Daniel Levin Becker. What’s Good: Notes on Rap and Language. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 2022. 312p. Trade Paper. $22.95. (ISBN 978-0-87286-876-2).

Abstract

What’s Good: Notes on Rap and Language is a studied, well-researched, critical, and loving exploration of the wit, humor, nuance, intelligence, meaning-making, truth telling, occasional hyperbolic absurdity, and craft of the MC and, in turn, Hip Hop culture. Becker approaches the topic with the care, competence, and appreciation of a lifelong Hip Hop aficionado and, as a result, What’s Good is a remarkable achievement that deserves a place in any Hip Hop studies collection, just as it enjoys a spot on Virginia Tech Digging in the Crates: Hip Hop Studies’ True School Studios’ already crammed bookshelf.