Tag: pivot

 

JAY-Z: MADE IN AMERICA
by Michael Eric Dyson

St. Martin’s Press
November 26, 2019

From Goodreads:

JAY-Z: Made in America is the fruit of Michael Eric Dyson’s decade of teaching the work of one of the greatest poets this nation has produced, as gifted a wordsmith as Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Rita Dove. But as a rapper, he’s sometimes not given the credit he deserves for just how great an artist he’s been for so long.

This book wrestles with the biggest themes of JAY-Z’s career, including hustling, and it recognizes the way that he’s always weaved politics into his music, making important statements about race, criminal justice, black wealth and social injustice. As he enters his fifties, and to mark his thirty years as a recording artist, this is the perfect time to take a look at JAY-Z’s career and his role in making this nation what it is today.

In many ways, this is JAY-Z’s America as much as it’s Pelosi’s America, or Trump’s America, or Martin Luther King’s America. JAY-Z has given this country a language to think with and words to live by.

The good people at NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press provided me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I’ve always had respect for Jay-Z. I haven’t been a listener since the beginning, but I started tuning in about 15 years ago. Anyone who can get to the top of the charts and stay there for DECADES is certainly doing something right. 

What this book did was show me the side of the story I wasn’t paying attention to. The personal side of Jay-Z. The political side. The entrepreneur. The freedom fighter. The movement leader. 

It was so interesting to read about who influenced him and who he’s influenced since. It also talked a little about the beefs he’s had and dug into what rivalries are all about in general. They aren’t nearly as personal as they might seem (not all of them, anyway.)

My absolute favourite aspect of this book was a breakdown and a deciphering of many of his lyrics. 

Truthfully, the meaning in his songs wasn’t buried as deep as I make it seem. I was just terrible at understanding them on my own. If I was a little more curious, I might have looked up things like blight hustle vs bright hustle, but I never did. 

The references get for more impressive when reading about the reasoning behind them. Any musician can drop Andy Warhol’s name because they heard someone talking about him and knew he was an artist. It’s completely different when you read about Jay-Z’s interest and ownership in fine art. It’s not just a name drop for him. When he says Warhol, it’s a calculated reference.

While this isn’t an official biography by any means, it’s such an interesting read for anyone who’s interested in Jay-Z, rap culture, or the music industry as a whole. 

Fun fact about this post: This book brought Jay-Z back into my regular playlist.

 

PIVOT
by L.C. Barlow

Self-Published
May 16, 2013

From Goodreads:

For some, the Devil introduces himself as an average man. For others, he crushes their souls and makes them bleed. For Jack Harper, the Devil renders himself a savior. But things are changing.

Once a loyal follower of Cyrus and an accomplished killer, Jack Harper now begins to question everything. There are new, strange forces at work that are intruding on Jack’s kills, abilities, and very being. Maybe, though, deep down Jack has been waiting for this intrusion, and maybe Cyrus is not as powerful as he seems.

The good people at NetGalley provided me with a digital ARC of Pivot in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I didn’t know what to expect with this one. The description was pretty vague, but the book pulls you right in showing you a young girl (who I thought was a boy for half of the book since they only ever call her Jack) being trained in the art of killing. Pretty cool, right?

Jack’s training is being conducted by a cultish leader, which sounds creepy, but picture that leader being charismatic and irrefutably likeable. Evil, sure, but you kind of like listening to him talk. Like Negan. 

So creepy cult happenings going on everywhere, and you think you know what’s going on and have a grasp of everything and the stakes. Then a supernatural angle is brought in. Powers. And everything changes again. 

Despite the constant shift, this isn’t a story full of twists and turns. I found myself surprised a few times, but there were no moments that shocked me. Twists were brought on slowly. At the beginning of the reveal, you don’t know anything, but before the reveal is done, you’ve figured it all out. Always interesting, but always a bit like slipping into a warm bath. 

I feel like the characters were a bit lacking. The main few were pretty good, but anyone else was flat and often single-serving. They didn’t seem to have a life, or even an existence, outside of what our main characters needed them for.

This book would be a good fit for fans of Supernatural or Constantine. It was definitely a fun read, though I’m not sure if I’d be in for a sequel unless I knew certain characters would make a return…

Fun fact about this post: This might be the latest I’ve ever been reviewing an ARC…