Step into a World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature
Step Into A World\ "Kevin Powell is pushing to bring, as he has so brilliantly done before, the voices of his generation: the concerns, the cares, the fears, and the fearlessness. Step into a World is a kaleidoscope into the world not bound by artificial constructs like nation. John Coltrane recorded ‘Giant Steps,’ which is a riff on the sight and sounds in his muse. Powell plays the computer with equal astuteness." Nikki Giovanni\ "Those of us who pay attention were aware that the younger...
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Step Into A World "Kevin Powell is pushing to bring, as he has so brilliantly done before, the voices of his generation: the concerns, the cares, the fears, and the fearlessness. Step into a World is a kaleidoscope into the world not bound by artificial constructs like nation. John Coltrane recorded 'Giant Steps,' which is a riff on the sight and sounds in his muse. Powell plays the computer with equal astuteness." -Nikki Giovanni "Those of us who pay attention were aware that the younger generation of black writers was being smothered by the anointment of talented tenth Divas and Divuses, and their commercial accommodationist 'Fourth Renaissance. 'This anthology is indeed a breakthrough! It combines the boldness and daring of hip-hop with the intellectual keenness of a Michele Wallace or a Clyde Taylor." -Ishmael Reed "In a culture where videos, the Internet, and other high-tech communication is being consumed like the latest mind-altering drug, how does great literature grow and survive? These writers will answer that all-important question. This anthology provides a clue, a hint, as to where we might be going. They are resisting all this vacant, empty-minded nothingness. Read them. Listen to them. If you don't, you do so at your peril." -Quincy TroupeEssence - Patrick Henry BassCultural critic Kevin Powell's Step into a World is a watershed moment in hip-hop writing, a thought-provoking book with a broad range of voices, from Ben Okri to Junot Didaz.
AcknowledgmentsThe Word Movement1Are Black People Cooler than White People?15GWTW19Race Natters - The Chattering Classes Convene on Martha's Vineyard23In Search of Alice Walker26Mama's Girl32The Visible Man37Return to the Planet of the Apes40The Sports Taboo: Why blacks are like boys and whites are like girls42Are We Tiger Woods Yet?49On the Disappearance of Joe Wood Jr.51She and I53White Girl?59What Happens When Your 'Hood Is the Last Stop on the White Flight Express?68Texaco78Speaking in Tongues80Your Friendly Neighborhood Jungle82Hip-Hop Hi-Tech91Homophobia: Hip-Hop's Black Eye95The Death of Rock n' Roll101Confessions of a Hip-Hop Critic105hip-hop feminist107This Is Not a Puff Piece113Live from Death Row124Hit 'Em Up: On the Life and Death of Tupac Shakur133Angles of Vision143The Soul of Black Talk152Do Books Matter?159The Other Side of Paradise - Feminist Pedagogy, Toni Morrison Iconography, and Oprah's Book Club Phenomenon163She's Gotta Have It172No Entry174What About Black Romance?177"It be's that way sometimes 'cause I can't control the rhyme." - Notes from the Post-Soul Intelligentsia183Facing Unknown Possibilities: Lance Jeffers and the Black Aesthetic195The White Boy Shuffle203Interpolation: Peace to My Nine207Epilogue: Women Like Us211The Sun, the Moon, the Stars213Prologue, 1963223The Emperor's Babe227the missionary position229My Son, My Heart, My Life238The Last Integrationist252slave256The Famished Road262Stigmata265The Pagoda269face273The Peculiar Second Marriage of Archie Jones281Baker282Rika288Butterfly Burning296The Intuitionist299Safari307The Rumor307Fugue308The Clearing311I Dream of Jesus311personal312Tat Tvam Asi (You Are the One)316One Irony of the Caribbean318Legba, Landed320Excursion to Port Royal322Dear Mr. Ellison323Assam323Church Y'all324The Yellow Forms of Paradise327swampy river329from "Awakening"332Sleep334When the Neighbors Fight335You Are Chic Now, Che336Visitation: Grenada, 1978337100 Times339Discubriendo una Fotografia de mi Madre340sometime in the summer there's october340The Outcome344Toi Derricotte at Quail Ridge Books345Nairobi Streetlights3463 movements347The Night when Mukoma Told the Devil to Go to Hell348Autobiography of a Black Man350Spotlight at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe351Blue353Patrimony354Intermission in three acts in service of PLOT355Calypso the outside woman357The Woman358Woman359Sunday361Purple Impala362Windows of Exile363gin and juice364Collection Day365Insomnia366Shrine outside Basquiat's Studio, September 1988367Black Youth Black Art Black Face - An Address371leaving a feminist organization: a personal/poetics374we are trying to (have me) conceive376if we've gotta live underground and everybody's got cancer/will poetry be enuf? - A Letter to Ntozake Shange380Binga - Diary Entry385The Six-Hour Difference: A Dutch Perspective on the New World388Just Beneath the Surface - An Email395By Invitation - An Open Letter to the President of South Africa398What Happened to Your Generation's Promise of "Love and Revolution"? - A Letter to Angela Davis401An Atlantic Away: A Letter from Africa404Contributors419Self-Portraith Radcliffe Bailey, the Cover Artist452Selected Bibliography of Black Literature453Books Essential to Understanding Hip-Hop Culture457Permissions459Index467
\ Patrick Henry BassCultural critic Kevin Powell's Step into a World is a watershed moment in hip-hop writing, a thought-provoking book with a broad range of voices, from Ben Okri to Junot Didaz. \ — Essence\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalThis anthology of young, contemporary black writers generally maintains a precarious balance between authentic discovery and promotional marketing, although the writing varies widely in quality and relevance (some selections are quite riveting, others just self-absorbed). Divided into six sections--"Essays," "Hip-Hop Journalism," "Criticism," "Fiction," "Poetry," and "Dialogue"--the collection presents a broad range of voices and perspectives, although a majority of them are, not surprisingly, from the United States. While some of the texts, particularly those on hip-hop, seem overly dramatic and hyperbolic, some very fine writing emerges in the "Essays" section. Mostly autobiographical, these selections address the very real contemporary problems of black identity in a post-Civil Rights era in which the political battle lines have become much more blurred and the issues of self, nation, class, gender, sexuality, and history are immensely complicated. The items in the "Dialogue" section are the most strident and the most inventive and compelling. Even though this book will mainly be used as a classroom textbook, it could be a valuable addition to larger collections and other libraries interested in offering brief introductions to young black writers.--Roger A. Berger, Everett Community Coll., WA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\ \
