The Plot Against Hip Hop

--Finalist for the 2012 NAACP Image Award in Literature

"George is an ace at interlacing the real dramas of the world . . . the book's slim length and flyweight depth could make it an artifact of this particular zeitgeist in American history. Playas and haters and celebrity cameos fuel a novel that is wickedly entertaining while being frozen in time." --Kirkus Reviews

"This hard-boiled tale is jazzed up with authentic street slang and name-dropping (Biggie, Mary J. Blige, Lil Wayne, and Chuck D) . . . George's tightly packaged mystery pivots on a believable conspiracy . . . and his street cred shines in his descriptions of Harlem and Brownsville's mean streets." --Library Journal

The Plot Against Hip Hop is a noir novel set in the world of hip hop culture. The stabbing murder of esteemed music critic Dwayne Robinson in a Soho office building is dismissed by the NYPD as a gang initiation. But his old friend, bodyguard/security expert D Hunter, suspects there's much more to his death. An old cassette tape, the theft of a manuscript Robinson was working on, and some veiled threats suggest there are larger forces at work.

D Hunter's investigation into his mentor's murder leads into a parallel history of hip hop, a place where renegade government agents, behind-the-scenes power brokers, and paranoid journalists know a truth that only a few hardcore fans suspect. This rewrite of hip hop history mixes real-life figures including Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Russell Simmons with characters pulled from the culture's hidden world, such as the Illuminati, FBI agents, and West Coast gangstas that roam the hard streets D Hunter walks down.

D Hunter is a tough, black-clad product of crime-ridden Brownsville, Brooklyn, a man whose family has been devastated by violence and who has dedicated himself to protecting people in an age of insecurity. Hunter has his own secrets, his own vulnerabilities, which he fights to overcome as he becomes a reluctant private eye. After reading The Plot Against Hip Hop, you'll never hear the music the same way.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd.
Published: 11/01/2011
ISBN: 9781617750243
Pages: 220
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.80w x 0.70d
Award: Shamus Award - Nominee

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 09/05/2011
Library Journal 10/01/2011 pg. 64
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2011
Essence 11/01/2011 pg. 74
Booklist 11/01/2011 pg. 28
Shelf Awareness 11/15/2011
Ebony 12/01/2011 pg. 44