Reddit reviews Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic

Ill just make a list of some hip hop books ive read and enjoyed for those interested:
Tupac Shakur: The Life and Times of an American Icon

Ed Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 1, Vol 2 , and Vol 3

Jay Z's Decoded

2Pac Vs Biggie

Born To Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic

Eminem's The Way I Am

The Legends of Hip Hop

Prodigy's My Infamous Life

http://www.amazon.com/Holler-If-You-Hear-Me/dp/0465017282

http://www.amazon.com/Born-Use-Mics-Reading-Illmatic/dp/0465002110

http://www.amazon.com/Know-What-Mean-Reflections-Hip-Hop/dp/0465018076/ref=la_B001IGNVH4_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397827979&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.com/Between-God-Gangsta-Rap-Bearing-ebook/dp/B000VDM612/ref=la_B001IGNVH4_1_16?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397827995&sr=1-16

Root For The Villain: Rap, Bull$hit, and a Celebration of Failure by J-Zone (who, if you're familiar with his music, is equally funny in his book)

Hip Hop Family Tree by Ed Piskor (it's a graphic novel focusing on the early days of hip hop done in the style of 90s Image comics)

How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC by Paul Edwards (this is full of interviews with some of the greatest of all time discussing every single aspect of rapping)

The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop by Dan Charnas (haven't read this one yet, but I've heard great things about it.)

Also, if you're interested in books on specific albums, the 33 1/3 series has quite a few: Illmatic, Paul's Boutique, Donuts, People's Instinctive Travels And the Paths of Rhythm, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. If you're a Nas fan you may enjoy Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic, which is a more scholarly approach to Illmatic

Fully endorse the homie Shea.


For future nominations my two favorite hip hop books I've read are:

Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove

and

Born To Use Mics

Not much time, but this would be of great assistance to you.

Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic by Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai. This book takes each of Nas's 10 songs in Illmatic and dissects them based on content into distinct and diverse critiques of social and cultural issues. It's a really great read and has tons of different contributors, including Mark Anthony Neal and Common. I took Daulatzai's class at my school and it completely changed the way I see hip hop. Also, This Is the Life, a documentary that focuses on the The Good Life venue where many of Los Angeles's underground and alternative acts honed their skills through freestyle.