Born to Use Mics

At the age of nineteen, Nasir Nas Jones began recording tracks for his debut albumand changed the music world forever. Released in 1994, Illmatic was hailed as an instant masterpiece and has proven one of the most influential albums in hip-hop history. With its close attention to beats and lyricism, and riveting first-person explorations of the isolation and desolation of urban poverty, Illmatic was pivotal in the evolution of the genre. In Born to Use Mics, Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai have brought together renowned writers and critics including Mark Anthony Neal, Marc Lamont Hill, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. , and many others to confront Illmatic song by song, with each scholar assessing an individual track from the album. The result is a brilliant engagement with and commentary upon one of the most incisive sets of songs ever laid down on wax.

ISBN 0465002110   Pages 320 ISBN13 9780465002115 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher The Perseus Books Group   Weight (grammes) 318 Imprint Basic Books   Published in New York Format Paperback   Height (mm) 210 Publication date 05 Jun 2008   Width (mm) 140 Library of Congress 2008007435   Spine width (mm) 25 DEWEY 782.421649   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

		Foreword
Introduction		Illmatic: It Was Written		1
		40TH Side North
1		It Was Signified: "The Genesis" by Adilifu Nama		13
2		A Rebel to America: "N.Y. State of Mind" After the Towers Fell by Sohail Daulatzai		33
3		Time Is Illmatic: A Song for My Father, a Letter to My Son by Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr.		61
4		"It's Yours": Hip-Hop World Views in the Lyrics of Nas by James Braxton Peterson		75
5		Critical Pedagogy Comes at Halftime: Nas as Black Public Intellectual by Marc Lamont Hill		97
		41ST Side South
6		"Memory Lane": On Jazz, Hip-Hop, and Fathers by Mark Anthony Neal		117
7		"One Love," Two Brothers, Three Verses by Michael Eric Dyson		129
8		"One Time 4 Your Mind": Embedding Nas and Hip-Hop Into a Gendered State of Mind by Kyra D. Gaunt		151
9		"Represent," Queensbridge, and the Art of Living by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.		179
10		"It Ain't Hard to Tell": A Story of Lyrical Transcendence by Imani Perry		195
		Remixes
		The Second Coming: An Interview (From the Source, April 1994) by Jon Shecter		213
		5-MIC Review by Matt Life		223
		Streets Disciple: Representing Queensbridge, New York, and the Future of Hip-Hop, Nas Is in His Own State of Mind: An Interview (From Rappages, May 1994)		225
		An Elegy for Illmatic by Gregory Tate		237
		Born Alone, Die Alone by Dream Hampton		241
		All the Words Past the Margins: Adam Mansbach and Kevin Coval Talk Understandable Smooth Shit by Adam Mansbach and Kevin Coval		245
		Nighttime Is More Trife Than Ever: The Many Misuses of Nas by Jon Caramanica		255
		More...

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