Tricksta: Life and Death and New Orleans Rap

by Nik Cohn

Un écrivain blanc chez les rappeurs de la Nouvelle-OrléansNik Cohn s''aventure au fin fond des quartiers pauvres de la Nouvelle-Orléans. Il découvre une culture faite de violence, de sexe, de drogue, et surtout, une musique : le bounce, un rap ultra-sensuel. Il rencontre Soulja Slim, Lil Mel, Choppa, Will Nelson et tente de les produire. Derrière chaque rappeur, en filigrane, se dessine le portrait d''une ville à la fois fascinante et fragile...« Un livre étonnant, à cheval entre l''enquête, le cri d''amour et le document littéraire. »Le Monde

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History, Cultural

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Cohn is considered by some critics to be a father of rock criticism, thanks to his time on The Observer's early rock column entitled The Brief and his first major book Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, first published in 1969. Cohn has since published articles, novels and music books regularly.

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nik Cohn fascinates me. A little history first. Cohn was a British Mod, who wrote the ultimate book on Rock n' Roll history. A close friend of The Who, the song "Pinball Wizard is based on Cohn, and to top it off he wrote the article 'Saturday Night Fever' that the famous film is based on. Although it seems Cohn made up the story, and just transformed his British Mod days onto the world of N.J. Disco life via the 70's.

He also wrote 'Rock Dreams' one of the great classic books on Rock n' Roll iconic imagery. In fact Cohn himself is an iconic figure in the world of journalism and ...rock n' roll. So many years later he is in New Orleans managing or trying to put together a series of 'rap' recordings that expressed that city's social scene.

And here's the book, it's not about New Orleans rap, it's about the writer being in his early 60's getting into a world that is, on paper at least, is totally foreign and maybe slightly (actually really) dangerous. Cohn's character is a hustler of the old 60's British school meeting the complex and fascinating culture of New Orleans rap world. A world I know nothing of, but now very much interested in hearing music that was produced in this incredible city.

Also Cohn's last chapter on Katrina is haunting. Superb book.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friends and I read this on a road trip from New Orleans to North Carolina. I think all of us were pretty skeptical of Nik Cohn,aged white dude coming out of the british rock scene dealing with his own racism by hurling himself into the New Orleans Bounce rap scene. He won us all over though. A lot of what Cohn talks about is stuff I've thought about heavily, being, myself, a white dude with complicated feelings about our own relationships to New Orleans and it's music. Plus the chapter about trying to record 19 year old rapper Choppa's album is one of the funniest things I've ver read. Picture a thugged-out 19 year old with a mouth full of gold sitting down in the recording booth in an act of protest towards the beat he was given, or 20 something people (including 60 year old Cohn himself) squeezing into the same tiny booth to sing a group chorus hook about ridn' on 20 inch dubs.

[kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cohn deals directly with his own racism in this memoir of life on the perimeter of New Orleans bounce music. From the first chapter, he explores the inherent power imbalance and problematic figure he strikes as the White hip-hop financier. 'Triksta' offers the reader a snapshot of life through the author's eyes and generally avoids didactic attempts at resolution, conclusion, or morality.

As a White reader, I found 'Triksta' a useful tool for reflection on my own relationship to hip-hop, race, and power.

Notably, this memoir ends just a few months shy of Katrina. This fact must inevitably color any reader's experience of the text.

[Paul Campagna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. Wish it spent more time on the history of New Orleans rap and the stories of those who made the music, and a little less about his journey trying to influence the making of more conscious output, but still found it a very interesting read.

[Uri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The blurb in my edition starts: "What would cause a 55-year old white male, neither lean nor hungry, to embroil himself in the world of New Orleans rap, not merely as an observer, but as an active participant –ideas man, talent-spotter, lyricist, and would-be producer? And why did his experience, after many tribulations, end up so profoundly joyous and fulfulling?".
You'd have to read it to know both answers since the whole book revolves around answering them.
Keep in mind that his is not a well-rehearsed plan, you are just witnessing Nik Cohn's wandering around the broken-down slums with not a clue of what he's doing, but what a joy it is to tag along. Most of the time you can tell that he (Cohn AKA Triksta, Dreamshit, Mort Ziploc) is playing by ear and he almost spends more time in the funeral parlor, attending some rapper's wake, than in the rudimentary unprofessional studios where is supposed to make his magic (I'm afraid life expectancy in NOLA's projects is kind of low. As one of the rappers in this book puts it: "rap years is like dog years. That makes me an old dog") but that is the way Cohn works.
Unfortunately I've just learned (through Goodreads) that there is an edition of the book with an extra chapter on Katrina that is missing in mine edition, which had already gone to press when the hurricane struck. That makes me feel massively unfulfilled. I'll try to fix that and get back to you soon.

[TheOtherMap · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a weird book. The author, a well-known music writer who built a career covering Rock, has a sort of identity crisis in the early 2000s and tries his hand in the hardcore rap game in New Orleans. Cohn doesn’t rap, or make beats, but he has loose industry connections and uses those to get into the scene of a NOLA genre called ‘bounce’. This is basically a memoir of those years. Cohn is white and has a home in New York, whereas all the talent is black and stuck in a very violent city. The events themselves can get pretty cringe, and he throws the soft n-word around occasionally. However, he’s an engaging writer and when he’s not talking about himself, we get a look at the reality of black New Orleans pre-Katrina. Cohn shares an understanding of the wards and projects of the city, and the gun violence that rages throughout them – I was surprised to learn that live hip hop shows in NOLA basically stopped happening because shootings at the shows were so common. It’s a world that’s hard to access, and I recommend Triksta if you want to get a glimpse of it – just expect to shake your head at what Cohn does to frame it.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nik Cohn is a pretty well-known music writer, given his work in the 60s & 70s. His focus here is on New Orleans and pre-Katrina (we measure everything my August 29, 2005 down here) hip-hop/bounce music. There are some pretty interesting observations made about the city and the "industry." Some of his observations, admittedly, deal with his own ingrained racism. Although he is pretty up front about it, there are still a few observations/passages that might suggest that he still oesn't quite get it. He's an old white guy writing about young black culture and I think that he thinks he's an insider. He is not. I also think he got a little too bogged down in the stories of trying to get an albums/careers made for Choppa and Junie Bezel. I almost never skim through a book, but I skimmed a few times with this one.

[Gabrielle Danoux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Des épisodes étonnants, comme celui de la tentative d'enregistrer avec la rappeuse Junie B, aujourd'hui complètement inconnue. La violence de la Nouvelle-Orléans est dépeinte de manière frappante, j'irai jusqu'à dire inquiétante, la logique des gamins du quartier aussi : cela me rappelle, dans le film Heat de Michael Mann l'histoire du Noir sorti de prison qui rejoint la bande de braqueurs après avoir essayé de se "réinsérer" comme on dit. En lisant Nik Cohn, on se dit que les problèmes d'intégration sont chose mieux partagée qu'on ne pense.

[Readosaurus · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://readosaurus.blogspot.com/2021...

[Stagger Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have to admit I didn't make it to the end, it just didn't quite work for me

[David Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I am a HUGE HIP HOP FANATIC,what the author Nik Cohn would descibe in a negative light a Hip Hop Head(or a purist or as 'Cohn labels us,Hip Hop snobs)I am not & never have been a lover of Southern Crunk music or 'trap' music as they call it now(apart from Geto Boys,Outkast,The Goodie Mob & a few others but they were/are 'hip hop' not crunk/trap artists)which was huge in the U.S in the mid 90s and has taken over the current US charts,its by far the most popular form of 'hip hop' at the moment by far.And that has alot to do with why I hate it,near zero focus on lyrics,just make the bass heavy enough to sound good in a strip club & the lyrics easy enough to be recited by a pre schooler(no matter how crude the lyrics are)& you have trap music.So when I read the sleeve of this book synopses I was hugely put off!Thank the reading Gods I read it because from the first few pages I was hooked.I quickly relized that my hate for the music the book is based around wouldn't ruin at all my enjoyment because the music is just the background(turned low at that)to a book about a love/obsesion for a city & it's people who 'Cohn really nailed & got behind any 'front',and got to the real peoples hopes & dreams in a city that got washed away like alot of the hopes & dreams.My dream out of the New Orleans tragedy is that never again will a country act like it's at war with its own citizens after they've been through what most people cant imagine only because thier bank balance wasn't big enough but in the most plain of sight Americans current racism against those of a darker skintone was the real & sad reality.Unfortunatly I'm still dreaming that dream for as 1 black family sit inside the white house the inner-city innocent African American men are been shown(its always been happening,people just have devices to capture it)to be getting gunned down by those who are meant to protect and serve them!I'll get off my soap box and just advise everybody(it really doesn't matter if you love or hate the background music this book is "about".If you have an intrest in human storys this is a must tead IMO!

[Eric Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I wasn't feeling Tricksta, a name taken from the legendary Voodoo/Vodu African Yoruban Deity of the cross roads.
Chiefly because Cohn, a pushing sixty white novice record producer with hepatitis C from England, who like most of white America, confuses Hip-Hop with rap.

But this story is more about New Orleans Bounce Music which is pretty much the epitome of rap music. What Cohn does is brilliantly capture the intensity and magnetic draw of New Orleans for some of us while detailing the shallow, live for today,misogynist, materialist, gold toothed, and often deadly life style of
those that create bounce music.

But the characters on the side lines ( not the male rappers)
are diverse an amazing including a progressive rapper/ grade school teacher named Junie B.

Tricksta was written before Katrina, therefore Cohn added an "after word" which is more of an addendum to the book following up on how his beloved New Orleans and the characters in his book have fared during and after the storm.

I was going to give this book three stars, but Cohn deserves another star for taking on this subject in both deed( as a producer) and writer and running with it.

I think he deserves the "My N----" status!

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nik Cohn is a pop music writer and critic in the hyperbolic Lester Bangs style. This slender book is as much a memoir as it is a survey of New Orleans hip hop. Much of the memoir concerns Cohn's regrets about getting older, getting whiter, and getting left behind by the culture around him, and those regrets leak into his despairing chronicle of the ways rampant gang violence destroys local talents like Souljah Slim before they even reach their prime. Apparently the Crescent City took to hip hop late, and the local product is almost exclusively dick-swinging gangsta rap, which I get tired of pretty quickly. I gave it an extra star for the name-checks of New Orleans rappers, but I learned less about the city's music than I did about Cohn's old girlfriends and how he used to hang out with the Who.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

To tell the truth, I'm not sure what to think about this book. At first, I was really into it, then I felt like I was just trying to get to the end, and now, after a week, I can't stop thinking about it. Nick Cohn's descriptions of New Orleans was spot on, and the stories of these rappers were both heartbreaking, and uplifting. I think I should probably add another star to my review at some point.

[Kent · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting if meandering book. The writer comes off as a cranky, older man trying to make a rap album in NOLA, which in itself makes for an odd perspective. I never got the feeling he really knew what he was talking about as far as what was hot. I think he both misses the boat on hip hop culture and nails it throughout this book though, and that provokes some interesting thoguht and discussion.

[erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's hard for me to imagine some middle-aged white dude breaking into the new orleans rap scene, but it's fascinating to read about. even though i lived in new orleans for two years, i still know shockingly little about bounce. i'm definitely trying to make up for lost time here and nik cohn is a pretty good guide.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Music subcultures are an obsession with me. I read an excerpt from this in Da Capo's 2002 best-of music writing compilation, and was hooked. Cohn gets gets too involved with his subjects for my tastes -- I honestly prefer him as an observer -- but "Triksta" is fascinating as it looks into a music scene that's off the map for most people. The post-Katrina update was nessecary as well.

[Josie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is good as a memoir, piecemeal as a book about New Orleans Bounce. There is a weird current of subtle racism running through it, not surprising I guess since the book is written by a 65-year-old white Brittish dude.

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grandpa is in the rap game. It's dope. I mean it's hot. Nah...it's cold.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love reading anything about NOLA, but the flip side to this is that I'm highly critical. This book seemed wildly problematic to me. Especially pre-K. Hmmm. Maybe I should reread it.

[Chris C]

an old, white dude that loves rap, and not in that annoying hip college professor way.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Cohn is hysterical and I thought the premise was really interesting. Made me want to be a music journalist.

[Darrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

a debilitated British rock journalist relocates to New Orleans to become a rap record producer/promoter and does profiles of artists, techs and neighborhoods

[Erin]

chapter on juvenile? i'm all over it.

[Ali Mills · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have made an enemy. this author deserves to be publicly humiliated. in a walking-into-class-naked kind of way. or worse. the last sentence of the book is "new orleans is dead."

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellently written account of almost the last guy you would expect to become a New Orleans mobo producer. Funny and insightful.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read despite the author being so ornery and pessimistic. Can definitely tell its a pre-Katrina perspective.

[Wood G]

not read yet

[Maegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

chop chop choppa style back dat azz up DANNNGER!