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4.61 AVERAGE
4.61 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Thanks very much to Two Dollar Radio for the ARC.
Hanif Abdurraqib's essays are observant, intelligent, and far-reaching; he faces the interiority of a breakup through the Weeknd, considers immortality and control of the elements through Prince, and experiences the moment when shame falls to dust through Carly Rae Jepsen. This collection has a distinct political awareness; these essays, even when considering shows and albums of decades past, are written for this moment, reacting to and engaging with our most recent presidential election cycle.
Within this collection the music show becomes a study for human behavior. The feel of a venue, the performance of an artist, and the concertgoers' interactions with their neighbors are all lenses through which to understand both culture and personal experience. Music is community-making; Abdurraqib considers connections and divisions amongst people, and particularly the ways in which an anti-black society constantly puts the bodies and mental health of black Americans in jeopardy. Music can save lives within this society, but can also alienate further.
Some of these essays are poems; some are imbued with the precise feeling of when a few strands of a familiar song bring a dead friend back to life. The urgency of this book calls upon us all to consider the act of looking at another person and seeing them, of loving them openly, of allowing ourselves the freedom to be beholden to others. Let's just say: Only Hanif Abdurraqib could have me listening to Carly Rae Jepsen while reading.
Hanif Abdurraqib's essays are observant, intelligent, and far-reaching; he faces the interiority of a breakup through the Weeknd, considers immortality and control of the elements through Prince, and experiences the moment when shame falls to dust through Carly Rae Jepsen. This collection has a distinct political awareness; these essays, even when considering shows and albums of decades past, are written for this moment, reacting to and engaging with our most recent presidential election cycle.
Within this collection the music show becomes a study for human behavior. The feel of a venue, the performance of an artist, and the concertgoers' interactions with their neighbors are all lenses through which to understand both culture and personal experience. Music is community-making; Abdurraqib considers connections and divisions amongst people, and particularly the ways in which an anti-black society constantly puts the bodies and mental health of black Americans in jeopardy. Music can save lives within this society, but can also alienate further.
Some of these essays are poems; some are imbued with the precise feeling of when a few strands of a familiar song bring a dead friend back to life. The urgency of this book calls upon us all to consider the act of looking at another person and seeing them, of loving them openly, of allowing ourselves the freedom to be beholden to others. Let's just say: Only Hanif Abdurraqib could have me listening to Carly Rae Jepsen while reading.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
incredible from start to finish
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Incredibly reflective. Hope and joy and sadness in the presumably mundane.
challenging
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
"๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ?
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ค ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ."
Necessary. Mandatory reading. If you ever wondered how top 40 rap or pop songs have an impact on our daily lives, here it is laid sharp and beautiful in Hanifโs prose. From Chance the Rapper to Carly Rae Jepson with Nina Simone and Prince and Whitney Houston in between, a fine collection that writes about the black experience through passion and power that brings us closer to compassion.
Love.
Race.
Death.
Class.
All written here. All so beautiful.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ค ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ."
Necessary. Mandatory reading. If you ever wondered how top 40 rap or pop songs have an impact on our daily lives, here it is laid sharp and beautiful in Hanifโs prose. From Chance the Rapper to Carly Rae Jepson with Nina Simone and Prince and Whitney Houston in between, a fine collection that writes about the black experience through passion and power that brings us closer to compassion.
Love.
Race.
Death.
Class.
All written here. All so beautiful.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective