Westsiders

The phenomenal success of Los Angelinos like N.W.A, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Coolio, Snoop, Dr.Dre and Warren G. means that every block in Southcentral contains at least one boy who wants to be a rapper. "Westsiders" is a book about seven young men, all of whom are trying to make it in the rap business. It follows the changes in their musical and personal lives as they try and get shows, auditions, record demos in an increasingly shark-filled market-place. A few have been, or are, gang members. Some have straight jobs, others are drug dealers. Some have stable backgrounds, others were raised by grandparents, aunts or single mothers. Some love gangsta rap with a passion, and want to keep faith with it: others want to move on to something more positive. What they all share is the experience of growing up in a place that is far more violent than the one their parents grew up in. They have to navigate the loyalties of neighbourhood and friendship. All have lost close friends or relatives in the violence.

ISBN 0747552509   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9780747552505 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 330 Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC   Published in London Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC   Previous ISBN 9780747535294 Format Paperback   Height (mm) 198 Publication date 05 Feb 2001   Width (mm) 129 DEWEY 306.0973   Spine width (mm) 21 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level General Pages 400

'Westsiders is best read as a homage to the artists, fly-boys and fly-posters often working for props and freebies.These are poignant tales' I-D 'Shaw succeeds in piecing together an intriguing apologia for gangster rap that deserves to be read by everyone from Charlton Heston downwards *****' Q (Book of the Month) 'As definitive a portrait of contemporary hip-hop and young black lifestyles as has been written. A shocking and highly readable report from America's front line' The Times

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