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Thumper
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 288
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 07:50 pm: | 
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Hello All,
A_womon: Oh Mistress and Almighty Defender of Hip Hop Lit, you majestic Grand Dutchess of Urban Scribes...
Would you classify Kenji Jasper and his novels Hip Hop Lit? And why?
I'm a fan of Jasper's since I read his first novel Dark. I just started his new novel Seeking Salamanca Mitchell. Jasper is the right age to be in the Hip Hop generation. His novels always feature young people in the Hip Hop generation in stories that, I feel, are relevant to their lives. So can I hang my hat on Jasper being the Hip Hop author, the carrier of the Hip Hop Lit banner?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767916751/aalbccom-20 |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 944
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 11:07 pm: |
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Ok thumper,
Sorry to answer your post so late, I just saw it!
I must confess I haven't read Kenji Jasper, but here's the thing, I will give you an answer which may change after I read Dark.
I clicked on the link you provided and right away I saw a big difference in Kenji's writing and a typical street book on the first page. The words and imagery that Kenji conjures for us immediately sets a mood. It's a contemplative one, you feel the narrator is moving you toward something as he paints with his words.
Im definitely going to read this one. But for now
I would have to say that it is more than a street fiction book in the same sense that Solomon Jones' books are. They are ABOUT the streets, but they are about a hundred notches above.
Because street writers, write raw, gritty, and mostly have lots of cash and lots of bling and lots of bullets or drugs. They typically don't know how to pull you in and make you feel for the characters. They tell what happened to the characters, but they don't draw you in and show you, why the characters do the things they do, and why it is we should feel sorry for them, beyond "she stole my mink coat that my man got me while he out there street hustlin and while I was out there tryin to get mines him and his boys got murdered" type stuff. Now Im not dissing them, Im just making a comparison. A limited one based on the few pages of Kenji's that I have read.
Most street writer's don't show you how the character feels inside that we are to feel empathy for. What are his motives for hustling? Why not do a regular job? They don't show what others around them feel who may be affected by their street living.
I guess, Im saying that it is not superficial and gritty enough to be street, but it might pass for hip hop fiction.
I'll revisit this subject after I read DARK.
Thanks for asking! |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 945
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 11:14 pm: |
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Oh yeah thumper,
The street writers may be superficial in their writing, but they keep it fast paced and exciting, and that's why it's so popular right now. Its entertaining, at that's what draws young people in. For some of them it is the life they see everyday, they live it or they know someone who does and so they can relate. I think it's the wanting to see themselves reflected in the pages of a book, that keeps novels like Vicky Stringer's new one, Imagine That, with a waiting list of over 100 at the local library and keeps young people wanting to read street lit. |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 946
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 11:21 pm: |
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Unh Thumper, I must be sleepy, you wanted me to tell you if I thought dark by kenji jasper was hip hop not street, didn't you? Sorry!
Good night.
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Thumper
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 290
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 13, 2004 - 08:48 pm: |
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Hello All,
A_womon: Yeah, you get some sleep, then read Dark and get back with me. Cause I got another book I want you to check out to see if it meets the hip hop criteria. |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 949
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 14, 2004 - 07:08 am: |
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Ok Thump,
I'll read it this weekend (if it's at the library!) and get witcha! |
Thumper
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Thumper
Post Number: 299
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - 08:56 pm: |
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Hello All,
I just finished Jasper's new novel, Seeking Salamanca Mitchell. The book is a wonder! The man can just flat out write his ass off. I loved it. I did have one problem with it though, there was no big emotional reunion between the lovers. Even taking that into consideration, Seeking Salamanca Mitchell is Jasper's best work to date.
A_womon, why don't you check this one out as well? |
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