nathansnook 's review for:

They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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"𝘈𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘳, 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨?
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦, 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘛𝘶𝘣𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦."

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 Hanif’s 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.