Overview

This is a book about the late 20th-century history of the Southcentral community, and about why the music that came from there is so potent. The phenomenal success of Los Angelinos like NWA, Ice T, Ice Cube, Coolio, Dr Dre, Snoop and Warren G means that every block in Southcentral contains at least one boy who wants to be a rapper. This work is about seven young men, all of whom are trying to make it in the rap business. It follows the changes in their musical and personal lives as they try and get shows, auditions and record demos in an increasingly shark-filled market-place. A few have been, or are, gang members. Some have straight jobs, others are drug dealers. What they all share is the experience of growing up in a place that is far more violent than the one their parents grew up in. They have to navigate the loyalties of neighbourhood and friendship. All have lost close friends or relatives in the violence.

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9780747552505

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Reviews

'Westsiders is best read as a homage to the artists, fly-boys and fly-posters often working for props and freebies.These are poignant tales' I-D 'Shaw succeeds in piecing together an intriguing apologia for gangster rap that deserves to be read by everyone from Charlton Heston downwards *****' Q (Book of the Month) 'As definitive a portrait of contemporary hip-hop and young black lifestyles as has been written. A shocking and highly readable report from America's front line' The Times

Author Information

William Shaw has written two previous books: Travellers and Spying in Guru Land both published by Fourth Estate, and his work has appeared in many newspapers and magazines around the world including The Times, the Independent, Vogue, Tatler, GQ, Esquire and Cosmopolitan. He is a contributing editor of Arena in the UK and Details in the US.

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