Jamison “Kango” Watts was once known as an invisible man, a quiet “fixer” who always got the job done with clean hands and cash in his pocket. Now he’s living the quiet life in DC, running a soul food restaurant and doing the occasional job to scratch his old itch. All that changes when Jelly, his old yoga teacher, blows into town with the ultimate score, one that will take Kango first to London and then back to Brooklyn to face old enemies and ghosts from his past. After a rain of gunfire, Kango’s retirement ends, and he’s back in the game. Caught between a crew of arsonists who go after Brooklyn historical landmarks, and flashbacks of his time with the love of his life he lost to his own demons, Kango stands face to face with the forces that led him into exile. But there is still an enemy in New York that Kango still doesn’t see, one who after fifteen years has become the unexpected foe at the center of it all . . . Praise for Kenji Jasper “With Dark Kenji Jasper lays waste to the genteel façade of the Washington, D.C. where dignitaries skirt around the lives of those actually born in the city. From the first page Jasper guns the engine, whipping the reader from pole to pole.” —Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling, on Dark “The House on Childress Street is a deep meditation on family, love, and remembrance, and a tough valentine to the real Washington, D.C. Kenji Jasper is an extraordinary young talent.” —George Pelecanos, award-winning writer and producer
The author of "Seeking Salamanca Mitchell, Dakota Grand," and "Dark" pens a powerful new novel that asks the ultimate question: What happens to a hustler when he realizes there's more to life than the streets?
In this vivid and piercing memoir of his grandfather, noted novelist Kenji Jasper captures the story of his family and sheds a keen light on the urban and rural experiences of Black America. Author Kenji Jasper only knew his maternal grandfather, Jesse Langley Sr., as a quiet man who smoked too many cigarettes, drank too much liquor and quoted the Bible like it was the only book he’d ever laid eyes on. Jesse’s children rarely hugged him, and his nearly sixty years of marriage to Sally seemed cold and complicated. But when the man who declared himself “The Lone Ranger” passed away in late 2002, Kenji began a long and life-changing journey to learn more about the grandfather he barely knew. From the streets of his native Washington, D.C., to rural Virginia, North Carolina, and his home in Brooklyn, Jasper’s journey to find the truth leads him through three generations of stories, through tales of love and loss, loyalty and betrayal, addiction and redemption. The House on Childress Street examines life, love, and survival through the eyes of one little family on one little block that somehow manages to speak for us all.
A new young writer presents a fresh, first-rate African-American coming-of-age novel that speaks to the contemporary subject matter of rap and hip-hop. Nineteen-year-old Thai Williams must find his own path out of the dark of the ghetto and into the clear light of moral responsibility and repentance for his own rash actions.
A no-holds-barred feud ensues between Mirage, one of the country's leading rap artists, and Dakota Grand, a hip-hop journalist, after the singer is less than pleased with the article that results from his interview with the writer.
Our generation made hip-hop. But hip-hop also made us. Why are suburban kids referring to their subdivision as “block”? Why has the pimp become a figure of male power? Why has dodging the feds become an act of honor long after one has made millions as a legitimate artist? What happens when fantasy does more harm than reality?—From the Introduction Hip-hop culture has been in the mainstream for years. Suburban teens take their fashion cues from Diddy and expect to have Three 6 Mafia play their sweet-sixteen parties. From the “Boogie Down Bronx” to the heartland, hip-hop’s influence is major. But has the movement taken a wrong turn? In Beats Rhymes and Life, hot journalists Kenji Jasper and Ytasha Womack have focused on what they consider to be the most prominent symbols of the genre: the fan, the turntable, the ice, the dance floor, the shell casing, the buzz, the tag, the whip, the ass, the stiletto, the (pimp’s) cane, the coffin, the cross, and the corner. Each is the focus of an essay by a journalist who skillfully dissects what their chosen symbol means to them and to the hip-hop community.The collection also features many original interviews with some of rap’s biggest stars talking candidly about how they connect to the culture and their fans. With a foreword by the renowned scholar Michael Eric Dyson, Beats Rhymes and Life is an innovative and daring look at the state of the hip-hop nation.
Sixteen stories of capital crimes and misdemeanors—the basis for the film directed by George Pelecanos, producer and writer of The Wire. Mystery sensation Pelecanos pens the lead story and edits this groundbreaking collection of stories detailing the seedy underside of the nation’s capital. This is not an anthology of ill-conceived and inauthentic political thrillers. Instead, in D.C. Noir, pimps, whores, gangsters, and con-men run rampant in zones of this city that most never hear about. This anthology includes brand new stories by George Pelecanos, James Grady, Kenji Jasper, Jim Beane, Jabari Asim, Ruben Castaneda, James Patton, Norman Kelley, Jennifer Howard, Richard Currey, Lester Irby, and others. “[Grady’s] ‘The Bottom Line’ is a tour de force of narrative bravado. A story of double-dealing on Capitol Hill, it crams enough plot to power a full-length novel into a mere 30 pages. From its opening sentence—‘The Capitol building glowed in the night like a white icing cake’—to the surprises at its finish line, this is a story that never stops barreling along.”—The Washington Post “Pelecanos . . . delivers a wholly satisfying volume. From his own ‘Confidential Informant,’ to James Grady’s ‘The Bottom Line,’ Pelecanos shows us how both trash-strewn alleys and oak-paneled offices can trap their occupants with dreams, compromise, and heartbreak.”—Booklist “Well written . . . Highlights include Pelecanos’s ‘The Confidential Informant’ and Laura Lippman’s ‘A.R.M. and the Woman.’”—Publishers Weekly
Thai Williams is walking a thin line between two worlds. On one side he has his job as a filing clerk for the Washington, D.C., Department of Public Works, his girlfriend Sierra, and his plans for going to college. But on the other, darker side there are his friends Snowflake and Ray Ray, men who run the neighborhood streets dodging the dangers of the criminal life and its after-effects. But that thin line disappears when Thai walks in on Sierra with another man, whom he eventually kills in a haze of jealousy and confusion. From there Thai finds himself on the run and away from the five-block stretch where he’s lived for all his life. He finds his way to Charlotte, where Enrique, his closest friend of all, has moved in search of a better life. In the course of the week that follows, Thai encounters a series of men and women who show him aspects of life he never dreamed of in his narrow ghetto existence. All of them are looking for answers, but it is Thai who must find his own path out of the dark and into the clear light of moral responsibility and repentance for his actions. In his first novel, Kenji has written a haunting portrait of his own urban generation, shadowed (and often erased) by violence, but determined to make their own mark on the world.
The author of "Seeking Salamanca Mitchell, Dakota Grand," and "Dark" pens a powerful new novel that asks the ultimate question: What happens to a hustler when he realizes there's more to life than the streets?
Jamison “Kango” Watts was once known as an invisible man, a quiet “fixer” who always got the job done with clean hands and cash in his pocket. Now he’s living the quiet life in DC, running a soul food restaurant and doing the occasional job to scratch his old itch. All that changes when Jelly, his old yoga teacher, blows into town with the ultimate score, one that will take Kango first to London and then back to Brooklyn to face old enemies and ghosts from his past. After a rain of gunfire, Kango’s retirement ends, and he’s back in the game. Caught between a crew of arsonists who go after Brooklyn historical landmarks, and flashbacks of his time with the love of his life he lost to his own demons, Kango stands face to face with the forces that led him into exile. But there is still an enemy in New York that Kango still doesn’t see, one who after fifteen years has become the unexpected foe at the center of it all . . . Praise for Kenji Jasper “With Dark Kenji Jasper lays waste to the genteel façade of the Washington, D.C. where dignitaries skirt around the lives of those actually born in the city. From the first page Jasper guns the engine, whipping the reader from pole to pole.” —Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling, on Dark “The House on Childress Street is a deep meditation on family, love, and remembrance, and a tough valentine to the real Washington, D.C. Kenji Jasper is an extraordinary young talent.” —George Pelecanos, award-winning writer and producer
In this vivid and piercing memoir of his grandfather, noted novelist Kenji Jasper captures the story of his family and sheds a keen light on the urban and rural experiences of Black America. Author Kenji Jasper only knew his maternal grandfather, Jesse Langley Sr., as a quiet man who smoked too many cigarettes, drank too much liquor and quoted the Bible like it was the only book he’d ever laid eyes on. Jesse’s children rarely hugged him, and his nearly sixty years of marriage to Sally seemed cold and complicated. But when the man who declared himself “The Lone Ranger” passed away in late 2002, Kenji began a long and life-changing journey to learn more about the grandfather he barely knew. From the streets of his native Washington, D.C., to rural Virginia, North Carolina, and his home in Brooklyn, Jasper’s journey to find the truth leads him through three generations of stories, through tales of love and loss, loyalty and betrayal, addiction and redemption. The House on Childress Street examines life, love, and survival through the eyes of one little family on one little block that somehow manages to speak for us all.
In the past, Hitokoto-Nushi readily granted the wishes of all who made the treacherous climb up Mount Katsuragi. For a determined supplicant, the fulfillment of their heart’s desire could forever change the trajectory of their life, for better or for worse. But as the number of visitors swelled, Hitokoto-Nushi’s sudden illness grew more dire. And for Hitokoto-Nushi, not meeting the persistent outcry of her pilgrims could prove dangerous — if not for the god herself, then for anyone who stood in their way...
Recent research has given great insight into the physiological and pharmaceutical effects of histamine on the central nervous system and especially on the brain. This volume focuses on these many new findings, including the role of brain histamine in the arousal system, learning, and memory. Also featured are the mechanisms of histamine release in bone marrow and mast cells and the role of histamine in neutrophil differentiation. These are analyzed using the most up-to-date techniques of molecular pharmacology and refined immunoelectroscopy. In addition, the pharmacological profiles of newly developed H1 antagonists are described, making this book invaluable to those who want to understand the very latest advances in histamine research.
A no-holds-barred feud ensues between Mirage, one of the country's leading rap artists, and Dakota Grand, a hip-hop journalist, after the singer is less than pleased with the article that results from his interview with the writer.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.