The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness

*Finalist for the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism*

*A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Literary Criticism and Essays Pick for Spring 2012*

The Grey Album, the first work of prose by the brilliant poet Kevin Young, winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize

Taking its title from Danger Mouse's pioneering mashup of Jay-Z's The Black Album and the Beatles' The White Album, Kevin Young's encyclopedic book combines essay, cultural criticism, and lyrical choruses to illustrate the African American tradition of lying--storytelling, telling tales, fibbing, improvising, "jazzing." What emerges is a persuasive argument for the many ways that African American culture is American culture, and for the centrality of art--and artfulness--to our daily life. Moving from gospel to soul, funk to freestyle, Young sifts through the shadows, the bootleg, the remix, the grey areas of our history, literature, and music.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 03/13/2012
ISBN: 9781555976071
Pages: 476
Weight: 1.67lbs
Size: 9.03h x 6.04w x 1.40d
Award: National Book Critics Circle Award - Finalist
Award: Literary Award - Winner

Review Citations: Library Journal 10/15/2011 pg. 63
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2012
Publishers Weekly 01/09/2012 pg. 43
Booklist 02/01/2012 pg. 23
Foreword 02/29/2012
Shelf Awareness 03/16/2012
New York Times Book Review 04/22/2012 pg. 15
New York Times Book Review 04/29/2012 pg. 22
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/02/2012 pg. 26