Straight Outta Compton

<p>Follows the lives of two friends, Rooster and Clive-nem, as they try to cope with drugs, gangs, and women, while growing up in an L.A. ghetto</p>

Literature & Fiction

Cruz, Ricardo Cortez

United States

Fiction Collective Two

<p>Straight Outta Compton is about living large, living in the fast lane. It raps to its readers about being black, being born and raised in the L.A. ghetto, being so-called "Niggaz 4-Life," being sweet on black life (for those in it, the beat goes on). It focuses on the lives of two black men, Rooster and Clive-nem, who grow up together in Compton. Clive starts out like a big brother to Rooster, but Rooster changes. After Clive's daddy dies of a drug overdose, the story shifts. Rooster, the main character living large, becomes obsessed with women. Meanwhile, Clive wants to break from Compton. He and Rooster split up, fall into rival gangs - the Bloods and the Crips - and begin to hate each other. Clive has other problems besides Rooster - namely, Compton. He thinks that he's made a girl pregnant. He's involved with gangs. Straight Outta Compton samples from all aspects of black life in its search to have its characters find what rapper Heavy D. would call a "Peaceful Journey." It wasn't just written; it was mixed by a DJ, and the result is hyped!</p>

Fiction Collective 2

Five Days of Bleeding is the black experience in sound, a fight to dance and celebrate cultural roots, and the struggle of a dark homeless woman, Zu-Zu Girl, to have voice in White America. Taunted by the violent character "Chops," Zu-Zu sings to keep her spirit alive in New York City's Central Park. Zu-Zu and the novel's narrator have a relationship which is transformed into a stormy, dreamlike urban affair. Their oppressive situation is depicted through multiple collages of sound and image, a funky mix of original and sampled cuts, both literary and musical. The social chaos around them is remixed in a text consisting of street beats, classic breaks, and fresh-cool cadences. Bleeding proves that the loudest noises of moral panic can be gunshots, to be sure, but they can also be the very human sound of the music of hope and despair.

Five Days of Bleeding (Black Ice Books)

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Books by Cruz, Ricardo Cortez

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cruz, Ricardo Cortez. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Straight Outta Compton

Straight Outta Compton

Five Days of Bleeding (Black Ice Books)