Dr. Dre. Snoop Dogg. Ice Cube. Some of the biggest stars in hip hop made their careers in Los Angeles. And today there is a new generation of young; mostly black; men busting out rhymes and hoping to one day find themselves ldquo;blowinrsquo; uprdquo;mdash;getting signed to a record label and becoming famous. Many of these aspiring rappers get their start in Leimart Park; home to the legendary hip hop open-mic workshop Project Blowed. In Blowinrsquo; Up; Jooyoung Lee takes us deep inside Project Blowed and the surrounding music industry; offering an unparalleled look at hip hop in the making.While most books on rap are written from the perspective of listeners and the market; Blowinrsquo; Up looks specifically at the creative side of rappers. As Lee shows; learning how to rap involves a great deal of discipline; and it takes practice to acquire the necessary skills to put on a good show. Along with Leemdash;who is himself a pop-lockermdash;we watch as the rappers at Project Blowed learn the basics; from how to hold a microphone to how to control their breath amid all those words. And we meet rappers like E. Crimsin; Nocando; VerBS; and Flawliss as they freestyle and battle with each other. For the men at Project Blowed; hip hop offers a creative alternative to the gang lifestyle; substituting verbal competition for physical violence; and provides an outlet for setting goals and working toward them.Engagingly descriptive and chock-full of entertaining personalities and real-life vignettes; Blowinrsquo; Up not only delivers a behind-the-scenes view of the underground world of hip hop; but also makes a strong case for supporting the creative aspirations of young; urban; black men; who are often growing up in the shadow of gang violence and dead-end jobs.
#1597247 in eBooks 2016-03-20 2016-03-20File Name: B01D80W0NS
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