same again. The innuendo of a simple story about how P-Diddy took "Superhead" and Xizbit to a "gay club for fun" suggest a lot about the seedy underworld life of today's entertainers and lends credibility to past rumors on everything from P-Diddy's sexuality to Irv Gotti's recent arrest with the young mogul possessing the impotence drug viagara.

But that's not a bad look in comparison to legendary lyricist, Kool G. Rap the father of her son and whom the author depicts as a monster, who forced her to perform Oral sex on him, in one instance for 2 hours until her nose bled. Knowing what I know about "Superhead" whether or not she was forced is very questionable. However the allegations that Kool G. Rap was abusive to her at and exploiting her at 17 years of age appears to ring with factual instances. The author admittedly embellishes somewhat and this wherein is where the trouble lies. At one point Superhead is documenting Kool G. Rap's history of seizures, citing his machismo as the reason he didn't take his medicine to prevent it. Thus he had a seizure while on the toilet and she had to thus wipe his ass for him so he wouldn't be embarrassed when the medics came to treat him. This nurturing episode she documents seems great in the book but suspicious in a later interview when she says she didn't love him. This may be some immaturity on the author's behalf and she definitely has a lot of growing to do.

A quick read of her conquest list Actors, Vin Diesel and Merlin Santana (R.I.P), NBA star Shaquille O Neal, R&B singers Usher, Bobby Brown and Ray J. Rocker Fred Durst. Rappers and rap producers Ice T, P-Diddy, Ja Rule, Irv Gotti, Jay Z, Dr.Dre and Xizbit. This seems like a lot but the list is so long I even wondered if my name was in there. She got her "ugly on" with so many people she probably could not begin to dispute anybody who might now say that she slept with him at the request of Irv Gotti. In fact in subsequent interviews about the book more celebrity names emerged as Superhead conquest including Big Tigga and Damon Dash. Dash is responsible for green lighting the book in the first place. However the omission of his name in the book and other names have drawn the ire of many reviewers, at Amazon.com reviewers give it thumbs down and warned other consumers not to spend the suggested 20 plus dollars price for it since the identity of Papa will never be revealed. I agree it's not worth the price tag but it is worth the read. - Nuff Said

Drama Factor Category: Fiction Author: Wanda Toby Publisher: Writersandpoets.com ISBN: 0970380372 Length: 251 pages Release Date: January 2005

Synopsis: Xavier, a star football player, finds his nigh starting off badly when his girlfriend's husband charges up a flight of stairs after him and forces him to climb out onto a fire escape in order to avoid confrontation. The night is equally bad for Grace when her horrendous date assaults her, triggering her to make a mad escape. Xavier thinks it's getting better when they meet, but things only seem to get worse after his night with her. He finds himself unable to play ball and caught in between his matchmaking mother and sister, and a paternity suit. In the midst of his teetering life, Xavier is facing an identity crisis that he continually ignores by relying on friends and family. With Grace and her ex-convicted sister in the fray, Xavier soon learns that someone has to be brave enough to face the shadows of his pain in order to save him from further disaster

Haitian-American author Wanda Toby is driven to write by the passion of creation. Wanda received a Masters of Health Science from the University of Florida, and is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor working with a statewide private rehabilitation company. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Wanda lives with her husband in South Florida and looks forward to writing many more stories about love, loss, relationships, and family.

Guest Reviewer "Nay Chilla" Says: Overall: C

Drama Factor by Wanda Toby, to put it simply, just doesn't offer the type of drama I'm searching for in a book. While some interesting storylines are introduced in the novel, the further development of those storylines is where this reviewer had the most trouble actually being interested enough to finish the last fifty pages of the book. 

Toby's main character, Grace Watson, is introduced while out on a blind date gone sour. In the mist of it's aftermath she bumps into star NFL player Xavier Francoise at a Waffle House where they accidentally hit it off, but somehow manage to screw things up enough so that they might not meet again. Well, they do meet again thanks to Grace's ex-con sister, Rachel and Xavier's family. From there, the two attempt to give their relationship a shot and for various reasons fail in the process. 

While the concept of Grace's sister being an ex-con seems like it could develop into something interesting later on in the book, in my opinion, that part of her past is there just as something for her to talk about with the NFL star she happens to be dating as well. Sure, anybody who goes to jail changes, but how would this character have been any different if she had simply gone to another country for several years and returned? The whole jail background just wasn't used effectively to establish or further build our interest in this character, although the way it kicks off the novel does make one believe that Rachel's storyline might be the most interesting. 

A good book makes you care about the characters. As your eyes scan the words and turn the pages, you want to know what will happen next. You want to know why the characters are making the decisions they're making and how they plan on pulling themselves out of these situations. Unfortunately, Toby hasn't created a novel which does that. Yes, it was interesting that she involved Haitian characters, a woman fresh out of prison, deceitful friends, successful Black women, and a host of other drama-like page turners, but unfortunately how she developed all those things wasn't as interesting. 

As a writer, Wanda Toby truly has the potential to develop another great book, but Drama Factor just isn't that book. I give this book a 'C-' because the entire time I was reading it I was thinking about what else I had in my bag that I could be reading instead. I also give it a 'C-' because it wasn't poorly written, it was just poorly developed. 

Dying To Win Category: Political Science Author: Robert Pape Publisher: Random House ISBN: 1400063175 Length: 352 pages Release Date: May 2005

Bruce Banner Says: Overall: A-

No, a Hip-Hop fiction book is a book where Hip-Hop subculture is integral to the story, which also means that it may or may not be a book about the music industry. By that correct definition, there have been very few Hip-Hop books. In all due respect the drug dealer turned publisher Vickie Stringer who gets much exposure on the street and even coverage by Newsweek is not a Hip-Hop novelist. There are many street books of this ilk that are hijacking the term Hip-Hop and I am sure you have seen them, so I don't have to name them all. Unfortunately the term Hip-Hop is used as code for "Black & urban", but not all things that are Black & urban are Hip-Hop, and vice versa. I think novels about street life should be referred to as street life fiction - end of story. You don't need to hijack to sell, the only requirement should be a compelling story as Donald Goines can probably attest to.

"Explicit Content" is about 2 girls Cassandra Rivers (Sabrina Steelo) and Lelia Aponte (Fatal Beauty) who chase their dream of becoming Hip-Hop stars from the underground to superstardom on a major label. In their quest for stardom a mogul of a Gangster rap record label named G double D makes it clear they have to literally be willing to ride or die for him. As their desire for fame and fortune is tested through various real life manipulations their friendship is also tested.

The author of this novel who goes by the name of Black Artemis (www.blackartemis.com) is obviously educated in a lot more areas than hip hop. Her language is up to date and real. Artemis's intricate weaving of complex social, musical and political machinations of the music industry suggest that she could be someone who has actually lived her novel. Many references in the characters dialogue are perfectly timed and when uttered are nothing short of brilliant. The author pens strong retorts by her character just as she is hitting you over the head with the "devils advocate" position. Voiced in real world conversations by industry executives who use insider rhetoric to explain why the term "Bitch" and "Hoe" is acceptable on your radio but the term brown skin woman is censored. One fine example of this is when the main character Sabrina Steelo offered a real world view to the complex villain character G Double D. "For all the talk about merit in our society, brilliantly branded mediocrity will propel you on the top of the heap much faster than old fashioned quality. And like any other phenomenon born on the margins, when hip-hop adopted the same formula, it went from subculture to mainstream." It's not preachy. Its either you get it or you don't and it's not asking you to side with her but it projects her ideology from a position of strength and at times moral hindsight. Some real world, rap artist names are dropped in an ambiguous manner and depending on the prospective of the reader they might be offended. However the name dropping it is never done with malicious or even satirical intent, but instead to use actual events that have transpired with those artist and their legal outcomes. - Nuf said