One of the most captivating and original collections of arts criticism ever written. * Orion *
Truly seminal * Jazzwise *
Required reading for music criticism fans. * Chicago Reader *
One of the godfathers of hip-hop journalism. * The Source *
A clinic on literary brilliance. -- Jelani Cobb
A singular voice, a fount of bravura essays on the fantastical creativity, determined resilience and wry paradoxes of Black creativity and life. * The New York Times *

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain't Worth Much, was named a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize, and was nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. His first collection of essays, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was named a book of the year by BuzzFeed, Esquire, NPR, O: The Oprah Magazine, Paste, CBC, The Los Angeles Review, Pitchfork, and Chicago Tribune, among others. His most recent book, A Little Devil In America, was the winner of the 2021 Gordon Burn Prize and the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.