Sweat the Technique

Author: Rakim
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062850253
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
On the heels of Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize, as the world begins to recognize the creative side of Hip-Hop, comes a writing guide from a musician and "The greatest MC of all time," Rakim. The musician and Hip Hop legend—hailed as “the greatest MC of all time” and compared to Thelonious Monk—reimagines the writing handbook in this memoir and guide that incorporates the soulful genius, confidence, and creativity of a master artist. When he exploded on the music scene, musical genius Rakim was hailed for his brilliant artistic style, adding layers, complexity, depth, musicality, and soul to rap. More than anyone, Rakim has changed the way MCs rhyme. Calm on the mic, his words combine in a frenzy of sound, using complicated patterns based on multisyllabic rhymes and internal rhythms. Rakim can tell a story about a down-on-his-luck man looking for a job and turn it into an epic tale and an unforgettable rhyme. He is not just a great songwriter—he’s a great modern writer. Part memoir, part writing guide, Sweat the Technique offers insight into how Rakim thinks about words, music, writing, and rhyming as it teaches writers of all levels how to hone their craft. It is also a rare glimpse into Rakim’s private life, full of entertaining personal stories from his youth on Long Island growing up in a home and community filled with musiciansto the clubs of New York and the studios of Los Angeles during his rise to the top of popular music. Rakim celebrates the influences that shaped his development, including the jazz music of John Coltrane and the spirituality of the streets, and shares anecdotes spotlighting personalities such as L. L. Cool J. and Dr. Dre, among others. Filled with valuable lessons for every writer, Sweat the Technique reveals the heart and mind of an artist and his love for great storytelling, and always, the words.

Check the Technique

Author: Brian Coleman
Publisher: Villard
ISBN: 030749442X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 530

Book Description
A Tribe Called Quest • Beastie Boys • De La Soul • Eric B. & Rakim • The Fugees • KRS-One • Pete Rock & CL Smooth • Public Enemy • The Roots • Run-DMC • Wu-Tang Clan • and twenty-five more hip-hop immortals It’s a sad fact: hip-hop album liners have always been reduced to a list of producer and sample credits, a publicity photo or two, and some hastily composed shout-outs. That’s a damn shame, because few outside the game know about the true creative forces behind influential masterpieces like PE’s It Takes a Nation of Millions. . ., De La’s 3 Feet High and Rising, and Wu-Tang’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). A longtime scribe for the hip-hop nation, Brian Coleman fills this void, and delivers a thrilling, knockout oral history of the albums that define this dynamic and iconoclastic art form. The format: One chapter, one artist, one album, blow-by-blow and track-by-track, delivered straight from the original sources. Performers, producers, DJs, and b-boys–including Big Daddy Kane, Muggs and B-Real, Biz Markie, RZA, Ice-T, and Wyclef–step to the mic to talk about the influences, environment, equipment, samples, beats, beefs, and surprises that went into making each classic record. Studio craft and street smarts, sonic inspiration and skate ramps, triumph, tragedy, and take-out food–all played their part in creating these essential albums of the hip-hop canon. Insightful, raucous, and addictive, Check the Technique transports you back to hip-hop’s golden age with the greatest artists of the ’80s and ’90s. This is the book that belongs on the stacks next to your wax. “Brian Coleman’s writing is a lot like the albums he covers: direct, uproarious, and more than six-fifths genius.” –Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop “All producers and hip-hop fans must read this book. It really shows how these albums were made and touches the music fiend in everyone.” –DJ Evil Dee of Black Moon and Da Beatminerz “A rarity in mainstream publishing: a truly essential rap history.” –Ronin Ro, author of Have Gun Will Travel

Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists

Author: Sacha Jenkins
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1466866977
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 355

Book Description
Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists is more popular than racism! Hip hop is huge, and it's time someone wrote it all down. And got it all right. With over 25 aggregate years of interviews, and virtually every hip hop single, remix and album ever recorded at their disposal, the highly respected Ego Trip staff are the ones to do it. The Book of Rap Lists runs the gamut of hip hop information. This is an exhaustive, indispensable and completely irreverent bible of true hip hip knowledge.

Go to School, You're a Little Black Boy

Author: Lincoln Alexander
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 155488733X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 275

Book Description
The inspiring story of Lincoln Alexander, whose exemplary life has involved military service, a successful political career, a thriving law practice, and vocal advocacy.

No Sweat

Author: Michelle Segar
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 081443486X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 295

Book Description
Do you secretly hate exercising? Struggle to stick with a program? Millions of people try and fail to stay fit. But what if "exercising" is the real problem, not you? Motivation scientist and behavior expert Michelle Segar?translates years of research on exercise and motivation into a simple four-point program that will empower you to break the cycle of exercise failure once and for all. You'll discover why you should forget about willpower and stop gritting your teeth through workouts you hate. Instead, you'll become motivated from the inside out and start to crave physical activity. In No Sweat, Segar will help you find: A step-by-step program for staying encouraged to exercise Pleasure in physical activity Realistic ways to fit fitness into your life The success of the clients Segar has coached testifies to the power of her program. Their stories punctuate the book, entertaining and emboldening you to break the cycle of exercise failure once and for all. Practical, proven, and loaded with inspiring stories, No Sweat makes getting fit easier--and more fun--than you ever imagined. Get ready to embrace an active lifestyle that you'll love!

How to Rap 2

Author: Paul Edwards
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1613744048
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 252

Book Description
This sequel to How to Rap breaks down and examines techniques that have not previously been explained—such as triplets, flams, lazy tails, and breaking rhyme patterns. Based on interviews with hip-hop's most innovative artists and groups, including Tech N9ne, Crooked I, Pharcyde, Das EFX, Del the Funky Homosapien, and Big Daddy Kane, this book takes you through the intricacies of rhythm, rhyme, and vocal delivery, delving into the art form in unprecedented detail. It is a must-read for MCs looking to take their craft to the next level, as well as anyone fascinated by rapping and its complexity.

Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play

Author: Mahan Khalsa
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 144063291X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Book Description
The new way to transform a sales culture with clarity, authenticity, and emotional intelligence. Too often, the sales process is all about fear. Customers are afraid that they will be talked into making a mistake; salespeople dread being unable to close the deal and make their quotas. No one is happy. Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig offer a better way. Salespeople, they argue, do best when they focus 100 percent on helping clients succeed. When customers are successful, both buyer and seller win. When they aren't, both lose. It's no longer sufficient to get clients to buy; a salesperson must also help the client reduce costs, increase revenues, and improve productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction. This book shares the unique FranklinCovey Sales Performance Group methodology that will help readers: · Start new business from scratch in a way both salespeople and clients can feel good about · Ask hard questions in a soft way · Close the deal by opening minds

French Vintage Décor

Author: Jamie Lundstrom
Publisher:
ISBN: 1624145426
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 179

Book Description
Add That Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi to Your Home, Effortlessly Rustic and elegant French décor never goes out of style—and with easy yet sophisticated accessories for your home, these 70 projects will transform your space and add that special touch to any room. Jamie Lundstrom’s projects use easy-to-find and recycled objects, as well as new materials, to bring her French vintage style into your life. Projects span every season and category, from sewing to painting and upholstery, including provincial antique baskets, a fantastique Trumeau mirror, a jolie gold leaf frame, boutique plaster of Paris–dipped flowers and a chic antique chair. Featuring simple step-by-step instructions with beautiful photos to help guide you, these projects can be created in just a few hours or less.

JAY-Z

Author: Michael Eric Dyson
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 125027088X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
NOW A NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, AND PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY BESTSELLER "Dyson writes with the affection of a fan but the rigor of an academic. ... Using extensive passages from Jay-Z’s lyrics, 'Made in America' examines the rapper’s role as a poet, an aesthete, an advocate for racial justice and a business, man, but devotes much of its energy to Hova the Hustler." —Allison Stewart, The Washington Post "Dyson's incisive analysis of JAY-Z's brilliance not only offers a brief history of hip-hop's critical place in American culture, but also hints at how we can best move forward." —Questlove JAY-Z: Made in America is the fruit of Michael Eric Dyson’s decade of teaching the work of one of the greatest poets this nation has produced, as gifted a wordsmith as Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Rita Dove. But as a rapper, he’s sometimes not given the credit he deserves for just how great an artist he’s been for so long. This book wrestles with the biggest themes of JAY-Z's career, including hustling, and it recognizes the way that he’s always weaved politics into his music, making important statements about race, criminal justice, black wealth and social injustice. As he enters his fifties, and to mark his thirty years as a recording artist, this is the perfect time to take a look at JAY-Z’s career and his role in making this nation what it is today. In many ways, this is JAY-Z’s America as much as it’s Pelosi’s America, or Trump’s America, or Martin Luther King’s America. JAY-Z has given this country a language to think with and words to live by. Featuring a Foreword by Pharrell

The Art of Fire

Author: Daniel Hume
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473543940
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
Fire can fascinate, inspire, capture the imagination and bring families and communities together. It has the ability to amaze, energise and touch something deep inside all of us. For thousands of years, at every corner of the globe, humans have been huddling around fires: from the basic and primitive essentials of light, heat, energy and cooking, through to modern living, fire plays a central role in all of our lives. The ability to accurately and quickly light a fire is one of the most important skills anyone setting off on a wilderness adventure could possess, yet very little has been written about it. Through his narrative Hume also meditates on the wider topics surrounding fire and how it shapes the world around us.