Ruminations
ISBN 9781566492744 (hardcover)
Published in June 2003
MSRP $25.00
Available from:
"Hip-Hop's primary culture-keeper; Brilliant, thought-provoking, humorous and contradicting. When it comes to this strange animale called Hiphop, KRS-ONE remains its most trusted guardian, preserver and spokesman."
- Blackbeat
- Blackbeat
"If anyone could bring the fractious Hiphop nation together, it would be KRS-ONE. His work continues to represent Hiphop's beginnings.
Ruminations includes a full-length audio CD featuring a selection of KRS-ONE's lectures and spoken-word poetry, introduced by Dr. Cornel West.
The ascent of KRS-ONE (Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone) from homeless street kid to rap revolutionary to acclaimed lecturer, metaphysician, and intellectual is the stuff of Hiphop legend. With Boogie Dow Productions and as a solo artist, KRS-ONE has played a crucial role throughout his career in bringing a social and political conscience to Hiphop, through such ground-breaking albums as By All Means Necessary, Criminal Minded, Edutainment, and Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hiphop.
KRS-ONE is also one of the most important and relevant figures in African-American and Hiphop culture today. The keynote speaker at the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame's historic conference in 1999 entitled Hiphop: A Cultural Expression, KRS-ONE has organized and lectured at similar conferences at the United Nations and one campuses around the U.S., including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and UCLA. He also founded the Stop the Violence Movement, HEAL (Human Education Against Lies), served as a spokesperson for the American Library Association's literacy programs, and his latest effect, the Temple of Hiphop, is an organization with over 25,000 members that aspires to define, promote and preserve Hiphop culture and lifestyle.
In Ruminations, KRS-ONE's very first trade book, he reflects as only he can on a remarkable range of topics, including the past, present, and future of Hiphop, the most glaring challenges facing the music industry, the undeniable influence of African-American and urban culture on mainstream America, and the discipline and knowledge needed by today's Hiphop artists to make it in a world where the odds are stacked against them. In fluid prose imbued with unwavering honesty"
- Philadelphia Daily News
Ruminations includes a full-length audio CD featuring a selection of KRS-ONE's lectures and spoken-word poetry, introduced by Dr. Cornel West.
The ascent of KRS-ONE (Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone) from homeless street kid to rap revolutionary to acclaimed lecturer, metaphysician, and intellectual is the stuff of Hiphop legend. With Boogie Dow Productions and as a solo artist, KRS-ONE has played a crucial role throughout his career in bringing a social and political conscience to Hiphop, through such ground-breaking albums as By All Means Necessary, Criminal Minded, Edutainment, and Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hiphop.
KRS-ONE is also one of the most important and relevant figures in African-American and Hiphop culture today. The keynote speaker at the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame's historic conference in 1999 entitled Hiphop: A Cultural Expression, KRS-ONE has organized and lectured at similar conferences at the United Nations and one campuses around the U.S., including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and UCLA. He also founded the Stop the Violence Movement, HEAL (Human Education Against Lies), served as a spokesperson for the American Library Association's literacy programs, and his latest effect, the Temple of Hiphop, is an organization with over 25,000 members that aspires to define, promote and preserve Hiphop culture and lifestyle.
In Ruminations, KRS-ONE's very first trade book, he reflects as only he can on a remarkable range of topics, including the past, present, and future of Hiphop, the most glaring challenges facing the music industry, the undeniable influence of African-American and urban culture on mainstream America, and the discipline and knowledge needed by today's Hiphop artists to make it in a world where the odds are stacked against them. In fluid prose imbued with unwavering honesty"
- Philadelphia Daily News
Without question, Ruminations is powerful, intelligent, insightful, and profound. Regardless of whether or not you agree with KRS-ONE's analysis, you must certainly appreciate that there is a profound mind at work, and a definitive spirit that is searching to discover what is right and exact. For me, this book represents one bold, blue spark for this generation.
-From the foreword by Tavis Smiley
-From the foreword by Tavis Smiley