Hip-Hop Decoded, Knock the Hustle, The Last Season: A Team In Search of Its Soul, Lyrical Swords: Hip-Hop and Politics in the Mix Vol. 1, Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil, The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies, Picture Me Rollin' , Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Bruce Banner Says: Overall: B+

What is it like to coach four future Hall of Fame players on one basketball team? As you can imagine, it's drama. There is so much talk in the news about the Lakers, Kobe Bryant, and his relationships with his teammates, but it's usually a sound bite of what was happening. However, Phil Jackson gives us 270 pages of real talk about what that last season was like. This book offers insight into a one of Basketball's most storied franchises during the 2004 Season and it is a must read for any Lakers fans. Let me cut to the chase, according to what Phil Jackson writes in his book the Lakers just had problems all around, more infighting than most teams but the biggest problem was Kobe's personality. Actually after reading this book, I have changed my opinion of Kobe; he comes out looking very bad. I still don't think he raped that girl but I sure think he has two sides of his personality and through his coach we get closer to that other side. Phil said this book was 15-years in the making but it only looks at the last season and if it had come out and Katelyn Faber had taken Kobe to trial it would have been a problem for Kobe. Jackson admits that his relationship with Kobe had fallen apart so one can claim some bias, but this book comes from Phil Jackson's journal, which means little anecdotal notations of events were listed each day and people view these things pretty much as accurate since they are documented as they happen. He even mentions some unwise moves he made that affected last season, for example, Phil said he gave Rick Telander a interview in 2001 and he mentioned to him some comments that he thought were supposed to be off the record. To be specific Phil mentioned to Rick that that he had been told that in high school Kobe "Sabotaged games to keep them close enough for him to dominate at the end." Needless to say the quote appeared verbatim in Rick's story sparking a major uproar and Kobe was heated about Phil telling people that. In retrospect Phil says he should have known better than to repeat that but Kobe simmered with it unbeknownst to him until one day during a teem meeting /argument when Rick Fox said that both Shaq and Kobe act like they are apart from the team. Shaq then began to respond when Kobe cut him off. "Quit your crying!" Kobe said. Phil then jumped in and said "Kobe you're as much to blame as Shaq is, if not more" to which Kobe responded, "You're the one who should Fucking talk, you said I sabotaged games". But this sort of language is all throughout thee book, again it's real talk and its entertaining and factual.

Phil paints Kobe as almost schizophrenic, not in the clinical sense of the word but in the fact that he was sending out mixed messages, forgetting things he said and he highlights this in many examples throughout the book. "Shaq didn't call me this summer," Kobe told Mitch Kupchak (General Manager of Lakers). "Kobe, I gave you a message from Him Mitch responded. He invited you to Orlando to get away from everything" to which Kobe retorted "Shaq didn't have to leave a message through you, he said, he knew how to reach me." (In fact Shaq had called him several times and Kobe had not returned any of his calls just like with Phil Jackson). More importantly his sentiments showed that while he insists that he doesn't give a shit what the big guy does but on the other hand, he shows he cares a great deal about what the big guy does. This sort of behavior had Phil bring in a narcissism behavior therapist to help him deal with Kobe, this says a lot because Phil was the one coach who was able to handle the crazed aspect of Dennis Rodman. The most disturbing mention on Kobe is his selfishness - Phil says he is the only player in the NBA to vote against the collective bargaining agreement and that he had the nerve to want the Lakers to pay for a better jet for him to go back and forth to Colorado when they were merely doing a favor for him.

What of Gary Payton, well Phil said he lost a step on the court but he was still just as quick to talk shit on the court until he was getting his ass busted by quicker guards like Mike Bibby and Tony Parker (That's almost verbatim). Gary never really picked up the Triangle Offense but neither did Karl. By the way Tex Winters is still the major architect of that offense that is why he is always at each game next to Phil Jackson so I won't say it's easy to learn. Although Phil never really wanted Karl Malone he was good for the team to be an arbitrator between Kobe and Shaq.

Phil disses the dirt on non-Laker players also. He mentions in detail the problems with the Laker top brass who moved him out because they worship Kobe and believed he would be able to sell merchandise for another 10 years because he's a young star. Being fired by the Lakers was hard for him because he was dating the daughter of the Laker's owner Jerry Buss. Jeanie tried to hint certain things to him but he was too blinded to see it. She was caught in between her dad and her lover. My one complaint is not about anything in the book but about Phil Jackson he constantly whines in the book about the same phantom missed calls that he thought the refs missed in the championship game. But in the end he admits the Pistons were simply better than them although earlier in the season he wrote in his journal that the Pistons were not that good and how he was still confident that the Pistons would lose to them until it was over, it seems that the Lakers had that arrogant flair also and that contributed to their loss.

Lyrical Swords: Hip-Hop and Politics in the Mix Vol. I Category: Current Affairs, Pop Culture Author: Adisa Banjoko Publisher: YinSumi Press ISBN: 0970177119 Length: 115 pages Release Date: September 2004

Synopsis: A powerful collection of essays and interviews that discus the political, social, and spiritual trends within the Hip-Hop sub-culture.

Jupiter Says: Overall: B

With his profound knowledge and insiders view of the culture, the self-professed "Bishop of Hip-Hop" delivers a short but thorough read of essays and interviews from the last 8 years. Banjoko's approach to the culture is that of a Rhodes' Scholar, one of Mind, Body, and Spirit. Indeed, if Hip-Hop is to remain a viable culture or subculture it has to nurture those 3 things. This is the man who challenged KRS-ONE to a debate on his Temple of Hip-Hop arguing that Hip-Hop is a subculture and should not be consider a “religion” or way of life. Although this debate is absent from Lyrical Swords, Banjoko's synergistic view of the culture comes through in this book which is equally split into Politics and Spirituality. The author explores the myth of Hip Hop protest, the relationship between Hip-Hop and Eastern Culture (namely the martial arts), and Hip-Hop and Islam and how both influence its political economy. Although he comes from an Islamic perspective as a devout Muslim, one important observation Banjoko makes is how the Black Church turned it's back on Hip Hop during it's infancy while Islam (through the Nation of Islam, Nation of Gods & Earths, etc.) was more accepting. 

Given the books brevity, I won't get into too many of the details to avoid giving “spoilers.” Banjoko ends the book by giving a semi-biographical sketch of his life in the culture he loves and implores people outside of the culture not to “fear” Hip Hop. A quote from the book that provides the best summary of it's contents is, “Hip Hop, by itself, is not intrinsically good or bad. It can free minds, build schools, keep peace in the streets, build racial and spiritual bridges and help one gain self-mastery and authentic awe for God's light. On the other hand, it can enclose youth in their own little cocoon of jealousy, poverty, self-hate, racial animosity and fratricide and help people cultivate the darkness inside themselves.” 

Lyrical Swords is an good book that offers a counterbalanced view of Hip-Hop against the contemporary grain of materialism, sexism, and gangsterism.

Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil Category: Current Affairs Author: David Goodstein Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Inc. ISBN: 0393058573 Length: 128 pages Release Date: January 2004

Synopsis: In this book, David Goodstein, professor of physics at Caltech, explains the underlying scientific principles of the inevitable fossil fuel crisis we face, and the closely related peril to the Earth's climate. The discovery of any natural resource, oil included, rises rapidly at first, but the rate of discovery eventually reaches a peak that will never be exceeded, and declines forever after that. In the 1950s, when America's military and industrial might arose largely from the fact that it was the world's leading producer of oil, a geophysicists named M. King Hubbert, realizing that the discovery peak had already passed, predicted that oil production in the Lower 48 would reach its highest point around 1970 and would decrease rapidly after that. To the surprise of nearly everyone, he turned out to be right. Now a number of petroleum geologists have pointed out that worldwide discovery of oil peaked decades ago. As oil fields continue to be depleted and new discovery, including advances in oil technology, fails to keep up, the prospect of a global Hubbert's peak looms before us.

Eyecalone Says: Overall: D

As vice provost and Frank J. Gilloon Distinguished Teaching and Service Professor at the California Institute of Technology, David Goodstein's teaching credentials are impeccable. As an author, he apparently has much to learn. As the price of oil continues to inch upward on the international markets, the issue of it's depletion has not quite reached prominence in the media. However, recently there has been a spate of books coming out regarding this monumental issue. While Goodstein is apparently knowledgeable about the subject matter this is a terrible book to look to for the layman just trying to understand the issue and it's significance. Out of Gas is presented as if it's going to explain the issue and it does, but in a way that is not that useful for most people. Out of Gas documents that the crisis is real and Goodstein is not someone who can be dismissed as an alarmist, but instead of dealing with the impact of the oil crisis, explaining energy alternatives, and how it will affect our daily lives Goodstein essentially turns this short work (only 128 pages), into an extremely long and boring lecture on thermo-dynamics and geology. It's almost false advertising, as Goodstein seems to have set out to exact revenge on his students that did not pay attention in his physics class. What little information is provided regarding alternatives, seems to be mostly devoted to Goodstein promoting the nuclear industry. The issue of oil depletion is extremely important and will become increasingly prominent once the media is forced to give it the attention it deserves, but if you want to understand the true significance of the issue this is not the book to do it with.

The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies Category: Current Affairs Author: Richard Heinberg Publisher: New Society Publishers ISBN: 0865714827 Length: 288 pages Release Date: March 2003

Synopsis: Richard Heinberg, from Santa Rosa, California, has been writing about energy resources issues and the dynamics of cultural change for many years. A member of the core faculty at New College of California, he is an award-winning author of three previous books. His Museletter was nominated for its "Best Alternative Newsletter" award by Utne Reader in 1993. This book explores the political and economic impact of oil depletion, recommending a managed transition to a low-energy sustainable society and a global program of resource sharing in light of the imminent decline of world oil supplies.

Eyecalone: Overall: A-

Imagine that the world is quickly running out of cheap oil and that within the next few years, global production will peak. Thereafter, even if industrial societies begin to switch to alternative energy sources, they will have less net energy each year to do all the work essential to the survival of complex societies. We would be entering a new era; a post-oil era, as different from the industrial era as the latter was from medieval times. Unfortunately, humanity probably won't have to imagine this scenario for long.  

In The Party's Over, Richard Heinberg attmepts to place the momentous transition in historical context, showing how industrialism arose from the harnessing of fossil fuels, how competition to control access to oil shaped the geopolitics of the 20th century, and how contention for dwindling energy resources in the 21st century will lead to resource wars in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South America. Heinberg describes the likely impacts of oil depletion, goes through the Pros and Cons of the known energy alternatives. He predicts chaos unless the U.S. -- the world's largest oil consumer -- is willing to join with other countries to implement a global program of resource conservation and sharing, he also recommends a "managed collapse" that might make way for a slower-paced, low-energy, sustainable society in the future. This book's subject matter and historical chronology offers added context and understanding to many of the world's current resource conflicts.  

I've read critiques of this book and the biggest negatives people listed were that the author is apparently "biased" against some alternative energy sources (nuclear) Vs others, and the author is too pessimistic. The first critique is debatable, but to be honest I'm no fan of nuclear energy myself; the second is almost silly in light of what this book is about. When dealing with subject matter of such monumental importance, depletion of oil, the author has no obligation to be optimistic. Quite frankly, modern industrial society simply does not function without access to cheap, accessible, and plentiful oil - and when it's no longer available, this will NOT be a pleasant situation. Ultimately the question must be asked, has humanity done what is necessary to make the transition bearable? That question remains to be answered but according to Richard Heinberg, it doesn't look good especially in the U.S.. The Party's Over is probably one of the most readable works on the issue of oil depletion.  It tackles the history, the current context, and the future and current social implications. It even makes suggestions for personal, community, national, and global action. I highly recommend this work for anyone serious about understanding this increasingly important issue. 

Picture Me Rollin' Category: Fiction Author: Black Artemis Publisher: Penguin Group ISBN: 0451215133 Length: 302 pages Release Date: June 2005

Synopsis: In this hardcore novel of love and betrayal, a female ex-con moved by the power, poetry, and dangerous passion of Tupac Shakur has plans to play it straight and do the right thing for her future survival. But her lover Jesus, the man she went to prison for on a gun possession charge, is intent on bringing her back into his game. She finds herself caught between inescapable yet contradictory forces-the passion for the streets and the inspiration of her conscience, just like her idol Pac. With righteous anger to burn, she's got to pull her life together before it's too late. 

Author Biography: Black Artemis is a hip-hop activist, writer, and speaker in New York City. She holds a master's degree from Columbia University and has worked with many social justice organizations throughout the country. Artemis is also a screenwriter who has won recognition for her work. She lives in the Bronx, where she was born and raised, and enjoys working with youths to find their voice through art and politics.

Ooh Papi Says: Overall: A

I happen to do some internet radio surfing one day and came across this unapologetic female hip hop author named Black Artemis she was discussing her latest book Picture Me Rollin'. In the interview she was just telling the truth about everything in Hip-Hop and everybody in Hip-Hop. The woman questioned the politics of one of the most politicized groups in hip hop, Dead Prez, and the most popular commercial acts in a way that I had not witnessed. Shortly after she revealed that she was an activist and public speaker. After hearing her I had to pick up the book.

The story is really simple at its base, we get a tale of love and betrayal. It's a story intentionally written and told from a female and feminist point of view. The body of work encompasses all the drama that other street books of its kind offers but it fully explores the drama and tells a street wise story with 3 dimensional repercussions. Since more women read these books than men and very few are writing in this way. I personally have to consider this book ground breaking. I later discovered Playahata.com gets a shout out in the prelude but I was unaware of that until I had finished writing this review.

Again this may sound like your average street novel but its far from that because the author is so knowledgeable. She does not leave weak political analysis unchecked and she attempts to clear up the slightest contradictions. Black Artemis captures the appeal of hip-hop for young Latinas at the same time she criticizes the culture’s violent codes of masculinity. Although I am also Puerto Rican the book does not appeal to me on that level it appeals to me on a real and raw level because it challenges me as a male in Hip-Hop fan and tries to hurt my feelings. As a writer, she starts with where people are and tries to show them something different. In hip-hop there’s a big emphasis on keeping it real, but what if what’s real needs to change. Those who don’t mind being challenged will be attracted to the novel and the authenticity, the writer shows them that it doesn’t have to be this way. Ironically I realize that her core audience is young women of color, which I am not. She simply writes fiction for women who love hip hop, even when hip hop fails to love them in return. There isn’t a lot of room for complexity for women in hip-hop. Rap music is very aggressive; a lot of men are uncomfortable with women using that kind of power. The author seems to revel in this and wants to challenge the way men think about women. I left asking the question, "why is that we only see one kind of masculinity out there?" For all the authors righteousness I still knew that there’s was going to be a violent end. I was a little disappointed in what happened with Esperanza the lead female protagonist but I guess it wouldn’t be a true moral tale if there weren’t endings like the one this book entails.

Confessions of an Economic Hitman Category: Autobiography Author: John Perkins Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. ISBN: 1576753018 Length: 250 pages Release Date: November 2004

Synopsis: In this riveting personal story, John Perkins tells of his own inner journey from willing servant of empire to impassioned advocate for the rights of oppressed people. Covertly recruited by the United States National Security Agency and on the payroll of an international consulting firm, he traveled the world-to Indonesia, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other strategically important countries. His job was to implement policies that promoted the interests of the U.S. corporatocracy (a coalition of government, banks, and corporations) while professing to alleviate poverty-policies that alienated many nations and ultimately led to September 11 and growing anti-Americanism. Perkins' story illuminates just how far he and his colleagues-self-described as economic hit men-were willing to go. He explains, for instance, how he helped to implement a secret scheme that funneled billions of Saudi Arabian petrodollars back into the U.S. economy, and that further cemented the intimate relationship between the Islamic fundamentalist House of Saud and a succession of American administrations. Perkins reveals the hidden mechanics of imperial control behind some of the most dramatic events in recent history, such as the fall of the Shah of Iran, the death of Panamanian president Omar Torrijos, and the U.S. invasions of Panama and Iraq. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which many people warned Perkins not to write, exposes the little known inner workings of a system that fosters globalization and leads to the impoverishment of millions of people across the planet. It is a compelling story that also offers hope and a vision for realizing the American dream of a just and compassionate world that will bring us greater security.

Eyecalone Says: Overall: A+

If Confessions of an Economic Hitman is not the most important book to come out in recent memory, then it is possibly the most sincere. This book is a an absolute must read, not just for the "converted" or seasoned students of imperialism, but for the average U.S. citizen who generally understands so little about the world outside the United States that it is almost criminal. Fortunately the book is written in the best possible manner to foster understanding even for someone who knows and understands nothing about transnational banks, U.S. foreign policy, international politics, or international financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prior to writing this book Perkins worked for the United States National Security Agency and several international consulting firms. His job basically consisted of traveling the world and convincing the leaders of "under-developed nations" to accept loans from the IMF and World Bank. The official line was that the money would be used to expand the developing nations infrastructure of roads, railways, electrical power, and communications and, thereby, bring prosperity to these countries but the true aim was to generate lucrative contracts for multinational, mostly U.S.-based, construction companies and to lure nations into loans they could never repay. In the process a few politicians and well-connected families within those countries would become wealthy while the standard of living for most of the people would decline. As a corporate "economist" part of Perkin's job was to deliberately exaggerate the potential for economic return on these investments, which inevitably led to these situations. It was at this point that the lending agencies and foreign corporations would move in to take control of the nation’s resources and government, and that, too, was part of the plan. In essence this is manner in which modern Capitalism and imperialism work, where conquest by the bomb has given way to conquest by the loan. It is only in the case where these institutions prove too slow or not persuasive enough that "force" enters the equation. 

Mr. Perkins was a key part of this system and he is a man with a heavy conscious because he was not wholly ignorant of what he was doing when helping to subjugate these developing nations. But like so many Perkins had convinced himself that what he was doing would best for these nations in the long run and in addition he was paid handsomely.  His confession is a vivid and enthralling portrait of denial, greed, regret, and human frailty as even the writing of this book was delayed several times by unofficial "bribes", in the form of sweetheart consulting jobs, and threats from former employers. Perkins’s prose is clear and his story compelling and the book reads like a fiction novel, the only problem being, that his story is anything but fiction. Only time will tell if this book will bring Mr. Perkins the atonement and solace that he apparently desires, but even if it doesn't it needed to written as it will be extremely educational for most people. Perkins offers suggestions on how to effect real, positive change, and although I would probably not agree that his suggestions go far enough, we do agree on what step must be taken first, and that step is education. Perkins message is clear; if the U.S. is to become a moral nation worthy of emulating then it will be up to informed citizens to make it change the way it does business at a very fundamental level.