"George is an ace at interlacing the real dramas of the world . . . the book's slim length and flyweight depth could make it an artifact of this particular zeitgeist in American history. Playas and haters and celebrity cameos fuel a novel that is wickedly entertaining while being frozen in time." --Kirkus Reviews
"This hard-boiled tale is jazzed up with authentic street slang and name-dropping (Biggie, Mary J. Blige, Lil Wayne, and Chuck D) . . . George’s tightly packaged mystery pivots on a believable conspiracy . . . and his street cred shines in his descriptions of Harlem and Brownsville’s mean streets." --Library Journal
"George is a well-known, respected hip-hop chronicler . . . Now he adds crime fiction to his resume with a carefully plotted crime novel peopled by believable characters and real-life hip-hop personalities." --Booklist
"The most accomplished black music critic of his generation." --The Washington Post Book World
"Perhaps one of the greatest books ever written. It has the realness of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, the warmth of The Color Purple, and the page count of Tuesdays with Morrie. It's a must-read." --Chris Rock on City Kid
The Plot Against Hip Hop is a noir novel set in the world of hip hop culture. The stabbing murder of esteemed music critic Dwayne Robinson in a Soho office building is dismissed by the NYPD as a gang initiation. But his old friend, bodyguard and security expert D Hunter, suspects there are larger forces at work.
D Hunter's investigation into his mentor's murder leads into a parallel history of hip hop, a place where renegade government agents, behind-the-scenes power brokers, and paranoid journalists know a truth that only a few hardcore fans suspect. This rewrite of hip hop history mixes real-life figures with characters pulled from the culture's hidden world, including Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Russell Simmons.
{"itemData":[{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":11.99,"ASIN":"1617750247","isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":12.16,"ASIN":"0143035150","isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":14.07,"ASIN":"0312425791","isPreorder":0}],"shippingId":"1617750247::70h07CUjEOE6PSuyA3gN8SMiCZxyqydC3pburG2EB2UIGD5RBASNPvK1hT3WnIzKx1nktyhnKyUhOuNMjQL0FOGFwiOsE1qkyuJPgZZO1%2F1JqQgNIoWNRw%3D%3D,0143035150::ORkjJP0JYR0qiifze29fXKcGw7Z%2BU%2FhpVF%2FKGPO53k0dwawXJd9SEt%2BhsXq3A3VTTnMoFDIFbvoI7TsO5cNiNBPD9azALgMs71wjEYKNZPKjofVeYAZk0Q%3D%3D,0312425791::xwN8%2BOzEMT%2BKuK4UIMQHNHbvkkRPmnycR6ic95lWItNjQk8yg0IfQgPlBTyblM%2FTtUmQCnnDrq0ii1I8Cq4wa4%2FGEHWSEGgZamfoQJWwYH%2Bl4KOnsnR3Yw%3D%3D","sprites":{"addToWishlist":["wl_one","wl_two","wl_three"],"addToCart":["s_addToCart","s_addBothToCart","s_add3ToCart"],"preorder":["s_preorderThis","s_preorderBoth","s_preorderAll3"]},"currenyCode":"USD","shippingDetails":{"xz":"same","yz":"same","xy":"same","xyz":"same"},"tags":["x","y","z"],"strings":{"addToWishlist":["add to wishlist","Add both to Wish List","Add all three to Wish List"],"addToCart":["Add to Cart","Add both to Cart","Add all three to Cart"],"showDetailsDefault":"Show availability and shipping details","shippingError":"An error occurred, please try again","hideDetailsDefault":"Hide availability and shipping details","priceLabel":["Price:","Price for both:","Price for all three:"],"preorder":["Pre-order this item","Pre-order both items","Pre-order all three items"]}}
"George's prose sparkles with an effortless humanity, bringing his characters to life in a way that seems true and beautiful. The story -- and the conspiracy behind it -- is one we all need to hear as consumers and creators in the post-hardcore hip-hop world." --Shelf Awareness
"Part procedural murder mystery, part conspiracy-theory manifesto, Nelson George’s The Plot Against Hip Hop reads like the PTSD fever dream of a renegade who’s done several tours of duty in the trenches . . . Plot’s combination of record-biz knowledge and ghetto fabulosity could have been written only by venerable music journalist Nelson George, who knows his hip-hop history . . . The writing is as New York as 'Empire State of Mind,' and D is a detective compelling enough to anchor a series." --Time Out New York
"The Plot Against Hip Hop is a quick-moving murder mystery that educates its audience on Hip Hop’s pioneer generation along the way . . . it is a nostalgic look at a magical and manic moment in time." --New York Journal of Books
"George very masterfully has created a novel that informs as well as entertains." --Huffington Post
"Nelson George comes from an older generation that still remembers Hip Hop as the vital and dangerous voice it once was. This feeling for the past carries throughout the novel, and manages to convey the weight and importance of this profound shift in values without being nostalgic . . . The Plot Against Hip Hop is a fine piece of 'edutainment' -- both exciting and thought provoking . . . it's great to finally have a novel about Hip Hop written by one of it’s original documentary journalists." --ABORT Magazine
About the Author
Nelson George: Nelson George is one of the first writers to document hip hop culture, seeing Kool Herc in a Bronx schoolyard in the late '70s. He would go on to write several award winning books on the subject, including 'Hip Hop America' and Russell Simmons' autobiography 'Life and Def.' He directed Queen Latifah in the award winning HBO film, 'Life Support,' and executive produces VH1's long running 'Hip Hop Honors' broadcast. He can be contacted at www.nelsondgeorge.net.
The combo of great indie publisher, great cover, provocative title, well-known author, and short length, prompted me to pick up this hip-hop thriller. Just to be clear, this isn't "Street Lit" or "Urban Fiction" or "Hood Lit" or anything of that nature, rather, it's a fairly conventional crime/detective genre novel set amidst the world of contemporary hip-hop, with a story line stretching back to the scene in the late '80s and early '90s. The hero is "D" -- the only one of four brothers to make it out of the rough Brownsville part of Brooklyn alive. He's managed to establish himself as the head of a very successful security firm specializing in the world of hip-hop, working award shows, video shoots, private parties, and soforth. When his friend and widely respected music critic Dwayne Robinson dies in a bloody heap on his doorstep, he doesn't buy the official explanation that Robinson was the random target of a gang initiation attack. Instead, he starts poking around, asking questions, which soon leads him down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theorists with some wild ideas about who is trying to do what to black people in America.
All of which starts pointing him to a mysterious report from the late '80s (inspired by the real-life Harvard report from the '70s) which is reputedly about how hip-hop can be leveraged and marketed -- and perhaps even co-opted a tool of social control. D's investigation centers on New York and L.A., and is finds him rubbing shoulders with big names of today, and name-checking big names of the past.... Even as he searches for this report so that he can try and learn if it had something in it worth killing his friend for, he struggles with the reality that the all-pervasive hip-hop culture that pays his bills is an artistically weak but commercially huge business (Drake comes under particular criticism), compared to the artistically strong hip-hop of his youth (political and conscious acts such as PE and BDP get much love in this book), which weren't as prevalent in mainstream culture. (I guess I'm kind of the perfect reader, because my sympathies are right in line with D's when it comes to the state of mainstream hip-hop -- which is not to say there isn't some great stuff lurking in the underground.)
In any event, as the story progresses, there are some more murders, and a love interest to spice things up. The short chapters and uptempo pacing make it a quick, page-turning read, although it sometimes grinds to a halt for a paragraph to explain some reference or another. As a crime genre book it's decent, not amazing, but decent -- I struggled a bit with whether I felt like it was likely that people were killed for the motives that are eventually revealed. But if you're into hip-hop, it'd definitely worth the short time it takes to read. If you're not into hip-hop, I can't imagine it would do much for you, since the story is so deeply immersed in that world. In the end, D is an engaging hero, and one I wouldn't mind reading another book about.Read more ›
Nelson's George's novel is a decent read. It's like reading a history of hip hop from the 70s until now. All the name dropping is relevant to the story, but the character D feels a bit contrived. The ending was a bit lock step and tied things off a bit too cleanly, but in the end, it was an entertaining read.
I can't say that I'm looking to read another novel by Nelson George, but if you want a very quick easy read, it's not a waste of your time. It's certainly not earth shattering, but this could easily be turned into a film if the right screenwriter got a hold of this story.
The Plot Against Hip-Hop names several rappers and their songs, but does not really integrate their music in to the plot, even though it is interesting as a detective story and piece of social criticism.
The Plot Against Hip Hop by George Nelson is a great, well rounded, realistic crime novel. Young adults and older adults will enjoy it. The themes of old school R&B, the growth and development of hip hop, issues related to Black social life, economic issues, and writing will spark many lively discussions. Readers on both coasts and places in between will find the story appealing. The main character goes by the name D. He is a black-dressed bodyguard with links to intellectuals, moguls and thugs. Nelson slowly peels back a few layers of this character's life history. As I read I wanted to find out more about this dark character and his slick style of investigation. The Plot Against Hip Hop is much more than the title of the book as the reader will find out as she reads this well written noir novel. I didn't know who did what until the end. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more about D. I hope he appears in a few more books.
I got this book after reading a couple of reviews in magazines. I was familiar with the author from magazines but not as a book writer so I'm pretty sure I went into the book excited about it. And that feeling didn't die it just kind of got lost in the air. I'm in the 25-30 age range with memories of Biggie and Tupac and their music but I wasn't prepared for how he went about telling the story and analyzing things the way that he did. I wasn't familiar with some of the old school artists that he was referring to. So for me that meant I got a history lesson because I did look on the internet to see who some of these people were. People who are older, like 30+ and those that are die hard hip hop/rap fans from beginning to end will be fine. But the story behind all the "noise" of the music is a decent one. I was glad to see a black male in a positive role. He wasn't a drug dealer or behind bars or a dead beat daddy. Unfortunately, he was living with a terrible disease which is like the elephant in the room during parts of the book for me. While at other parts of the books, it's discussed openly. E. Lynn Harris is the only other author that I have read a book by who has dealt with issue on this level. And the fact that this man functions "normally" and remains and extremely productive member of society will help educate readers on a hip hop level. The book was not at all what I was expecting but that's not a bad thing. I only told a few people about this book because I didn't know if they would get. I enjoyed the book all in all but I keep telling myself that I need to read it again.
