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D Hunter #2
The Plot Against Hip Hop
Finalist for the 2012 NAACP Image Award in Literature! "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 "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 "A breakbeat detective story...George invents as much as he curates, as outlandish conspiracy theories clash with real-life figures. But what makes the book such a fascinating read is its simultaneous strict adherence to hip-hop's archetypes and tropes while candidly acknowledging the absurdity of the music's current big-business era. There's a late-capitalism logic at work here. If this book had been written in the early '90s, it would have been about the insurgent artistry of hip-hop musicians and the social-justice strides the genre was effecting. Today, it's a procedural about the death of principles."
-- Time Out Chicago "Like good hip hop, there is social commentary and a blurring of the lines between great storytelling and all-to-real happenings. The Plot Against Hip Hop reads almost like Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice , but in the world of rap music. Brilliant prose, vast conspiracy, (at times) borderline trippy narrative. If you love crime fiction and you love hip hop, this book is a must read."
-- BookRiot " 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 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.
-- 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 "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 "A breakbeat detective story...George invents as much as he curates, as outlandish conspiracy theories clash with real-life figures. But what makes the book such a fascinating read is its simultaneous strict adherence to hip-hop's archetypes and tropes while candidly acknowledging the absurdity of the music's current big-business era. There's a late-capitalism logic at work here. If this book had been written in the early '90s, it would have been about the insurgent artistry of hip-hop musicians and the social-justice strides the genre was effecting. Today, it's a procedural about the death of principles."
-- Time Out Chicago "Like good hip hop, there is social commentary and a blurring of the lines between great storytelling and all-to-real happenings. The Plot Against Hip Hop reads almost like Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice , but in the world of rap music. Brilliant prose, vast conspiracy, (at times) borderline trippy narrative. If you love crime fiction and you love hip hop, this book is a must read."
-- BookRiot " 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 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.
176 pages, Paperback
First published August 12, 2011
14 people are currently reading
278 people want to read
About the author
Nelson George
74 books117 followersNelson George is an author, filmmaker, television producer, and critic with a long career in analyzing and presenting the diverse elements of African-American culture.
Queen Latifah won the Golden Globe for playing the lead in his directorial debut, the HBO movie 'Life Support'. The critically acclaimed drama looked at the effects of HIV on a troubled black family in his native Brooklyn, New York. He recently co-edited, with Alan Leeds, 'The James Brown Reader (Plume)', a collection of previously published articles about the Godfather of Soul that date as far back the late '50s. Plume published the book in May '08.
He is an executive producer on two returning cable shows: the third season of BET's American Gangster and the fifth airing of VH1's Hip Hop Honors. George is the executive producer of the Chris Rock hosted feature documentary, Good Hair, a look at hair weaves, relaxers and the international black hair economy that's premiering at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Nelson George serves as host of Soul Cities, a travel show that debuted in November 2008. on VH1 Soul. Nelson visited Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Memphis, New Orleans and the Bay Area. He eats food, visits historic sites, and hears lots of music. LaBelle, Robin Thicke, Babyface, Rafael Saadiq, Angie Stone and Jazmine Sullivan are among the many artists who talked with Nelson and perform. The second season starts shooting in Spring 2009.
Throughout the '80s and '90s George was an columnist for Billboard magazine and the Village Voice newspaper, work that led him to write a series of award winning black music histories: 'Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound'; 'The Death of Rythm & Blues'; and 'Hip Hop America'. He won a Grammy for his contribution to the linear notes package on the James Brown 'Star Time' boxed set. George co-wrote 'Life and Def', the autobiography of his old friend Russell Simmons. He's also had a career writing fiction, including the bestselling 'One Woman Short', and the story, 'It's Never Too Late in New York', which has been in several anthologies of erotica.
As a screenwriter George co-wrote 'Strictly Business', which starred Halle Berry, and 'CB4', a vehicle for Chris Rock. His work with Rock led to his involvement with 'The Chris Rock Show', an Emmy award winning HBO late night series. He was an executive producer of Jim McKay's film, 'Everyday People', which premiered at the Sundance festival, and Todd Williams' Peabody award winning documentary 'The N Word'. In 2009 Viking will publish his memoir, 'City Kid', a look at the connections between childhood in Brooklyn and his adult career in Manhattan, Los Angeles and Detroit.
Queen Latifah won the Golden Globe for playing the lead in his directorial debut, the HBO movie 'Life Support'. The critically acclaimed drama looked at the effects of HIV on a troubled black family in his native Brooklyn, New York. He recently co-edited, with Alan Leeds, 'The James Brown Reader (Plume)', a collection of previously published articles about the Godfather of Soul that date as far back the late '50s. Plume published the book in May '08.
He is an executive producer on two returning cable shows: the third season of BET's American Gangster and the fifth airing of VH1's Hip Hop Honors. George is the executive producer of the Chris Rock hosted feature documentary, Good Hair, a look at hair weaves, relaxers and the international black hair economy that's premiering at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Nelson George serves as host of Soul Cities, a travel show that debuted in November 2008. on VH1 Soul. Nelson visited Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Memphis, New Orleans and the Bay Area. He eats food, visits historic sites, and hears lots of music. LaBelle, Robin Thicke, Babyface, Rafael Saadiq, Angie Stone and Jazmine Sullivan are among the many artists who talked with Nelson and perform. The second season starts shooting in Spring 2009.
Throughout the '80s and '90s George was an columnist for Billboard magazine and the Village Voice newspaper, work that led him to write a series of award winning black music histories: 'Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound'; 'The Death of Rythm & Blues'; and 'Hip Hop America'. He won a Grammy for his contribution to the linear notes package on the James Brown 'Star Time' boxed set. George co-wrote 'Life and Def', the autobiography of his old friend Russell Simmons. He's also had a career writing fiction, including the bestselling 'One Woman Short', and the story, 'It's Never Too Late in New York', which has been in several anthologies of erotica.
As a screenwriter George co-wrote 'Strictly Business', which starred Halle Berry, and 'CB4', a vehicle for Chris Rock. His work with Rock led to his involvement with 'The Chris Rock Show', an Emmy award winning HBO late night series. He was an executive producer of Jim McKay's film, 'Everyday People', which premiered at the Sundance festival, and Todd Williams' Peabody award winning documentary 'The N Word'. In 2009 Viking will publish his memoir, 'City Kid', a look at the connections between childhood in Brooklyn and his adult career in Manhattan, Los Angeles and Detroit.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
February 12, 2017
Like another reviewer, I found the title intriguing, the book jacket pretty DOPE, and the written content to have a consistent appeal and I never once got bored. The usual cast of characters like sex, drugs, and violence played it's part yet they were mere backdrafts of the story which was a definite plus. I recommend this series.
January 1, 2012
171 pages of hip-hop conspiracy theories. In the copyright page of the book, there's a statement that this book is completely fiction and everything is a part of the author's imagination. It was hard to separate truth from fiction with the use of real names and references to real events. D Hunter, owner of D Security, finds himself poorly investigating the murder of his friend and hip-hop critic, Dwayne Robinson. In his investigation, he begins to uncover a conspiracy to take over hip-hop and brainwash urban youth. The book is well-written, but the plot is poorly thought out. There are no clues that help the reader or even D Hunter figure anything out. Everything comes together in the last 20 pages of the book through a confession from the Black Godfather of the music industry. He makes a good point to D Hunter: If he didn't spell everything out for him, then he wouldn't have gotten it. I read this book in one day, which is rare for me. I wish that the book could have taken me more places, put a different spin on things, but I finished the book underwhelmed. Once you get passed the obsessive name dropping and over explanations of D Hunter and everyone he encounters' history in the hip-hop game, you have an okay read. If you like action and slight mystery, then this is a good Saturday afternoon read. Just don't expect too much.
July 7, 2018
I wasn't feeling it & it was boring
April 22, 2012
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.
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.
August 8, 2021
I devoured this book like meatloaf and mac and cheese. Written with wit and rhythm, “The Plot Against Hip-Hop” escorted this hip hop head down memory lane and up the ave to where rap could be. It spoke about all the intricacies involved in the industry. The good, bad, and ugly. And at the end of the day, at the last turn of the page, I found myself smarter about not just music, but also moguldom.
D. Hunter is the black-clad protagonist with a not-so-secret secret, a love for true hip hop, and a duty to get to the bottom of his friend’s death. The story George Nelson weaves goes deep into the inner workings of the music industry, its history, its mysteries. The reality of beefs and the bodyguard’s role in stopping brawls before they even become loud back and forths. But what I really loved about this novel is that it was a detective story that wasn’t about a detective. Just a man trying to get to the bottom of his homeboy’s murder, and possibly, uncover a criminal plot against the institution he came to love.
D. Hunter is the black-clad protagonist with a not-so-secret secret, a love for true hip hop, and a duty to get to the bottom of his friend’s death. The story George Nelson weaves goes deep into the inner workings of the music industry, its history, its mysteries. The reality of beefs and the bodyguard’s role in stopping brawls before they even become loud back and forths. But what I really loved about this novel is that it was a detective story that wasn’t about a detective. Just a man trying to get to the bottom of his homeboy’s murder, and possibly, uncover a criminal plot against the institution he came to love.
October 20, 2016
As a true fan of Hip Hop, I really loved this book. This book is full of old school hip hop history, new rap history with some mystery thrown in the mix. There is nothing like the era of hip hop. that was filled with artists such as LL Cool J, Run DMC, Tupac Shakur, and Biggie Smalls. There will never be anything like it again. This generations music does not even compare. The author not only touched on the history of this incredible genre but also told of the many conspiracies that arose from this popular form of music. IF your a lover of hip or someone new to Hip Hop you will really enjoy this book.
March 26, 2012
A short mystery novel that takes place in the world of contemporary hip hop. A bodyguard that works in the rap world finds a music writer dead in the foyer of a building. The story is gripping and uses real references to the history of hip hop. Although there is profanity I think older urban teens would dig it.
November 6, 2019
Eye opening. Necessary. Intriguing. Heartbreaking. Keeps you on the edge of your seat. This is what this book will make you feel. This book should be required reading for the young. As a longtime lover of hip hop, it caused me to connect the dots to what has been going on in music the last 20 years. I pray for those that come into this industry.
September 3, 2015
i like this as much as i did The Lost Treasures of R&B, which is the second book in this series, but the one i read first. it's a great unique voice in the genre.
March 28, 2021
Fun engaging well written. Highly recommend but need to know a little about hip hop
July 15, 2024
Brill background info on music, a clever story that feeds into some of the social manipulations of big corp. In this case around hip-hop.
February 21, 2022
We’ve done classical music and country music, and now it’s time for the world of hip hop! I went with the audiobook for this one which had a great narrator, Shayna Small, and was a one day listen for me at just under seven hours.
It’s funny that the book starts with a legal author’s note about it being completely fictitious since it name drops a lot of hip hop stars and events, which I found fun and a bit of a trip down memory lane.
D Hunter watches journalist Dwayne Robinson die in SoHo, clutching a tape. Not certain the police are doing their job, he decides to look into the murder himself, especially after finding out that Robinson was working on a book and maybe that is what got him killed. From there Hunter follows the trail and listens as people point him in the direction of conspiracy theories of the government wanting to contain hip hop…
--from Book Riot's Unusual Suspects newsletter: https://link.bookriot.com/view/56a820...
It’s funny that the book starts with a legal author’s note about it being completely fictitious since it name drops a lot of hip hop stars and events, which I found fun and a bit of a trip down memory lane.
D Hunter watches journalist Dwayne Robinson die in SoHo, clutching a tape. Not certain the police are doing their job, he decides to look into the murder himself, especially after finding out that Robinson was working on a book and maybe that is what got him killed. From there Hunter follows the trail and listens as people point him in the direction of conspiracy theories of the government wanting to contain hip hop…
--from Book Riot's Unusual Suspects newsletter: https://link.bookriot.com/view/56a820...
October 7, 2023
Cool who dunnit reminiscent of Dre and Ed Lover's flick Who's the Man from the early 90s. Hip Hop heads will love the references to memorable moments in the culture and catch all the side characters with the real names of famous MCs. Using fiction to tell the real story of the undermining of Hip Hop and the plot to destroy it written by a well known journalist of the culture like Nelson George makes one wonder what does he really know, what did he really see that he is hiding in plain sight and trying to convey with this thriller. We may never know.
November 30, 2017
The book had a great plot and it boldly expressed ideas that true hip hop fans have been expressing for many years. However, I wish the storyline was more developed. It is my first D Hunter book and I wish I knew more about the character.
January 6, 2023
if you love old school hip hop this is a sick book to read. it’s cool reading about all the big names we all know and there really is a conspiracy behind hip hop. with murder in the mix of music it was good but it wasn’t my favourite.
November 13, 2018
Interesting conspiracy theory about the hip hop world. I felt engaged through out the entire book. I dont have any interest in reading any other of the books in this series.
February 25, 2019
"Where's the beef?"
It's right here.
It's right here.
November 16, 2021
A Micro view of hip hop economics through the lense of entertainment and conspiracy theories
June 16, 2022
Very Anti Climatic. I did the audiobook. If I was reading it, it would went into my DNF pile. Luckily I only listened 1 hr a day while walking.
June 2, 2015
I actually read Nelson George's "The Lost Treasures of R&B" before this first installment in the D Hunter mystery series, and "The Plot Against Hip Hop" is the stronger of the two. It's strange--there are a lot of marks against the two books in my mind, but I still kind of liked them.
It's clear to me that Mr. George needs two good editors: one to shape the story, and one to copy-edit and proofread. The elevator pitch for the book is really intriguing to me but the execution is clumsy. There are many points when D realizes he needs to find out a particular piece of information, only to have it casually revealed in the very next chapter. When threats are made, they are immediately enacted two pages later.
To me, part of the pleasure of reading a thriller is the taut pacing, which the author can accomplish by keeping the text lean and efficient. In "The Plot Against Hip Hop," there's often so much exposition around the action that it feels diluted--and it's weird that a short book can drag at times. It's nominally a mystery, I guess, but the "mystery" isn't so much something that's solved from clues and deduction as much as it is just a conspiracy theory that is presented and then confirmed.
The numerous typos and sentence fragments were very distracting to me, to the point where I felt embarrassed that a publishing house would put such little stock into the presentation of its work. (I'm not referring to colloquialisms, by the way; I'm talking about how D and Amina have "desert" after dinner, your/you're, that kind of thing.) But that's on the publisher, not the author.
*SPOILER*
In both books D becomes intimate with a woman, only for her to die (not by D's hand) like three chapters later. Lazy storytelling at best and weird morality tale at worst?
*END SPOILER*
But I like D, and I want to know more about his world. I really wish that Mr. George would find a different publisher, one that would help polish his writing into something really good.
It's clear to me that Mr. George needs two good editors: one to shape the story, and one to copy-edit and proofread. The elevator pitch for the book is really intriguing to me but the execution is clumsy. There are many points when D realizes he needs to find out a particular piece of information, only to have it casually revealed in the very next chapter. When threats are made, they are immediately enacted two pages later.
To me, part of the pleasure of reading a thriller is the taut pacing, which the author can accomplish by keeping the text lean and efficient. In "The Plot Against Hip Hop," there's often so much exposition around the action that it feels diluted--and it's weird that a short book can drag at times. It's nominally a mystery, I guess, but the "mystery" isn't so much something that's solved from clues and deduction as much as it is just a conspiracy theory that is presented and then confirmed.
The numerous typos and sentence fragments were very distracting to me, to the point where I felt embarrassed that a publishing house would put such little stock into the presentation of its work. (I'm not referring to colloquialisms, by the way; I'm talking about how D and Amina have "desert" after dinner, your/you're, that kind of thing.) But that's on the publisher, not the author.
*SPOILER*
In both books D becomes intimate with a woman, only for her to die (not by D's hand) like three chapters later. Lazy storytelling at best and weird morality tale at worst?
*END SPOILER*
But I like D, and I want to know more about his world. I really wish that Mr. George would find a different publisher, one that would help polish his writing into something really good.
January 3, 2013
D Hunter is accidentally thrown into the murder mystery of his best friend, Dwayne Robinson, whose last echoing words [taken from a famous Brooklyn rapper] sent him on a mission to find his killer. The theme of the novel is rooted in the history of hip-hop of the 80’s & 90’s. The mystery leads D through the hip hop world from street thugs to power players. There are "hip hop cops" with dossiers on artists, conspiracy theorists, marketing execs, and astute journalists.
The music has a past and interacts with the characters as though it is a character itself. Along the mystery of D's murdered friend, the author seems to investigate the intersection of art, culture, commerce, and politics.
The book started slow, picked up half-way through but I felt disappointed with the ending. Overall a good read for me to start the new year.
The music has a past and interacts with the characters as though it is a character itself. Along the mystery of D's murdered friend, the author seems to investigate the intersection of art, culture, commerce, and politics.
The book started slow, picked up half-way through but I felt disappointed with the ending. Overall a good read for me to start the new year.
Read
February 11, 2012It’s been a couple days since I finished the book so this review will be thin, but maybe that’s appropriate because The Plot Against Hip Hop is a slim volume. It has great descriptions, though. Some of George’s lines are just beautiful. I thought, oh my God, I can see that; I can feel this. Simply wonderful, but then I wished the characters spoke to each other more. I missed the dialog. The book is also discontinuous as in “wait, weren’t we just someplace else,” but I guess that comes with the short novel territory. And at the end, I was like, really? I hate a quick dénouement. It ruins the murder mystery steez to wrap it up so neatly and so quickly. I wanted more conflict, more drama, just more. But I suppose it did what 174 pages could do.
June 14, 2012
The Plot Against Hip Hop started out great. Then it fizzled for me.
I know if you read my reviews, you would think that I am a romance reader. My love of a good romance is about a tear old. My love of a good mystery is 31 years old. This book held promise of a great African American mystery at first. Then it just dropped off. I tried to rationalize it my saying it was an allegory(hope that's right) for Hip hop. Showing how it started out a strong movement and then just dropped off. Then, I just finished it because, being nosy I wanted to find out who the killer was. It was a surprise, but by then I just wanted the book to end.
It was got two starts for a great start and because it made me Youtube some classic Hip Hop.
I know if you read my reviews, you would think that I am a romance reader. My love of a good romance is about a tear old. My love of a good mystery is 31 years old. This book held promise of a great African American mystery at first. Then it just dropped off. I tried to rationalize it my saying it was an allegory(hope that's right) for Hip hop. Showing how it started out a strong movement and then just dropped off. Then, I just finished it because, being nosy I wanted to find out who the killer was. It was a surprise, but by then I just wanted the book to end.
It was got two starts for a great start and because it made me Youtube some classic Hip Hop.
June 11, 2012
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.
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.
July 15, 2012
Have you ever picked up a book and think it will be about one thing and realize it is about something different? That happened to me with this book. I really like it. The chapters were named after great hip hop songs, which I loved (except for the Beyonce and Soulja Boy chapters). The history of hip hop was all over this book!!
The story was believable to me because I know a few people that really believe parts of the story (Sorry, I don't give spoilers) actually happened.
The story was believable to me because I know a few people that really believe parts of the story (Sorry, I don't give spoilers) actually happened.
December 19, 2013
This book is billed as a "noir novel set in the world of hip hop culture". The second part of this claim is valid, but the first is not. Instead, it's a somewhat plodding story (albeit about a murder) whose plausibility has been sacrificed to the author's desire to give his (or a) version of hip hop history. If the history is the main driving force, which it appears to be, then it might have been better presented as non-fiction, with the murder story dropped altogether.
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October 29, 2023The story and the plot was both very interesting. The title alone was an attention grabber. I learned a lot from this novel and it also took me down memeory lane. The titles of the different chapters and the mentions of the different artists had me bobbing my head and reminiscing about the true kings and queens of hip hop. I loved this book and recommend it to any true hip hop fan.
December 22, 2011
I really enjoyed this book. I loved the references to hip hop and how they never took away from the plot but rather added to it. It was hard to put down and great for anyone looking for a quick & easy read.
November 21, 2011
It hurts when one of your favorite writers comes out with a terrible book, but I can't pretend that there was anything to like here. Bad plot, tons of name dropping, just a disappointment all around.
January 13, 2015
Just getting started.....
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