Psalms of My People: A Story of Black Liberation as Told through Hip-Hop

by lenny duncan

Overview

If you want to understand the Black experience in the US, you have to understand hip-hop.

James Baldwin, in his famous talk "The Struggle for the Artist's Integrity," suggests that "the poets (by which I mean all artists) are finally the only people who know the truth about us." And to understand the truth about the history of Black peoples in America, argues lenny duncan, we must look to the modern Black poet: the hip-hop artist.

In Psalms of My People, artist, scholar, and activist lenny duncan treats the work of hip-hop artists from the last several decades—from N.W.A, Tupac, and Biggie to Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, and Kendrick Lamar—like sacred scripture. Their songs and lyrics are given full exegetical treatment—a critical and contextual interpretation of text—and are beautifully illustrated, with a blend of ancient and modern art styles illuminating every page.

All the while, duncan traces the history of hip-hop, revealing it as a conduit to tell the modern story of Black liberation in this country, following the bloody trail from the end of the Civil Rights Era through the day George Floyd was sacrificed on the streets of America.

"Who else but the hip-hop artist," asks Duncan, "has embodied the cries, pain, and secret concrete? Whose art? Our art. Whose story is written in the book of life with crimson lines dipped in a well that is 400+ years deep? Whose story? Our story. For whom does God bring down empires? Us."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506479026
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	01/09/2024
Pages:	279
Sales rank:	1,147,074
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 6.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

lenny duncan (they/them) is a writer, speaker, scholar, and media producer working at the forefront of racial justice in America. lenny is the author of Dear Church, United States of Grace, and Dear Revolutionaries, and a co-creator of the podcast BlackBerryJams with PRX. A PhD student in historical and cultural studies of religion, lenny is currently researching what they call "a people's history of magic." lenny is originally from West Philadelphia, has hitchhiked thousands of miles on American byways, and makes their home up and down the I-5 with their found family, and in the East Bay area of San Francisco for research.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: A Psalm of My People

Chapter Two: FTP1312

Chapter Three: Loyalty, Royalty, and Messengers in our DNA

Chapter Four: When East Meets West

Chapter Five: Hidden Science, from Hidden Alchemist

Chapter Six: One Mic and Multitudes

Chapter Seven: The Tragedy of St. Kanye: Jesus Walks Away

Chapter Eight: Mother Lauryn

Chapter Nine: I See No Changes, Just Cointelpro

Chapter Ten: Manufactured in america

Chapter Eleven: My Granma Don Tol Me, My Grandad Don Tol Me, My Umi...

Chapter Twelve: It Was All a Dream

Chapter Thirteen: Out On the Streets

Chapter Fourteen: Why Do We Steal So Many Songs from Assata?

Afterword: "Penmue-Theosis"

Acknowledgments

Endnotes

Editorial Reviews

10/16/2023

Activist and media producer duncan (Dear Church) weaves prose with poetry in this provocative if scattershot “attempt to create a Black sacred cultural artifact” at the intersection of hip-hop and history. Noting that accounts of Black people in America have frequently been “policed, destroyed, and written by our oppressors,” duncan aims instead to render a “poetic liberation narrative history of Black america” through “our prophets: hip-hop artists.” Genre legends such as DJ Kool Herc, Lauryn Hill, and the Roots provide the springboard for duncan’s perceptive cultural critique (“N.W.A. artfully transmitted a visceral experience, gripping the nation by its throat and forcing it to bear witness to the experience of Black peoples in this country in real time”). Other insights are earnest and intimate (“The Roots were the first time hip-hop respected/someone/like me”). Elsewhere, duncan follows a 22-page list of the names Black people killed by U.S. law enforcement since 2000 with a gut-punch question: “How many names did you skip over just now?” Unfortunately, the work is marred by verse that underwhelms (“One of two plants, most likely male and/ unable to make/ buds. I wish me and my dad were better buds”) or detracts from its worthy message by telling rather than showing (“What will white america do/when no longer it is just HISstory?”). The result is a mixed bag. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"In Psalms of My People the transcendent poetry that undergirds all of duncan's prose is brought front and center to comfort and challenge the reader in ways only art can. duncan weaves together hip-hop, scripture, history, and their own experiences with soft tenderness and sharp critique. It's both delicious and, at times, bitter; full of the contradictions we see reflected in all sacred texts and pregnant with possibilities for transformation." —Elle Dowd, pastor, activist, and author of Baptized in Tear Gas: From White Moderate to Abolitionist

"lenny duncan has masterfully channeled a fierce incantation for unearthing and rebirthing—as a reader you can't help but be changed by it. A poetic keening in the company of Ginsberg's 'Howl.'" —Joanna Garner, senior story creative director at Meow Wolf

"This piece welcomes you in, whispering words you thought only lovers had for you. It then spits back at you the dribble of what you think you know, asking the reader to listen to a deeper, quieter place in themself and grasp something that has always felt out of reach and yet, in some ways, has always been known. As with everything lenny does, this book is a healing that will call people home." —Lisa Sanaye Dring, writer, director, and actor

From the Publisher

01/01/2024

Activist/media producer/scholar duncan's (Dear Revolutionaries: A Field Guide for a World Beyond the Church) new book is a mix of hip-hop cultural analysis, poetry, and religious scripture. They assert that the hip-hop genre is a form of truth-telling that reports the effects of white supremacy through musical poetry and funky beats. They believe that understanding the Black experience in the U.S. is entwined with understanding hip-hop. Each chapter dives into the work of Lauryn Hill, Kanye (Ye) West, Kendrick Lamar, and many others, without passing any judgment on the artists themselves. Instead, the author analyzes their songs and use of verse in documenting racism, bias, and American culture as a whole. Some chapters are laced with passages from the Bible and feature their own poetry, which creates a jagged flow in tone. VERDICT A successful effort in pointing out the hypocrisy of a system designed to control people of color and its link to grasping what the hip-hop community is documenting about it. Will appeal to hip-hop lovers, casual readers, and music listeners too.—Leah K. Huey

Library Journal