Customer Reviews

Holler If You Hear Me (2006)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Michael Eric Dyson reveals in his latest book, "Holler If You Hear Me," that his own son, Michael II, once proclaimed, "Pop, if Tupac had had the chance to talk with you, he'd still be alive today." Having read Dyson's brilliant analysis of the most extraordinary poet to grace the modern music scene, I believe that Pac, indeed, would have found a healing salve for his wounds in the words and wisdom of America's unrivaled hip-hop intellectual. Dyson's tender probe of hip-hop's most shining knight takes us on a whirlwind search for Tupac Shakur. Eight chapters and an epilogue later, we learn that Pac was the one searching, searching for a Black man he could call father, searching for justice in America, searching for manhood and selfhood, and above all else, searching for love. An undeniable genius whose charismatic presence lit up the screen and stage, and whose searing social proclamations helped make rap a vehicle for change, Tupac's mercurial ascent has not yet plateaued, which makes Dyson's tome all the more important. Like other cultural icons he is compared with, Tupac's popularity transcends race and generation. Dyson's unparalleled defense of black youth, shines forth like a beacon in "Holler If You Hear Me," and caused me to understand that Pac is that brilliant young black man that each one of us has struggled to save from his own self-destruction. Dyson-the-journalist interviewed scores of people whose lives' Tupac touched and adroitly gets them to speak candidly about the paragon of virtue and violence that was Tupac Shakur. Those who knew the young man behind the handsome, dreamy visage, tell how this self-made intellectual chose death's door as his destiny. In his pulsatingly painful chapters exploring Tupac's relationship with his mother Afeni Shakur, Dyson allows us to understand for the first time how the patriarchal shortcomings of the Black Power movement failed the children of our revolutionaries. The carefully crafted chapter entitled "But Do the Lord Care?" had me in tears after learning how the brutality Tupac experienced in prison all but extinguished his flame. Hip hop has become one of the most important cultural genres ever created, and Michael Eric Dyson's compassionate look at it's most enduring icon is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the power of black youth.

This is by far the most brilliant, insightful, cutting-edge treatment of Tupac and hip-hop culture available. Dyson doesn't offer a biography per se, and no one who is familiar with his equally impressive work on Malcolm X or Martin Luther King, Jr., would expect such a work. Dyson is helping to pioneer a distinctive new genre of scholarship: a seamless fusion of critical evaluation of an icon's life and a searching examination of that person's life and times. As such, this work takes its place as a sophisticated, meditative and scintillating tour through the dark passages of Tupac's complex music and his surprisingly nimble mind.

The way Dyson sets the book up is compelling: He looks at Tupac's childhood, his mature artistry, and the beliefs that motivated his most thrilling achievements. I appreciate his joining Tupac's difficult childhood -- including his mother's drug abuse -- to both the political aspirations of a troubled revolutionary career (his mother was a Black Panther) and to the plague of poverty that cursed them. Dyson then convincingly links these stark realities to Tupac's plentiful and brooding music, and to the themes that would obsess him: death, betrayal, hopelessness, the search for forgiveness, spirituality, transcendence, racial authenticity and thug life.

Dyson manages, in the process, to not only write about Tupac, but about the heartless vicissitudes that haunt millions of black youth. His discussion of the "n" word controversy is brilliant, as are his examinations of the contradictions that pile up around "keeping it real," the mantra of so much hip-hop culture. He tackles gender problems (in a gem of a word coinage, what he terms "femiphobia," which is simply illuminating for the way it manages to pry a space between old-style misogyny and outright sexism), while also dealing with Tupac's bold religious views. Dyson's chapter on Tupac's sense of embodiment is one of the most lyrical in the book, although it virtually sings throughout. Dyson is one of the few world-class scholars -- and in this regard, he is nearly in a class by himself -- who is capable of both rigorous analysis and poetic declaration.

What is particularly winning about Dyson's book is the list of "firsts" he manages to accumulate: the first time we hear a prison interview he gave; the first time we hear about a video of the rapper when he was only 17; and the first time we hear from a variety of cultural and social commentators (there are over 60 original interviews in the book, if I counted correctly, including the likes of Quincy Jones, Stanley Crouch, Mos Def, Toni Morrison, Afeni Shakur, Common, Talib Kweli, Samuel Jackson, and Jada Pinkett) on the life of this most extraordinary young man.

One of the most amazing things I learned -- and there are many features that fall in this category -- is the utter intelligence that characterized Shakur's life. Dyson devotes an entire chapter to outlining the rapper's reading, and that alone is worth the price of the book.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is an intellectual tour de force by perhaps the most brilliant intellectual of his generation. For Dyson to have written the kind of utterly original book he did on Martin Luther King, Jr., only to come back in a year's time to deliver an equally powerful reflection on such a controversial, gifted and important artist as Tupac, is in itself a remarkable feat. We are all in his debt.

In "Holler If You Hear Me," Micheal Dyson developes a critical analysis of legend rapper, Tupac Shakur. Dyson is well known as an intellectual scholar of hip-hop culture. "Holler" is not a formal biography of Tupac, but moreso an extended essay that attempts to place the life, music, and contradictions of Tupac in a cultural, political context. He explores Tupac's work and life in context of his relationship with his mother, a former Black Panther Party member, and as a youth growing up in a post-Black Panther Party era. Tupac's experiences living in poverty with a drug addicted mother certaintly sheds serious light on his work and lifestyle. Dyson helps us understand more clearly Tupac as an artist whose life and work was full of love for Black cultural life, but also as a tortured brotha who, like many men, got drawn into a machismo, sexist world. In essence, Tupac, writes Dyson, adopted "a creed that at once reflected his fractured home life and affirmed his essential aloneness and his combativeness with the universe he inherited, a stance that captured the domestic alienation of millions of other black youth in his song "Me Against the World."

Personally, I've always had a problem with Tupac's ganster lifestyle and performance. I always felt that because he was looked up to by so many young people that he should have been a better role model for the hip-hop generation. But in reading Dyson's book, I discovered more about Tupac. First off, I didn't realize that he was so well read--that he read widely and continously: authors inlcuding Richard Wright, Gabriel Marquez, Carl Jung, Alice Walker, feminist Susan McClary and Robin Morgan, and George Orwell. He listened to all types of music, and he reflected deeply about God and spirituality. These literary and spiritual experiences and quests had a great influence on his own work.

Dyson also points out that Tupac's "stirring raps made many people see suffering they had never before acknowledged. It helped many desperately unhappy young people reclaim a sense of hope and humanity." Pac was rapping from the bottom (from the oppressed and exploited masses), but he did so from a artists point of view. Thus, if we're disturbed by his contridictions, we have to remember that much of his torment as an artist comes out of a racist, class divide in this country that has essentially marginalized and attacked young people--especially African males.

Dyson's book is not the definitive work on Tupac, but he certaintly raises critical questions and analysis that will be useful in present and future studies of this hip-hop icon.

I was sorely dissapointed with this book simply because it strayed from the subject. Dyson misinterprets Tupac's work and despite his "search" he fails to show a truthful portrayal of Tupac. Dyson is much more concerned with voicing his opinions about the issues which plague black culture than with Tupac's life and career. The amount of actual information about Pac in this book is astonishingly small. The interpretation is clearly from the perspective of a man who does not identify with rap, and especially with Pac. I consider Tupac to be one of the greatest rappers of all time but fail to see him as the glorified figure which Dyson briefly portrays him to be. The highlights of this book are few and far between. Clearly Dyson is a talented writer but he wrote to the wrong audience in this book. I found that his insight was unneccessary in many parts, and he over-analyzes the overall perspective. The primary problem with this book is that the title is very misleading. The book uses Pac as an example to preach the thoughts of Dyson concerning the state of black society. Dyson forgot that this book was written about a rapper, not a saint. His thoughts on young black men was not the reason I picked up this book.

I purchased this book because I was intrigued, but admittedly hesitant, about Tupac Shakur's life. I knew the bare outlines of his life and work, but this book enlightened me about Tupac Shakur's complex views and complicated journey to maturity. I was astonished with the things Dyson revealed, such as Tupac's voracious reading habits and his extraordinary compassion. But the most riveting feature of Dyson's compelling book is his discussion of Tupac's religious beliefs, about which I knew relatively little.

This is a beautifully written book, always a surprising feat in an academic. But Dyson is no dry-to-the-bones writer. His style is engaging, his prose clean and elegant. I was surprised by Dyson's explorations of a host of subjects that are central to Tupac Shakur's life, such as racial identity, gender relations, religious beliefs, and death, all of which have a strong impact on many people besides the dead rapper.

If you are interested in learning about hip-hop culture and the black youth who are its primary creators, this book is necessary. Like one of the endorsements said on the back of Dyson's book, this book will in short order be considered a classic of its kind.

In Michael Eric Dyson's new book, "Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur" the life and longevity of rap legend Tupac Shakur is the subject of extreme critical analysis. Through several candid interviews with those who knew the infamous rapper best, Dyson attempts to paint a portrait of the controversial rap artist. Tupac has been coined by the Long Beach Arts, Entertainment and Literary Review as "A prolific genius that emerged from the ghetto to enlighten presidents, principalities and oppressive forces in our society about the injustices of the hood." According to Dyson, Tupac was a powerful force that could quote Shakespeare one minute and curse police brutality the next. Dyson's work is particularly significant in that he is actually documenting the history of a hip hop legend that we should never forget. The struggles that Tupac Shakur spoke about in his music, are still just as relevant today. We should never forget the rapper who gave a voice to those who otherwise never stood a chance at being heard. Dyson's work clearly documents prolific genius at it's best.

*The Long Beach Arts, Entertainment & Literary Review

I decided to read this book after seeing Michael Eric Dyson on BET Tonight w/ Suge Knight and had to see what this book was all about. I guess Suge's igonrance and Dyson's comments were what made me have to go out and buy this book. Suge accused Dyson of writing the book to simply make money and that he did not know Tupac well enough to write a book about his life. Dyson's response was that he wrote the book so that other could see the Tupac and that only close friends knew and to say that this book should be read in public schools. No Dyson may not have known Tupac personally but the people he talked to for this book did and there is so much more to Tupac that what the media portrayed or how they portrayed him I should say. There is so much more meaning behind the words he wrote and rapped about. Tupac really did not recieve all the credit he was due.
I hope that Suge read the book althought I am sure he will still won't be able to understand what Dyson is trying to say.

Everyone (2pac fans)seems to love the fact that there is a full book out that claims to be about Tupac and his music. I love Tupac's music and would rank him as my favorite artist in the history of music, but this book is a disgraceful attempt to cash in on Shakur's good name. You will learn LITERALLY nothing about Tupac's music or message by reading this book.

Take the time to read this book and you see there is very little substantive on Tupac's life and the author simply uses Tupac as a symbol with which to forward his own opinions on African Americans, religion, etc. T

If you expect to learn about the life of Tupac Shakur by buying this book-- DON'T! This tells you nothing about his life or music.

If you're interested in a book about Black life in America pretending to be about rap music... BUY THIS!

There are people who "get" Tupac Shakur and what he was trying to say through his music, and then there are those who don't. Dyson is one of the latter.

Dr. Dyson does it again with his piece on Tupac Shakur. In this book, you will find plenty of insight from people who knew him well. Jada Pinkett Smith, Leila Steinberg, Warren G, and plenty others give their thoughts, feelings, and opinions on this multidimensional man. One part that caught me was the amount of reading 'Pac did. His detractors constantly talk about all the negativity but rarely discuss the many things he did which were positive, and Dyson does his part to bring that to everyone who reads this book. Some of the information you will already know due to the fact that there is so much of Pac to go around, but there are some things which can be gained from the book. 'Pac was a representative of EVERY young black man in America in some sort of fashion, not EXACTLY the same, but there was a lil bit of all of us in him. Whether brothers confess to that is up to them. The trials, tribulations, ups, and the downs of this man are things we all have went through or are currently going through as of this moment. A very solid piece of work by Dr. Dyson.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I am 2Pac's #1 fan. I try to read everything that I can to learn more about 2Pac's life. His words are so real. His life has been amazing. I find him so interesting. I own every album that he has ever made. I think his music is so passionate and a lot of people can relate to his lifestyle. It saddens me that he only had a short time to live. He has made a great impact on many people's lives. And I believe that he will continue to do so for years to come. He's such a talented artist and I respect him so much. This book has many quotes from all the people that knew him. They give their input on his views and his lifestyle-mostly all positive. It makes people understand why he lived the way he lived. I recommend anybody who loves 2Pac to read this book.