A.D. Carson’s new book, Being Dope: Hip Hop and Theory through Mixtape Memoir, explores race, history and culture through music and storytelling.
Released by Oxford University Press on Dec. 10, Being Dope is a book that will challenge what you think you know about rap and rappers.
It is not a typical memoir, instead offering a deep dive into the music genre: history, hip hop scholarship, storytelling and theorizing through rap.
“I believe that the way we think about rappers, especially in the public imagination, really reduces the kind of important work that rap and rappers do especially given that it’s such a powerful tool,” Carson told AFP in a previous interview for Black History Month.
Dope is rooted in the experiences of Black people in the U.S., including histories of people treated as property, chattel, technology and the so-called war on drugs.
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New Dominion Bookshop will host a book reading and signing with Carson on Saturday, Jan. 24, starting at 7 p.m.
Carson is an award-winning performance artist, educator and associate professor of hip hop and the Global South at the University of Virginia.
His 2020 album, i used to love to dream, became the first rap album peer-reviewed by an academic press, and he previously submitted a full rap album as his PhD dissertation.
Carson’s work has been featured in Rolling Stone, NPR and The Washington Post.
The bookshop is located at 404 E Main St. in downtown Charlottesville.
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Crystal Graham
