A01=William Shaw
Author_William Shaw
Category=AVLP
Category=JBCC
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_music
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Product details
- ISBN 9780747552505
- Weight: 330g
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 05 Feb 2001
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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The phenomenal success of Los Angelinos like N.W.A, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Coolio, Snoop, Dr.Dre and Warren G. means that every block in Southcentral contains at least one boy who wants to be a rapper. "Westsiders" is a book about seven young men, all of whom are trying to make it in the rap business. It follows the changes in their musical and personal lives as they try and get shows, auditions, record demos in an increasingly shark-filled market-place. A few have been, or are, gang members. Some have straight jobs, others are drug dealers. Some have stable backgrounds, others were raised by grandparents, aunts or single mothers. Some love gangsta rap with a passion, and want to keep faith with it: others want to move on to something more positive. What they all share is the experience of growing up in a place that is far more violent than the one their parents grew up in. They have to navigate the loyalties of neighbourhood and friendship. All have lost close friends or relatives in the violence.
William Shaw has written two previous books: Travellers and Spying in Guru Land both published by Fourth Estate, and his work has appeared in many newspapers and magazines around the world including The Times, the Independent, Vogue, Tatler, GQ, Esquire and Cosmopolitan. He is a contributing editor of Arena in the UK and Details in the US.
