Turns Out Michael Chabon Is a Huge Hip-Hop Nerd
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| MIchael Chabon, wishing he was bangin' some Wu-Tang |
The nifty gig also revealed perhaps one of the lesser known facets of the man -- he's a hip-hop nerd.
Really.
After casually mentioning that his upcoming book will revolve heavily around a fictional Berkeley record store, Chabon goes on to talk about how, after years of not listening to hip-hop, he rediscovered his love for the genre while researching publications such as Wax Poetics for the new novel.
Right now I listen to almost nothing else. New stuff, though a lot of the rhymes sound kind of broken, the synth-strings tinged with cheese. Old stuff, especially, as my first post suggested, Eric B. and Rakim. But especially especially, the stuff that happened in between. All the legendary violence and flow that came to pass after I left, East Coast-West Coast. The weird incantations of MF Doom. Tupac, Biggie Smalls. Wu Tang. People Under The Stairs. Common. Late De La. And all the intricate, memory-laced work of the late J Dilla, which enriches my life now almost every day.Not a bad list at all. But if a man on a hip-hop binge who is writing a book that takes place in Berkeley doesn't work a Lil B reference in there somewhere (anywhere!), I'll be deeply saddened.
In any case, be sure to read the entire post, which plays out not only as a love letter to hip-hop, but to the concept of nostaligia in general.
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