I rarely post comments on articles, I just read them.
NPR recently posted the story,
"Hip-Hop in Print: Brooklyn Publisher Looks to 'Reverse Gentrify' Literature. The story featured Street Lit. writer, Albert 'Prodigy' Johnson and his drive to publish books that change lives. He said,
"Writing lyrics, I pull from my real life," "A lot of
negativity that goes on in my world, in my neighborhood, with my
friends, negative things I had to deal with — I take that negative
energy and instead of doing something bad with it, I put it into my
music." You see, there are similarities between hip hop music and Street Lit, both are creative reflections of what the writers see and experience.
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| Author/Rapper Prodigy |
It's great that writers within the genre are finally getting the press coverage they deserve. What irks me is the inability or in some cases stupidity of some who comment on these article comment threads. Yes, there I said it....now I feel better. I know some of you are saying to yourself, what do you expect K.C.? Those who commented can comment easily behind a computer....that's true. I don't know what got into me, but I had to speak my mind too. Below is the comment I posted earlier this morning. You may not agree, but the least thing you can do is respect my view. Heck, NPR may not even post it, but I will here.
*Please note, since I reference the test scores at my school, I penned these comments under my school's blog name,
The Audacious Librarian.
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Below is the definition of Street Literature:
Contemporary
Street Literature can be defined as a literary genre "where the stories,
be they fiction or non-fiction, are consistently set in urban,
inner-city enclaves. Street Literature of yesteryear and today, by and
large, depicts tales about the daily lives of people living in lower
income city neighborhoods. This characteristic spans historical
timelines, varying cultural identifications, linguistic associations,
and various format designations."
- The Readers' Advisory Guide to Street Literature, by Dr. Vanessa Irvin Morris, 2011, p. 2.
What
people tend to forget is all stories have VALUE. Street Literature
writers view life from a different lens which reflect their communities
and life experiences. These writers represent of group of
people/stories which have historically been ignored by publishing
houses. Hence, this is why many of the writers began their careers
'self-publishing'. I believe the real reason why the discussion has
turned negative on this comment thread is that the stories represent
inner city America of which many of us escaped from. Remember, like
other writers that pen stories for other genres, writers write what
these see and experience. These stories make some of us uncomfortable
and in some cases , many of us cannot relate to what it is like to live
in these cities. My question to all of us is, 'Should the voices and
stories of those left behind in inner city America be ignored?' I don't
think so.
Public Enemy's Chuck D. said years ago,
“Rap is black America's CNN.” Yes, there are similarities to rap music
and Street Literature books. Serving as a Library Media Specialist in a
inner city school
in Chicago, I understand my students love for this
genre. I select books within the genre to meet students social and
emotional needs. Moreover, these stories are life lessons that teach
right from wrong and guide students in navigating life's challenges.
For the last ten years, I have used this genre to engage my non-reading
students to read consistently. The genre serves as a starting point out
of the gate for these struggling readers. Once they become interested
in reading, I introduce them to other genres with similar themes. What
often happens is my students become avid readers of all genres. They
continue to read Street Literature sometimes for class assignments and
often times for their own leisure reading enjoyment. Reading scores
have increased at my school since 2010 and the use of the Street
Literature genre is one of the main contributors to this success.
The voice of inner city America as retold by Street Literature writers
MUST be heard.
KC Boyd
The Audacious Librarian
http://theaudaciouslibrarian.blogspot.com
Source:
"Hip-Hop in Print: Brooklyn Publisher Looks to 'Reverse Gentrify' Literature.
by Baz Dreisinger
http://www.npr.org/2014/08/30/344046504/hip-hop-in-print-brooklyn-publisher-looks-to-reverse-gentrify-literature
The Readers' Advisory Guide to Street Literature, by Dr. Vanessa Irvin Morris, 2011, p. 2.
I love this meme because it fits clearly into my dissertation research. My heroes, W.E.B. DuBois and Frederick Douglass are both influencers of this theory. Here's a very brief excerpt from one of the papers I'm writing on systemic racism and the publishing world.
Here are my three simple steps:
