Get Your Read On....by pemora

Note: this is not a book review. I have not read either book and I am still debating whether or not I will.  I DO know, however, that I am purchasing the anthology for the baby daddy for Christmas.  And I can say that on this public forum because, as supportive as he is, the baby daddy NEVER reads UR.  Which says a lot about our relationship.  But, alas, I won't go there.

Recently, Dough put me on to this New York Magazine article by Sam Anderson.  Trust me, you need to stop reading UR right now, click on the link and then come back to us.  It will be worth the minute it will take you to read the whole article.

Back?  Okay, I found that article to be quite nauseating (seriously, son, you have never heard of a 2pac song?) and even the idea of two professors compiling lyrics for the anthology has me a bit skeeved.  Let me try to explain -- like the good Dominican mother that I am, I am overprotective of the genre of hip hop.  I quite often feel that it is 'ours' not 'theirs' (lately, my definition of those two words has come to mean a generational difference) and I fight with people over the commercialization of the music.  Of course, I also like me some Weezy, so I am a case in contradictions.  But this is why I can never fully explain my defensive nature when it comes to hip hop.

I am intrigued by the idea of this anthology and wonder what some of my favorite songs look like on paper.  And while I am annoyed that Sam Anderson asked the ultimate hip hop question (who is the best lyricist of all-time), I thoroughly enjoy thinking about it. 

So, will you purchase the book?  What do you think of this anthology?

By the way, while looking this up on Amazon, I came across Jay-Z's Decoded.  After eagerly awaiting its release when I was teaching a course on 90's hip hop last year (see? Contradictions again), I completely forgot that it was dropping this month.  Given that I consider Jay-Z to be one of the best of the best, I might have to purchase this one for myself.

Some background -- the original concept of the book was to explain and give context to his lyrics.  It looks like they have expanded on the idea a little, with Jay-Z also adding some social commentary.

In all, it looks like I am purchasing both books this winter.  What about you?  Any interest in either book?