Westside: The Coast-to-Coast Explosion of American Hip Hop - Softcover

Shaw, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0815411960 ISBN 13: 9780815411963

Publisher: UNKNO, 2001

Synopsis

Journalist William Shaw chronicles the lives of seven young men in Southcentral Los Angeles as they struggle for success in the hip hop music industry. Shaw reveals that the world these men inhabit is one of few opportunities and frequent violence, yet it is a world unlike the wasteland often depicted in the rap lyrics that have made it famous. Among the men Shaw meets are Khop, a former honor student who finds fame working with rap star Ice Cube; Rah, who loses his friend and fellow rapper in a shooting; energetic talent-show regular Big Al, dropped by his label after his first album flops, and other surprising and ambitious men facing uncertain futures. In Westside, Shaw also tells of his meetings with Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and Bronx hip hop pioneer Kool Herc, examines the life and career of N.W.A.'s Eazy-E, and witnesses a performance by a then-unknown (and penniless) Eminem.

About this title

About the Author:

William Shaw, a pop culture journalist, has written for Details, The New York Times, The London Times, Observer, Vogue, and Esquire. He lives in London, England.

Review:

Shaw... demonstrates an impressive knowledge of hip hop; he also provides deep historical context for Los Angeles's black population, from the FBI's Black Panther-busting antics in the 1960s to the well-publicized gang rivalries between the Bloods and the Crips in the '90s. But the heart of this book is the stories of young men... who have grown up losing friends to gunfire and mourning fathers who are dead or locked up.... Inherently dramatic. (The New York Times)

So much of what's necessary to produce a stunning book on a vibrant culture is here. Shaw's pithy, easy style and smart historical sensibility are completely appropriate. (Washington Post Book World)

Hip Hop players and historic figures do appear in Westside... but Shaw's heart is with the would be moguls and artists who survive poverty, racism, and harsh circumstance on a diet of dreams. Shaw makes these characters real-and all the more heart-wrenching because of their tenacious hopefulness. (Ann Powers, Author of Weird Like Us and co-editor of Rock She Wrote)

A brutally lucid account of the ultra-dramatic music scenes of '90s South Central Los Angeles.... It makes for a focused, cool-headed portrayal of an ungovernable world. (Rolling Stone)

About this edition

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0815411960
• ISBN 13: 9780815411963
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 334