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I love reading reviews on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ because they're not professional reviews. That means they're entangled with memories, hopes, expectations, flaws. The personal lives of the reviewer often adds to my understanding of a book, of how a book could appeal to certain people. Often I will love a review of a book I have absolutely no intention of reading because I'm more intrigued by the review than the book.

This book approaches music journalism in much the same way as my favorite reviews. Hanif Abdurraqib is one of my favorite writers thanks to his They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, which I read last year. Then I learned that this book existed, an entire book on one musical group, A Tribe Called Quest, and I realized it's one of those books that I absolutely would not have read if I didn't already love the author, since I didn't know or care much about ATCQ (I do now). But because it was Abdurraqib, and because I knew he is never afraid to invite us into his world, I knew this would be about so much more than one musical group, and I was right. His personal connection with ATCQ and his passion for them is what drew me in and what makes this book special.

Abdurraqib is such a good writer that he makes me wish all music journalism was as impassioned, as brave and unafraid to branch out from the strictly musical to the broader world of where that music came from, the streets and culture where the music takes on new meaning. Throughout this book, I was taken not only through the journey of one hip hop group's rise and fall, but also the neighborhoods where Abdurraqib grew up, the language of Jet magazines, Kool-Aid, and Knicks games. This book is like a mix-tape. Each song is infused with more meaning because of who made it and the thought behind it. This is such a personal book that also admirably broadens to a time and place.

I did feel that Abdurraqib falls a little bit into sentimentality and repetition at points that he doesn't fall into in his other book, but these are minor gripes. I loved this book and want to read everything he wrote, and you should too.