Check the Rhyme: An Anthology of Female Poets & Emcees (Paperback)

~ DuEwa M. Frazier (Author, Editor)
Key Phrases: Sista Sonia

Editorial Reviews

Review

Check The Rhyme weaves the life experiences of womanhood through the power of words with a hip hop twist. Here is a page turner that has a hold on the heart. --Tachelle Shamash Wilkes, Editor/Founder, Femmixx.com

Check the Rhyme is a lesson in remembering to breathe. These sister warrior writings will squeeze until you feel! -- Michelle Sewell, Editor, Growing Up Girl: An Anthology (GirlChild Press)

Check the Rhyme is a lesson in remembering to breathe. These sister warrior writings will squeeze until you feel! --Michelle Sewell, Editor, Growing Up Girl: An Anthology (GirlChild Press)

This anthology presents not only a diverse view of the world, but a diversity of poetic forms. Rather than villanize hip hop, the anthology offers new perspectives and a space for socially conscious emcees. --Feminist Review

Product Description

Nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Literary Work Poetry, Check the Rhyme: An Anthology of Female Poets & Emcees is a cross-generational volume of poetry, featuring the work of 50 thought provoking and inspirational women writers, lyricists and spoken word artists from diverse cultures and backgrounds. Check the Rhyme features eighteen chapters, revealing poetry that is a representation of both emerging and established poets who write on a variety of themes including: beauty and self esteem; empowerment for youth; hip hop culture; love relationships; the memory and meaning of home; the state of our society; Hurricane Katrina s impact; artistic and political contributions of legendary artists; healing from violence; family and motherhood; jazz music; Black history; and spirituality. The pages of Check the Rhyme are filled with insights, experiences and challenges of women who walk the warrior path, intending to shape the world with the passion that fuels their dreams.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Lit Noire Publishing (July 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971905231
• ISBN-13: 978-0971905238
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #656,425 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will all the fluent female poets please stand?, March 15, 2007

By	M. Bruner ""Deltareviewer" Real Page ... (Oklahoma!) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Will all the fluent female poets please stand? Over 60 poets meet this challenge in this beautifully orchestrated collection of work. The poems address every facet of life - hair, black history, body & soul, family, growing up in the hood, the motherland and much more. Mocha Sistah discusses the misconceptions that youth have with education and the reality of the rap game in "Miseducation of a New Generation". Stacey Tolbert eloquently describes her realization of motherhood in "Dishes".

The musical prose and magnificent written string of words is OUTSTANDING. The quality and diversity of these pieces deserves a standing ovation ten times over. If you are a fan of hip hop or written prose this is a MUST HAVE book.

Deltareviewer
Reviewing for Real Page Turners

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A potpourri of prose, October 16, 2006

By	Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

Reviewed by Beverly Pechin for Reader Views (10/06)

To find such a wonderful collection of poetry and prose under one cover is truly a gift. To find it so easily is a tribute to the hard work and dreams of one woman, DuEwa M. Frazier.

Ms. Frazier has found quite a diverse group of women to share their inner most thoughts, dreams, desires and aspirations of their world and somehow grouped them all together in one beautiful piece of literature that says it all.

Broken up into sections that denote the basic ideas of the prose that follows, each writer orchestrates her pages with words to bring the reader into the author's own world and open it wide for a viewing like many have never seen before. From subjects as sad as abuse to as beautiful as love, each author has their own way of sharing what they've experienced in life through writing. Various formats are used, from Haikus to Rhyme. Song writing is brought onto the pages without the use of music, yet easily puts a beat in your mind as you read through a rap style piece of poetry. Simple three and four line poems can easily share the pages with poetry created in many stanzas and come together as one great work of art by many artists.

There are so many aspects of life covered under this one book that you simply become amazed at the differences in our world while touched by the common ground many of those different worlds may have. While some may speak of the ghetto and hard life for a woman who's expected to fail, others translate their stories of 'making it' into the pages while sharing similar aches and pains of life. Is the glamour of a rapper truly so glamorous? Are girls from the `hood' really too tough to cry? Is there really any particular type of woman who should feel at ease with being herself or should we all be proud?

As you read through the pages and experience some of the authors' own life, you will quickly realize that there is a lot of talent out there just waiting to be found. Lucky for us, Ms. Frazier has not only found it but shared it with us too!

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read, December 18, 2008

By	D. McDonald (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wasn't too taken away by the work in this book, but it had its strong pieces. Im satisfied.