A Hip-Hop Story

by Heru Ptah

The first novel to truly capture the fast and furious world of hip-hop—one in which the line between art and life is blurred for two ambitious MCs whose battle to be #1 is fought with weapons and words.

Rappers Flawless and Hannibal are two talented young men moving toward the same To be the best, take over the world, see the big picture, and become the most respected rap artists of their generation. Along the way, they battle the business of mainstream hip-hop, industry honchos, crazy fans, and—most of all—each other.

Caught up in their intense rivalry are Erika, Flawless's sister, and Micah, Hannibal's protegé, who are two young lovers with loyalties toward each rapper that threaten to ruin their future together. A vivid journey through the underworld of urban music, it is a West Side Story remixed to the movement of hip-hop; a story of desire and dreams, all tied to the beat of hip-hop eternal.

Genres: Music

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

New York City Project residents Flawless and Hannibal have a huge rap battle where a recording contract is the big prize, this book follows both the winner and the loser as their battling days feed over into their recording contracts and later celebrity statuses in this book that was unjustly billed as 'the first novel to truly capture the fast and furious world of hip hop'.

In a book chock full of clichés, limited one-dimensional characterisations and banal plotting the only redeeming light as its judgment on how established record companies treat rap acts. If you're looking for the inside of the rap game, I don't feel that this is it! 4 out of 12.

2022 read

[Sterling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read various kinds of book, and found Ptah's writing to be very unique from all the others. I mean, one of my favorite all time writers are the Bronte sisters-which is old english writing-and I also ended up loving the way Ptah wrote in a poetic prose. It is clear that he studied Shakespeare and respects all the people he made references to in his book. As far as describing the hip-hop culture, I thought it was excellently executed. The transitions from cultural lingo to deep thought and reflections of the characters honestly reminded me of Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God"; the same way that she goes back and forth between slang and beautiful writing. "A Hip-Hop Story" is written about the 90's invasion of hip-hop and reflects perfectly the ideal storytelling of this generation's movement.

[Melloways · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually went to school with the guy who wrote this book. And I didn't know him as Heru Ptah. I know him as Henry Richards. That's what his mom named him and that's what I'm gonna call him...ha ha. But seriously, Henry is a very talented young man. I can still remember some of the poetry performances we had at SUNY Oswego. This guy is truly amazing. All the girls were trying to give it up too...But not I...tee hee hee. I remember he had one poem that began. It was the cunning cunt that conned me. Everybody was like: Oh snap!! Ah memories.

[Robert Cruz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took a chance with this book. I love old school hip-hop so i decided to actually pick up a copy of this book. I assumed this book would have showed the dark side of the music business and how it affected popular hip-hop artists. All i know is that the profanity and the cheap details wasnt worth my time. I recommend to true lovers of music to at least attempt reading this story. True rivalary enters.

[Irina slutsky · Rating 1 out of 5]

turns out this author's real name is henry richards, that's what his mother named him. he is at best a sophomoric writer -- i mean, he used words like "plethora" and not as a joke. it's like when you're in tenth grade and you have to use a list of weird vocab words in your story and you try really hard to get them all used. also, the characters were not human, they were like caricatures of people he thought sounded like characters in a book.

[V. M. King-yarde · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first came across this novel, it doesn't have the current cover and it's one of those books that found me... literally. I purchased this book directly from the author while he was pitching it on the train. At first, I've done it strictly to support (I liked his hustle) but then when I started to read it, it was a page-turner. It had in-depth characters with a story that is obviously influenced by a familiar beef in Hip-Hop. Also, there were a few sub-plots that tied everything together in the end.

[Lola · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm still not sure how, but this story completely engaged me. i fell in love with the characters, the setting, the authenticity of the urban culture and especially the creativity of the writing. There is so much more that i loved about this book but i can't remember in detail since i read it so long ago. I'm ususally not into the urban fiction genre becauase of the horrible writting style most of them contain but this novel was so eloquently written that it was a challenge not to love it.

[Kadea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to get into this book, as I love hip hop and love reading books about the genre. Sadly though, I just couldn't get through this book! I made it to chapter six before growing tired of this author's writing style. He tried his best to squeeze as many "smart sounding" words as he could into a sentece and the majority were totally out of context. I found myself re-writing the sentences for clarity rather than enjoying the book. It became distracting!

[Adrienna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read almost half of the book, and could not get into it. I know there were rap session in the book too...to get a feel of the title of the story, but the romance part sucked for me. I did not finish it, but it was enough to read over a 100 pages and skimming a lot. Time to put the book down since I had many others to read.

[Ms. Independent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book with many allusions that make you think about today's hip hop society. I love the lyrics\poetry in this book. Some of the events are truly thought provoking and it's so much more than just a story.

[Lanetta Dickens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comes to show that hip hop beef is just a wate of time

[Shannon Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I remember reading this in high school and absolutely loving it. I'd have to read it again to give a better review.

[Sheena · Rating 1 out of 5]

I made it to page 55 before I had to finally give up. This book is too slow moving and there's nothing to keep you interested.