Book of the Day – Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic
December 24, 2009 by Marc Lamont Hill
For many of us, Nas’s Illmatic is not only one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all-time, but one of the great artistic productions of the late 20th century. With the release of Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic, the album is finally getting the intellectual attention that it deserves. In the book, editors Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai have assembled a team of scholars, critics, and MCs to discuss the album and its broader impact on society. The list of contributors includes Michael Eric Dyson, Common, dream hampton, Mark Anthony Neal, Greg Tate, Imani Perry, Kyra Gaunt, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., James Braxton Peterson, Guthrie Ramsey Jr., and me. Check it out!
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3 Comments
1. Gabriel Bryant wrote:
This is a good look brother. This album definitely stays on repeat, still after 15 years. I’ll be picking up my copy this week.
December 30, 2009 @ 6:30 pm2. Ty Shelley wrote:
Finally! The greatest MC of all time is getting his due. Nas was so ahead of his time with Illmatic, which may be the greatest hip hop album ever. When I saw that it was a book about my boy n his 1st album, I smiled.
January 2, 2010 @ 6:03 pm3. Sandra wrote:
1. It feels good to be back.
2. I don’t see a suggestion box int he reading list, I know you’re busy and people probably have a thousand books that they think you’d be interested in………I’m about to be one of them.
I have a book suggestion.
The title of the book is called “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot. It’s been on the best seller list since it came out (I only say that, just in case you’ve heard of it, and it might jog a memory) in January. Ms. Skloot is making the round and she recently came to my campus. I read the book and I think it’s amazing. Henrietta Lacks was/is (depending on how you look at it) an African-American women who technically died in 1951 of an aggressive form of cervical cancer. What makes her significant is that the doctor who treated her at John Hopkins Hospital took a piece of that cancer without her knowledge, and those cells went on to become the first immortal human cells ever cultured. They’re known today as HeLa cells, and these cells have contributed to science in a way that no other cells have in science or human history. They were the cells that were used to help find the polio vaccine, they were the first human cells sent into space, the first cloned cells and MUCH more. There are now more of her cancer cells alive and multiplying now then were EVER in her body. Being a biology major this book has had a huge influence on me and I know that the HeLa cells will have a huge impact on my career. BTW, to add a twist, not only were the cells taken without her or her family’s knowledge, people have made MILLIONS of dollars off of these cells, and her family hasn’t seen a dime. In fact they can barely afford to go to the doctor themselves and didn’t even know that a part of their mother still existed outside of her body until about 20 YEARS LATER. This book is TRULY fascinating. I would like to know what you think. Again the title is “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot.
March 30, 2010 @ 11:34 amLeave a Reply

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