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February 05, 2004

THE LATEST "LIT" - STREET LIT

About a week ago, NPR ran a story (scroll down) on the emerging form "street lit" - Dr. Wife pointed out at the time it would make a worthy blog item. She was quite right, and I am reminded to do so by this item in The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

"It's a category that recalls books like the classic blaxploitation fiction by authors Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim that was influential during the 1970s, when films such as 'Superfly' and 'Coffy' were popular," Reed says.

The subject matter is the same -- hustlers, pimps and drug dealers -- but this new generation of books is influenced by "gangsta rap" and hip-hop music, Reed says. Many of the books are self-published and sold by street vendors in New York.

Posted by TEV at 12:30 AM |

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