What's Good: Notes on Rap and Language

(Paperback)

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Description

• Much has been asserted about hip-hops lyrical inventiveness, but there have been very few, if any, dives as deep into the way rap lyrics function.
• The book is as up to the moment as possible and embraces a wide range of styles and periods of rap, rather than limiting itself to one type of hip hop.
• This book is a love letter to rap and hip hop, similar to the sentiments of music writers like Hanif Abdurraqib in his Notes to a Tribe Called Quest as well as Nick Hornby's music column in The Believer.
• Levin Becker is equally likely to discuss the origins as the most contemporary chart-toppers.
• Artists discussed include: Sugarhill Gang, UGK, Young M.A, Rakim, Rick Ross, Rae Sremmurd, Jay-Z, Drake, and Snoop Dog, among others.
• The author wrestles with the very possibility of adequately representing and/or explaining a given set of hip hop lyrics.
• Whats Good will appeal to readers of Adam Bradley's Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop, Rakim'sSweat the Technique(2019), Vikki Tobak'sContact High(2018), and Matthew Zapruder'sWhy Poetry (2018)
• *Daniel Levin Becker was an early contributor to the groundbreaking lyrics site Rap Genius (now known as Genius).
• The author has an excellent repuation amongst his literary peers having long served in editorial roles at McSweeney's and The Believer Magazine.
• Levin Becker is also a member of OULIPO, one of the most language-focused avant-garde movements of the last century.
• *More info on Rap Genius: In case you're unfamiliar, it is a pretty significant website for lyrics. It started as "Rap Genius," by a bunch guys from Yale who were into hip-hop and fascinated with the often difficult to parse lyrics. Now it's simply known as Genius, as it covers all genres. Genius is basically the lyrics site of the internet for all genres, though it started with hip-hop.

Reviews

Praise forWhat's Good:

". . . this ode to rap is sure to surprise and delight. . . . Open to any bite-sized chapter and you're sure to find some tantalizing tidbit worth your time."Grace Utomo, Rain Taxi Review of Books

"Written in short, savorably dense chapters, What's Good manages to be many kinds of books at the same time. Its exhaustive in its command of rap lyrics, in its ear for modulations in meaning and tone, in its ability to straddle the complexities of race and identity as they converge in rap . . . "Aaron Peck, Los Angeles Review of Books

"A book filled with such love and thoughtfulness and fun has to come from a fan; who but a genuine devotee would use his introductory chapter to provide a deep reading of 50 Cents 'In Da Club'"Adam Ellsworth,The Arts Fuse

"Music aficionados and hip-hop lovers will savor every bit."Publishers Weekly

"His book performs a unique and exciting rhetorical move, presenting itself as a sort of freestyle in its own right: short, punchy chapters that each focus on a single lyric."ALTA

"There is so much I admire about Daniel Levin Becker'sWhat's Good: how knowledgeable it is, how synoptic, how precise, persuasive, and risky; I love its savvy politics, its passion, its aching, tragic heart."David Shields,author ofBlack Planet: Facing Race during an NBA Season

"All in all,What's Goodis an enlightening, self-aware, and deeply satisfying look at the wondrous ways rap music uses language. It is absolutely essential reading on hip-hopand one of the smartest books about music I've read."Ian Port, author ofThe Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll

"What's Good: Notes on Rap and Languageis a celebration of the artistry and craft of rap lyrics written in a way that only Daniel Levin Becker could, with his sharp eye for linguistic experimentation and his appreciation for the ways rappers have been able to turn English inside out. His fascination is contagious as he revels in the incredible vitality of this ever-morphing lexicon, from its rhymes to its slang to its creation of new modes of meaning. It's the book us lovers of music and language had no idea we needed."Emma Ramadan, Riffraff Books, Providence, RI

"Characterized with a clear love for hip-hop, Daniel Levin Becker'sWhat's Goodis a joyful and deep dive into the many wonders of hip-hop as an art form."Bennard Fajardo, Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington DC

"Exceptionally well written, impressively informed and informative, and an absorbing read from cover to cover,What's Good: Notes on Rap and Languagewill have particular interest for poets, literary critics, authors and lyricists. Thoughtful and thought-provoking,What's Good: Notes on Rap and Languageis an extraordinary and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Contemporary Literary Criticism collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists."Micah Andrew,Midwest Library Review

"Whats Good: Notes on Rap and Language is a studied, well-researched, critical, and loving exploration of the wit, humor, nuance, intelligence, meaning-making, truth telling, occasional hyperbolic absurdity, and craft of the MC and, in turn, Hip Hop culture. Becker approaches the topic with the care, competence, and appreciation of a lifelong Hip Hop aficionado and, as a result, Whats Good is a remarkable achievement that deserves a place in any Hip Hop studies collection."Craig Arthur, Virginia Tech, College & Research Libraries

Author Bio

Daniel Levin Becker is a critic, editor, and translator from Chicago. An early contributing editor to the groundbreaking lyrics annotation site Rap Genius, he has written about music forThe Believer, NPR,SF Weekly, and Dusted Magazine, among others. His first book,Many Subtle Channels: In Praise of Potential Literature(Harvard UP, 2012), recounts his induction into the French literary collective Oulipo, of which he became the youngest member in 2009. His published translations include Georges Perec'sLa Boutique Obscure(Melville House, 2013), Eduardo Berti'sAn Ideal Presence(Fern Books, 2021), and Serge HarochesThe Science of Light(Odile Jacob, 2021). He is also co-translator and co-editor ofAll That Is Evident Is Suspect: Readings from the Oulipo19632018(McSweeneys, 2018) and the editor ofDear McSweeneys: Two Decades of Letters to the Editor from Writers, Readers, and the Occasional Bewildered Consumer(McSweeneys, 2021). Levin Becker is a founding editor of Fern Books, English editor for the French nonfiction publisher Odile Jacob, senior editor at McSweeneys Publishing, and a longtime contributing editor toThe Believer. He lives in Paris.