Will Smith: A Biography of a Rapper Turned Movie Star (African-American Icons)

From silly kid to Grammy-winning rapper, Will Smith has taken the fast track to superstardom. His popular rap music opened doors for Smith...

3:36 PM

The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double-Consciousness

Afrocentrism. Eurocentrism. Caribbean Studies. British Studies. To the forces of cultural nationalism hunkered down in their camps, this b...

9:15 AM

Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office

"I'm not a businessman-I'm a business, man." --Jay-Z Some people think Jay-Z is just another rapper. Others see him as...

3:38 PM

Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix (Penguin Studio Books)

Often cited as one of the most innovative and influential rock musicians, guitar legend Jimi Hendrix had a short and turbulent life, succ...

1:34 PM

When Music Migrates: Crossing British and European Racial Faultlines,1945-2010

When Music Migrates uses rich material to examine the ways that music has crossed racial faultlines that have developed in the post-Secon...

9:08 AM

The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed

Here's what The Rap Year Book does: It takes readers from 1979, widely regarded as the moment rap became recognized as part of the cu...

12:01 PM

George Clinton: The Cosmic Odyssey of Dr Funkenstein

The first in-depth biography of one of music’s most fascinating, colourful and innovative characters. The definitive history of the last...

5:10 AM

Inside A Thug's Heart

Rikers Island is the centerpiece of the New York City Department of Corrections, a sprawling prison city of concrete and steel with hous...

5:31 AM

Fela: Kalakuta Notes

Fela: Kalakuta Notes is an evocative account of Fela Kuti the Afrobeat superstar who took African music into the arena of direct action. ...

6:12 AM

Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music

For almost half a century, Amiri Baraka has ranked among the most important commentators on African American music and culture. In this b...

9:30 AM

After the Dance: My Life with Marvin Gaye

A riveting cautionary tale about the ecstasy and dangers of loving Marvin Gaye, a performer passionately pursued by all—and a searing mem...

9:55 AM

Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation

From Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson of the award-winning hip-hop group the Roots, comes this vibrant book commemorating the legacy ...

9:52 AM

The Black Musician and the White City: Race and Music in Chicago,1900-1967

Amy Absher’s The Black Musician and the White City tells the story of African American musicians in Chicago during the mid-twentieth cent...

7:53 AM

How It Feels to Be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil RightsMovement

In 1964, Nina Simone sat at a piano in New York's Carnegie Hall to play what she called a "show tune." Then she began to sin...

6:37 AM

Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane

Alice Coltrane was a composer, improviser, guru, and widow of John Coltrane. Over the course of her musical life, she synthesized a wide r...

6:30 AM

A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race And The Soul Of America

A Change is Gonna Come chronicles more than forty years of black music: from the hopeful, angry refrains of the Freedom movement to the sl...

10:29 AM

Oscar Peterson: The Man and His Jazz

Called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, r...

8:14 AM

Fela: This Bitch of a Life

African superstar, composer, singer, and musician, as well as mystic and political activist, Nigerian Fela Kuti, born in 1938, was controv...

3:32 PM

Incredible African-American Jazz Musicians

Readers will learn about a variety of African American jazz musicians including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy G...

9:35 AM

Rihanna: The Only Girl In The World

Multi-award-winning artist and indisputable queen of R&B Rihanna is one of the most recognizable and successful singers in the world, ...

7:08 AM