A NEW YORKER & GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A love
letter to the verbal artistry of hip-hop, What's Good is a work of
passionate lyrical analysis "What's Good is, among a great many
other things, a byproduct of joyful obsession and immersion into
both language and sound, an intersection that offers a rich and
expansive land upon which to play." -Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A
Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance " . .
. an often hilarious, surprisingly moving and always joyful paean
to rap's relationship to words."-Jayson Greene, The New York Times
"Rap, he is not afraid to say, is as close to a universal tongue as
we have."-Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker What's Good is a work of
passionate lyrical analysis, a set of freewheeling liner notes, and
a love letter to the most vital American art form of the last half
century. Over a series of short chapters, each centered on a
different lyric, Daniel Levin Becker considers how rap's use of
language operates and evolves at levels ranging from the local
(slang, rhyme) to the analytical (quotation, transcription) to the
philosophical (morality, criticism, irony), celebrating the
pleasures and perils of any attempt to decipher its meaning-making
technologies. Ranging from Sugarhill Gang to UGK to Young M.A,
Rakim to Rick Ross to Rae Sremmurd, Jay-Z to Drake to Snoop Dogg,
What's Good reads with the momentum of a deftly curated mixtape,
drawing you into the conversation and teaching you to read it as it
goes. A book for committed hip-hop heads, curious neophytes,
armchair linguists, and everyone in between. "For those of us who
love rap, What's Good is a gift. The book offers a new set of eyes
and ears through which to see and to hear the language of rap. Its
brief and brilliant chapters are like the best kinds of freestyles:
spontaneous and structured, startling and profound. A remarkable
achievement." -Adam Bradley, author of Book of Rhymes: The Poetics
of Hip Hop "Could this be the rap equivalent of Lewis Hyde's The
Gift or Marina Warner's Once Upon A Time? Anyhow, it's an
electrifying book, full of wild epiphanies and provocations, an
exhibition of a critical mind in full and open contact with their
subject at the highest level, with a winning streak of confessional
intimacy as well." -Jonathan Lethem, author of The Arrest: A Novel
"What's Good is a feat of critical precision and personal
obsession: Daniel Levin Becker's deep appreciation for rap is rangy
and illuminating, and his delight in language is infectious. What a
thrill to swing so gracefully from Lil Wayne to Mary Ruefle to the
lyrical evolution of 'tilapia'; pure pleasure. A generous, joyful
exegesis."-Anna Wiener, author of Uncanny Valley: A Memoir
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