Download or read book The Rise Of A Dope Boy Chick written by Shontaiye Moore and published by . This book was released on 2020-02-27 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cole Hart Signature's new author, Shontaiye Moore debuts her new series, The Rise Of A Dope Boy Chick. This gripping, African American Urban drama will leave you speechless...Every girl wonders what it's like to be a dope boy's girl. From the money and cars, to the glitz and glamour; being in love with a dope boy is a hood fairy tale. It was all fun and games for twenty-one-year-old Asia until the heartbreaking losses started piling up. Mitch was her ticket away from her family and into the good life, or so she thought. After several years of carefree living, he is snatched up and handed a devastating thirty-year prison sentence; life immediately changes for her. She quickly finds herself penniless, all alone and back at home with a baby to care for.With her rare beauty, it doesn't take long before Asia catches the eye of an up-and-coming hustler named Waleek. He quickly snatches her up and returns her to her accustomed lifestyle. Although Waleek takes away all her financial worries, he replaces them with a different set of burdens. Between his crazy baby mama and the secret he's keeping that can dismantle his budding drug empire, their relationship seems destined to fail from the start. Can they survive and beat the odds stacked against them?Just when things with Waleek get crazy, Mitch sends one of his associates to help Asia create the life she's always dreamed about for her son. Under Mitch's guidance, she's learning to stand on her own, but also finding that she's feeling more than friendship for the person he sent to help her. With her heart torn between the men, can she keep it together and play the game by the rules?This explosive, fast-paced, initial installment will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Despite the losses and setbacks, nothing can stop The Rise Of A Dope Boy's Chick!

Download or read book I Know This Much Is True written by Wally Lamb and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-06-03 with total page 884 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.

Download or read book Son of a Dope Fiend written by Renta and published by . This book was released on 2019-10-27 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: MESSIAH didn't choose the streets, the streets chose him. Being the SON OF A DOPE FIEND didn't make life easy for him, but his drug addicted mother definitely schooled him on the ways of women. The rest of the game was taught to him by MAXWELL, a street savvy hustler with supreme knowledge of life. Equipped with the mind of a hustla and the heart of a savage, all it took for the youngin' to soar was a boss chick by his side. The moment he met JUSTICE, a Trinidadian beauty who knew her worth, nothing could deny Messiah his rightful place in the game. As the soulmates ascend to the top, money, women, and jealousy shake their foundation. Can their bond survive the missteps that comes with the griminess of the streets? Will Messiah remain true to the one who is true to him? Or will Justice be driven to cross him? When his high level of success brings about many dangerous adversaries, Messiah must react with intelligence and cold-blooded finality in order to protect his assets and his kingdom. But will he have enough power to withstand the heavy artillery that's been mounted up to bring him down?

Download or read book Dapper Dan Made in Harlem written by Daniel R. Day and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Dapper Dan is a legend, an icon, a beacon of inspiration to many in the Black community. His story isn’t just about fashion. It’s about tenacity, curiosity, artistry, hustle, love, and a singular determination to live our dreams out loud.”—Ava DuVernay, director of Selma, 13th, and A Wrinkle in Time NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY VANITY FAIR • DAPPER DAN NAMED ONE OF TIME’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD With his now-legendary store on 125th Street in Harlem, Dapper Dan pioneered high-end streetwear in the 1980s, remixing classic luxury-brand logos into his own innovative, glamorous designs. But before he reinvented haute couture, he was a hungry boy with holes in his shoes, a teen who daringly gambled drug dealers out of their money, and a young man in a prison cell who found nourishment in books. In this remarkable memoir, he tells his full story for the first time. Decade after decade, Dapper Dan discovered creative ways to flourish in a country designed to privilege certain Americans over others. He witnessed, profited from, and despised the rise of two drug epidemics. He invented stunningly bold credit card frauds that took him around the world. He paid neighborhood kids to jog with him in an effort to keep them out of the drug game. And when he turned his attention to fashion, he did so with the energy and curiosity with which he approaches all things: learning how to treat fur himself when no one would sell finished fur coats to a Black man; finding the best dressed hustler in the neighborhood and converting him into a customer; staying open twenty-four hours a day for nine years straight to meet demand; and, finally, emerging as a world-famous designer whose looks went on to define an era, dressing cultural icons including Eric B. and Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa, Big Daddy Kane, Mike Tyson, Alpo Martinez, LL Cool J, Jam Master Jay, Diddy, Naomi Campbell, and Jay-Z. By turns playful, poignant, thrilling, and inspiring, Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem is a high-stakes coming-of-age story spanning more than seventy years and set against the backdrop of an America where, as in the life of its narrator, the only constant is change. Praise for Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem “Dapper Dan is a true one of a kind, self-made, self-liberated, and the sharpest man you will ever see. He is couture himself.”—Marcus Samuelsson, New York Times bestselling author of Yes, Chef “What James Baldwin is to American literature, Dapper Dan is to American fashion. He is the ultimate success saga, an iconic fashion hero to multiple generations, fusing street with high sartorial elegance. He is pure American style.”—André Leon Talley, Vogue contributing editor and author

Download or read book So Deep in My Feelings written by Shan and published by . This book was released on 2019-06-17 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 18- year old Cioni CiCi Lee was just your ordinary around the way girl. With a young mother for an example, Cioni was easily influenced by the neighborhood and things going on around her. Her and her best friends Ali, and Madden loved chilling on the stoop, attending house parties, and just doing the regular teenage things. Growing up in the hood with messed up parents was the one thing that brought them all together. Products of their environments, each girl is forced to figure their way through life, not every choice a good one. Even with their circumstances, Ali, Madden, and Cioni all have a bond was always unbreakable, and nothing could and would ever come between them. Not even boys...well...There was one boy... one who is now a man and the man in the streets-Knowledge. Cioni had always had her eyes on him, but Madden was always the bold one and had eventually scored him first. Cioni was always the one that was overlooked due to her shy girl ways and not knowing her beauty and worth. She was always in last place, but what she doesn't know was that she was actually the hood's gem.Knowledge "Ledge" Armstrong; at an early age always knew that he was a king. With his brother Wisdom Wiz" Armstrong and cousin Major Armstrong by his side, the heroin game was readily theirs for the taking. With a knack for hustling and swagger out of this world, Ledge manages to move him and his family out of the hood, eventually bringing his girlfriend Madden along all off the strength of his hustle. Life is sweet, and then life has its problems especially when money is involved. Soon, Ledge quickly realizes that the girl he picked out the crowd was the wrong one and now has his eyes set on Cioni. With Cioni refusing to break the girl code, Ledge stops at nothing to have her. It doesn't take long before he has her so deep in her feelings, and unable to escape them. With the two of them having love, and optimism nothing could come between them, right? But when reality of their consequences are brought to the light, will it be enough to break them apart?Ali Morris was dealt a bad hand like a lot of kids around the way. Her mother a junkie, and her father absent, Ali only knew to get it by any means necessary. Her by any means necessary lands her in a predicament that ultimately has her back against the wall. Forced to make a decision to choose her life or HIS, she definitely chooses hers. Choosing her life sent her spiraling out of control with only one thing that could save her...love. Love from Wisdom comes at just right the time, but will it be enough to keep her from going down a path of destruction.

Download or read book Geek Love written by Katherine Dunn and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-05-25 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Book Award Finalist • Here is the unforgettable story of the Binewskis, a circus-geek family whose matriarch and patriarch have bred their own exhibit of human oddities—with the help of amphetamines, arsenic, and radioisotopes. One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years Their offspring include Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family’s most precious—and dangerous—asset. As the Binewskis take their act across the backwaters of the U.S., inspiring fanatical devotion and murderous revulsion; as its members conduct their own Machiavellian version of sibling rivalry, Geek Love throws its sulfurous light on our notions of the freakish and the normal, the beautiful and the ugly, the holy and the obscene. Family values will never be the same.

Download or read book A Dopeboy s Prayer written by Eddie Wolf Lee and published by . This book was released on 2018-04-06 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When a bloody war between rival gangs claim dozens of lives on both sides, leaving both crews short on street soldiers, the gangs' leaders turn to desperate recruitment measures to reinforce their troops. Only days after clicking up with their hood team, young ZEP and TISO find themselves on the frontline of a battle that's sure to earn the city of Chicago the infamous title of Murder Capital. Zep and Tiso didn't start the street war, but their acumen for murder might very well eliminate the competition. In the city dubbed Chi-Raq, the two best friends quickly rise up the nefarious ranks of gang life, where money and death go hand in hand. But will their reign be short-lived? Or will A DOPEBOY'S PRAYER to escape the pitfalls of that life be answered? Nothing besides heartache and spilled blood is guaranteed on the city's cold and brutal streets. And when a well-connected drug dealer's mother is tortured, robbed and murdered, the atrocity leads to an all-out quest for vengeance with an unwitting Zep placed as a high value target on the kill list. Will Zep learn early and fast enough to enable him to survive against all odds? Or will he meet his demise by a burst of deadly gunfire.

Download or read book The Dopefiend written by JaQuavis Coleman and published by Urban Books. This book was released on 2012-08-15 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part 2 of the Dopeman's Trilogy, JaQuavis Coleman chillingly chronicles the life and crimes of Harlem resident Hazel Brown, as she rises to the highest highs and spirals into an inevitable, devastating downfall. Hazel has nothing and no one in her life; the only thing she "owns" is an insatiable addiction to heroin. Her addiction brings her to the slums, where she quickly learns the tricks of surviving—of hustling and getting her street smarts. She'll do anything to feed her habit, even if that means robbing and conning and selling her own body. Yet no matter how much heroin she does, the pain that's cut so deep within her never goes away in this story so intimate and compellingly written, you'll feel like you're walking in her shoes.

Download or read book Barbie Benz 4 written by Princess Diamond and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-03-15 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bestselling Author Princess Diamond brings The Series Finale Barbie & Benz 4. The Plot Thickens Bad Guys Exposed Emotionally Draining Benz has to fight his way through the legal system. His name doesn't ring bells in jail like it did when he was in the streets. He has to find creative ways to get what he wants on the inside. Also, he is having trouble retaining a great lawyer. The task is nearly impossible due to his not guilty plea. Will Benz beat his case, or will he end up in jail for life for Archie's murder? Barbie is already dealing with a lot. Life is hard being a jailbird's wife. As if that wasn't enough, she has to fight for her career too. Her boss doesn't have faith in her ability to sell houses after she returns from medical leave. All of her cases were given to her back-biting cousin Jakoda. Between rushing back and forth to court to support Benz and fighting for her clientele, Barbie is completely burned out. Will Barbie's stress cause her to lose the baby? Corset finds herself at a crossroads. She has to make a life- changing decision and her mother is not supportive. To her surprise, Cake is there for her, but she's not sure if he will be around for the long haul. To protect her heart, she keeps him at arm's length, pushing him away most of the time. Will Corset finally let her guard down and let Cake in? Cake is suffering from an injury that he sustained from the kid-napping. He is not sure why his arm won't heal properly. After visiting a doctor, he finds out that his pain is more mental than physical. His past and present has collided. He must face the one thing that hurts him the most if he intends to be whole again. In the final installment, everything comes full circle. Read this ex-plosive African American Urban Drama. One Click Barbie & Benz 4 Now.

Download or read book Craving a Rich Thug 2 written by Lakia and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Just when you think you know everything, you don't!! Blinders will be fully off and the aftermath will not be pretty. After the very explosive ending in part one, book two doesn't shortchange and serves up more devastation in its quake. After informing Glee about her pregnancy and working through their issues, the couple's reunion is short-lived, shattering their plans and turning their world upside down. With confusion on both of their sides, Tenley and Glee are left trying to figure out what’s going on and what happens next. Lance and Liam are known for their wild side and not caring about anything. Now that Lance is in a full blown relationship with Barbie, he quickly learns how fragile relationships can be. When their past pulls up on them, landing the twins in an outrageous position, fear and panic rise up in Lance like never before, causing him to worry about losing the one thing he cherishes most. Like the rhythm of the night, things done in the dark are definitely made clear in the daylight. Explosive secrets are detonating from everywhere. Buried truths are uncovered. Family dynamics are strained and breaking. Friendships are ruined and destroyed. And love is still being craved by those that falls victim to it. In this second installment of this smashing, head-spinning, and fiery African American hood story, the Mills family learns that control is not always theirs and that 'family over everything' has its limits"--Amazon.com.

Download or read book Fresh Off the Boat written by Eddie Huang and published by One World. This book was released on 2013-01-29 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOW AN ORIGINAL SERIES ON ABC • “Just may be the best new comedy of [the year] . . . based on restaurateur Eddie Huang’s memoir of the same name . . . [a] classic fresh-out-of-water comedy.”—People “Bawdy and frequently hilarious . . . a surprisingly sophisticated memoir about race and assimilation in America . . . as much James Baldwin and Jay-Z as Amy Tan . . . rowdy [and] vital . . . It’s a book about fitting in by not fitting in at all.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWS Assimilating ain’t easy. Eddie Huang was raised by a wild family of FOB (“fresh off the boat”) immigrants—his father a cocksure restaurateur with a dark past back in Taiwan, his mother a fierce protector and constant threat. Young Eddie tried his hand at everything mainstream America threw his way, from white Jesus to macaroni and cheese, but finally found his home as leader of a rainbow coalition of lost boys up to no good: skate punks, dealers, hip-hop junkies, and sneaker freaks. This is the story of a Chinese-American kid in a could-be-anywhere cul-de-sac blazing his way through America’s deviant subcultures, trying to find himself, ten thousand miles from his legacy and anchored only by his conflicted love for his family and his passion for food. Funny, moving, and stylistically inventive, Fresh Off the Boat is more than a radical reimagining of the immigrant memoir—it’s the exhilarating story of every American outsider who finds his destiny in the margins. Praise for Fresh Off the Boat “Brash and funny . . . outrageous, courageous, moving, ironic and true.”—New York Times Book Review “Mercilessly funny and provocative, Fresh Off the Boat is also a serious piece of work. Eddie Huang is hunting nothing less than Big Game here. He does everything with style.”—Anthony Bourdain “Uproariously funny . . . emotionally honest.”—Chicago Tribune “Huang is a fearless raconteur. [His] writing is at once hilarious and provocative; his incisive wit pulls through like a perfect plate of dan dan noodles.”—Interview “Although writing a memoir is an audacious act for a thirty-year-old, it is not nearly as audacious as some of the things Huang did and survived even earlier. . . . Whatever he ends up doing, you can be sure it won’t look or sound like anything that’s come before. A single, kinetic passage from Fresh Off the Boat . . . is all you need to get that straight.”—Bookforum

Download or read book Girlhood written by Melissa Febos and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Book Critics Circle Award Winner National Bestseller Lambda Literary Award Finalist NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY TIME * NPR * The Washington Post * Kirkus Reviews * Washington Independent Review of Books * The Millions * Electric Literature * Ms Magazine * Entropy Magazine * Largehearted Boy * Passerbuys “Irreverent and original.” –New York Times “Magisterial.” –The New Yorker “An intoxicating writer.” –The Atlantic “A classic!” –Mary Karr “A true light in the dark.” –Stephanie Danler “An essential, heartbreaking project.” –Carmen Maria Machado A gripping set of stories about the forces that shape girls and the adults they become. A wise and brilliant guide to transforming the self and our society. In her powerful new book, critically acclaimed author Melissa Febos examines the narratives women are told about what it means to be female and what it takes to free oneself from them. When her body began to change at eleven years old, Febos understood immediately that her meaning to other people had changed with it. By her teens, she defined herself based on these perceptions and by the romantic relationships she threw herself into headlong. Over time, Febos increasingly questioned the stories she'd been told about herself and the habits and defenses she'd developed over years of trying to meet others' expectations. The values she and so many other women had learned in girlhood did not prioritize their personal safety, happiness, or freedom, and she set out to reframe those values and beliefs. Blending investigative reporting, memoir, and scholarship, Febos charts how she and others like her have reimagined relationships and made room for the anger, grief, power, and pleasure women have long been taught to deny. Written with Febos' characteristic precision, lyricism, and insight, Girlhood is a philosophical treatise, an anthem for women, and a searing study of the transitions into and away from girlhood, toward a chosen self.

Download or read book Penitentiary Tales written by Ea Luetkemeyer and published by . This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How an affluent, educated, straight white male from California survives a prison dominated by a diverse population of inmates from the mean streets of Chicago. Addressing issues of race and gender, it is at once a serious inquiry into the minds and hearts of the marginalized and the oppressed, and a bit of a romp.

Download or read book By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There written by Tom Sizemore and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-03 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the acclaimed actor's Hollywood career and struggles with methamphetamine addiction covers his Detroit background, his relationships with various co-stars, and his experiences as a father of twin boys.

Download or read book Clara Bow written by David Stenn and published by Cooper Square Press. This book was released on 2000-03-13 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hollywood's first sex symbol, the ' It ' girl, Clara Bow was born in the slums of Brooklyn in a family plagued with alcoholism and insanity. She catapulted to fame after winning Motion Picture magazine's 1921 " Fame and Fortune" contest. The greatest box-office draw of her day—she once received 45,000 fan letters in a single month, Clara Bow's on screen vitality and allure that beguiled thousands, however, would be her undoing off-camera. David Stenn captures her legendary rise to stardom and fall from grace, her success marred by studio exploitation and sexual scandals.

Download or read book The Big Sleep written by Raymond Chandler and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Download or read book Hip Hop in Houston written by Maco L. Faniel and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2013-07-30 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rap-A-Lot Records, U.G.K. (Pimp C and Bun B), Paul Wall, Beyonce, Chamillionaire and Scarface are all names synonymous with contemporary hip-hop. And they have one thing in common: Houston. Long before the country came to know the chopped and screwed style of rap from the Bayou City in the late 1990s, hip-hop in Houston grew steadily and produced some of the most prolific independent artists in the industry. With early roots in jazz, blues, R&B and zydeco, Houston hip-hop evolved not only as a musical form but also as a cultural movement. Join Maco L. Faniel as he uncovers the early years of Houston hip-hop from the music to the culture it inspired.