Gangsta Rap - Softcover

Benjamin Zephaniah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747565651 ISBN 13: 9780747565659

Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens Books, 2004

Synopsis

Ray has given up school. He sees no point in education and despises authority. And then he has no choice about school as he is excluded. But Ray also has troubles at home, which means he has nowhere to stay and ends up sleeping in the local record shop, owned by his friend Marga Man. Ray and his friends attend a Social Exclusion Project which means they can develop their music skills. Marga Man gets a record deal for them, and they become local heroes. But another rap band takes a dislike to Ray's music and gang warfare is the result...Based on Benjamin's own troubled experience of school and the music business, his passionate, immediate voice will appeal to all his fans.

About this title

About the Author

Benjamin Zephaniah is probably one of the most high-profile international authors writing today, with an enormous breadth of appeal, equally popular with both adults and children. Most well-known for his performance poetry with a political edge for adults and ground-breaking performance poetry for children, Benjamin also has his own rap/reggae band, and has appeared on desert Island Discs. He is in constant demand internationally to perform his work: he is (he thinks) Nelson Mandela's favourite poet, and is the only Rastafarian poet to be short-listed for the Chairs of Poetry for both Oxford and Cambridge University. His previous novels for Bloomsbury are 'Face' and 'Refugee' Boy'. He has also edited an anthology of poems 'The Bloomsbury Book of Love Poems' . Benjamin lives in East Ham, London.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up - Rebellious in his East London home and deeply alienated from his alcoholic West Indian father, 15-year-old Ray pops off during class, gets expelled, and joins his best friends, outgoing Prem and contemplative Tyrone, who have also been "excluded" from school. All three are passionate hip-hop lovers who hang out in a small music shop run by a sympathetic Jamaican named Marga Man. After they are jailed following a fight, the headmaster decides to enroll them in an alternative program that allows them to pursue their rap interests. Marga Man uses his music contacts to get them started in a band - the Positive Negatives - and they soon become successful. Unfortunately, they attract the attention of a rival band. Spurred on by a greedy promoter, the rappers engage in a deadly gang fight that both groups later regret. With the promoter in jail, they vow to work together to end the violence. Ray is an appealing and multidimensional character, but many of the others are little more than types. Mirroring the culture of "gangsta rap," some of the dialogue is misogynist (girls are referred to as "bitches"), stereotyped (Marga Man speaks a combination of mainstream and pidgin English), and raw. A mixed bag with a wholesome message. - Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego
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About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0747565651
• ISBN 13: 9780747565659
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336