Dated Emcees

by Chinaka Hodge

Chinaka Hodge came of age along with hip-hop—and its influence on her suitors became inextricable from their personal interactions. Form blends with content in Dated Emcees as she examines her love life through the lens of hip-hop's best known orators, characters, archetypes and songs, creating a new and inventive narrative about the music that shaped the craggy heart of a young woman poet, just as it also changed the global landscape of pop. Praise for Dated Emcees : "In the old tellings hip-hop was a woman, a certain kind—one needing, even begging to be saved. In Dated Emcees , Chinaka Hodge gives her a voice and she tells of her loves and desires, her traumas and pains in words as hard, as lit, as loving, cunning, cutting, ecstatic, as tender and devastating as her big world requires. This is poetry that, in its infinite power and intimate grace, will still turn in your mind long after the music is over."— Jeff Chang , author of Who We A Cultural History of Race in Post-Civil Rights America "Hodge writes with an unpredictable, rare honesty. This collection quietly and simply illustrates love in a complicated world."— Donald Glover AKA Childish Gambino “This is an absolute powerhouse of a book, and a new pinnacle for Chinaka Hodge. There’s enough beauty and heartbreak and melancholy and humor and sorrow in here for three collections, or two lifetimes. Hodge’s writing is so incredibly specific but somehow universal, so honest and raw but somehow polished to unimproveability. She deserves a wide audience, an attentive audience, an audience that wants to be astounded.”— Dave Eggers , author of The Circle "Chinaka Hodge is hands down, unequivocally, my favorite writer of words. All day. Every day. She writes with the grace of a dancer, the bars of a rapper, the heart of your best friend, and all of the swag and soul of Oakland. Dated Emcees made me cry. And I don't really do that. It doesn't use Hip Hop as a lens. It is Hip Hop. In the way that we, who have grown up with rap as our brilliant, estranged, mythological, abusive lover/father/son, are all Hip Hop. Aware of his flaws, and his potential. And loving him unconditionally. These are poems to read every day. To make mantras from. They are the best poems you've ever read."— Daveed Diggs , Actor/Rapper, star of Hamilton on Broadway "Every time I hear new work from Chinaka Hodge I wonder if she was always this good. She was, I’m pretty sure. And yet somehow, she’s leveled up again. Dated Emcees is a dropped microphone, and a direct challenge to anyone listening. Step your game up."— George Watsky , author of How to Ruin Essays “Ms. Hodge’s collection complicates dogmatic notions of feminist principles and hip hop pathologies. She is the steward of a candid and sonorous new form, a lyrical journalism expressed in a meter that climbs from West Oakland’s Bottoms to the peak of a Wonder-laced rocket love. Dated Emcees is outlined in the matter of black life, streamlined through the filter of black womb … a smoke-filled lung in a sweat-filled club of safety and danger, and the bass of black moon.”— Marc Bamuthi Joseph , arts activist, spoken word artist, US Artists Rockefeller Fellow

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 2016

Reviews

[Nakia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't regularly read poetry, but Chinaka is a hometown fave and this cover drew me in immediately. There are a few poems in here that hit me right in the gut because of nostalgia, or the heartbreaking reality through verse, or the beauty and brilliance in her writing.

This is a 3.5 read for me. Looking forward to more!

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went to the Oakland Museum of California to see Black Panthers at 50 on Saturday. It's a powerful, beautifully curated exhibit. Toward the end, I watched a series of videos: oral histories mixed in with poetry performances, including one by Chinaka Hodge that was absolutely stunning.

http://museumca.org/video/all-power-p...

Hodge's poem bridges the past and present and invokes the revolutionary spirit we need right now to fight this rising tide of income inequality, fascist police, and topdown totalitarianism.

The next day, I went to Christopher's Books in Potrero Hill and saw a copy of Chinaka Hodge's collection Dated Emcees, which was released by City Lights Books last year, and I had to pick it up. The poems are a fluid crossover between personal experience and cultural commentary, and are particularly poignant when the two intersect, as they do in her poems about the Biggie and Tupac.

Hodge is an artist with language and while her words leap off the page they definitely belong there. I've been thinking about these lines since I read them:

"I will turn my thoughts to moths and free them one at a time into a shoe box. I'll shake the cardboard and rattle the flightless flying things 'til their wings fall off. And then eat them to know their taste and wonder why they don't have bones."

That's a description of a particular kind of feeling that didn't have a name before Hodge pinned it to her specimen board, but it lives inside of me now.

[Wieneke]

Heel tof!

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cover blurb from Daveed Diggs and published by Sister Spit? I'm in.

[Meagan Cahuasqui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, the collection proves how deft Hodge is with rhythm and lyricism. There were some poems with sentence structures that I just didn't understand how to read, but that's okay, because it's not meant for me anyway. There are some pretty powerful images in certain pieces that are painful, but they simultaneously portray a ferocity and anger that's empowering. Great poet and I do recommend reading her work.

[Kristen Lemaster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever as hell, with rhymes that twist and turn and expertly pivot between hard and soft, and always end up being much more than what meets the eye (“light privilege” is a whole world on its own)!

[Freddy Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chinaka moves, grooves, bobs and weaves; laughs and grieves in the potent book of poetry. Gain insight into blackgurl love, blackman pain, and overall, black love.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[judy-b. judy-b. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several of these poems hit me with their language and imagery. A lot of them feel like personal conversations, and because I don't know the people in them or contexts of the exchanges, I feel left out and lose interest; the details feel like identifiers rather than imagery that sets me to my own reflection. It is not that the poems are not written for me—no book is written for me, unless I write it myself, but a poet can invite us into their world, and this felt more like documenting and remembering and reportage. That said, I saw Chinaka Hodge interview Boots Riley, and I think she is utterly wonderful, and I will buy and read her next book too.

[Joann Schatz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't let the length of this book trick you - it feels like it contains entire worlds within it. Also, I didn't even mean to start and finish reading this book in one day but it kept coming to mind and I would have to pick it up and read another passage or two. I highlighted SO many passages in this book and have been thinking about them nonstop since I finished it. I loved this so much, everything about it, from the writing style to the creativity to the homages to beloved artists to the heartbreak and heartache. It was so beautiful and I immediately placed an order for the actual book so I can hold it in my hands instead of just having it on my phone. An absolute treasure, 10/10.

[Juliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated Emcees, by Chinaka Hodge is a brilliant and engaging book of poems riffing on hip-hop and rap, high and low culture, black culture and racial politics. All of this is channelled through a more personal narrative about about relationships and the self, always situated in a wide-ranging and ever-shifting landscape. ‘The Oscars’ was a poem I found particularly ingenious and challenging, a staggering feat of metaphorical dexterity: “they are golden, solemn men, who stand frozen, / cup hands to their chests, wait to be prized... there will not, tonight, or any other day / be red carpets rolled ahead of them. / no coverage of the moment. / no film, even, when they are killed”.

[Giulia Goldston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a smart book of good poetry. Several beautiful love letters to hip-hop and moving personal poems. I didn't love it, but for its density of thought, it's getting a four. I'd give it a 3.5, but rules are rules.

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book! her poems made out in memory of different great artists shows her close appreciation for the culture she grew up around while always keeping a woman's perspective and voice.

[Erik Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

“sometimes I confuse my loneliness for his affection”

[Teatum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Help, I'm in love.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is phenomenal poetry. i felt my heart pried open and my secret wounds seen. i felt this. Many thanks.

[CB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best poetry I've ever read in my life.

[liv wiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a gorgeous collection. the lyricism was next level, im so glad i own this so i can continue to go back to it

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/4 stars

[Mukethe Kawinzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

was already falling in love with the bay and then i read this<3

[Lindsay King-Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant poems whose form and content shows the influence of hip-hop, not only on art, but on relationships and even self-image. I only wish this collection were longer.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This slim volume is mighty, but you don't need me to tell you that. Do yourself a favor and listen to Chinaka read her own words. Her contribution to the OMCA exhibit All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50 had me panting for more. These poems can be hard to read as a woman, as a newer Oakland resident, as an American. They're also brimming with music, humor, sex. Who's first in line to borrow my copy?

[jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

containing nearly 30 poems from oakland-based poet/playwright/screenwriter/educator chinaka hodge, dated emcees offers a wealth of hip hop-inspired wordplay musing on love, loss, relationships, femininity, family, struggle, and rap allusions aplenty. hodge is a gifted wordsmith, juxtaposing imagery with rhythmic ease and conveying her thoughts with grit and gallantry. while each one of her unabashed phrases boldly inhabits the page, for full effect, be sure to check out some of her def jam poetry performances.

(excerpt from "on being the other woman")

even when it's just me.
his scent is tangled in bedclothes i meant to wash
months ago. weeks, at least.
it's going to take time to undo this.

i borrowed four dollars from the kids upstairs to clean
the sheets. slept fitfully the first night i couldn't smell him.
tossed so hard i snapped the bed frame —

it's the cleanest break yet.

[Nina]

Some of my favorite lines from this collection:

you got to understand, he knows it's fleeting
but when he draws someone's blood away
from its course and holds it in his mouth
and fist at once he tastes tomorrow.
- from 'the ballad of Hollywood'

and

for decades i've thought myself too ugly
damaged and smart to deserve anyone

i told you i worry all my lovers recast me with
prettier, easier, origami versions of me
- from 'the b side.'

[Meg Ready · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takes a few poems in to really get going, but once it does, it really is an incredible collection from a multitalented author. Highly recommend if you enjoy: Danez Smith, Fatima Ashgar, Terrance Hayes, or Kim Addonizio.

[tyto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Such a good collection. It is biting, honest, and such beautiful wordplay. It is extremely evocative and so relevant to today's world. Can't wait to read more! Highly recommended, especially for fans of hip hop.

[Orsayor · Rating 5 out of 5]

New Poet on my Radar!!

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads win

This is a great read. It was captivating and held you till the end. The writing was great. I love when I read a book and am able to imagine what is going on. A great read.

[Christina Borgoyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was ok.

[Mills College Library]

811.6 H6882d 2016