Compilation of essays focused on life musings. Initially published on Guernica, The Baffler, Boston Globe, and Salon.
The Latest
‘Hip-Hop Is History’
G’Ra Asim reviews Questlove’s latest book, “Hip-Hop Is History,” in which the DJ, producer and Roots drummer explores the evolution of the genre he helped build.
The title of Questlove’s new book, “Hip-Hop Is History,” has a double meaning. The drummer and co-frontman of the Roots makes a convincing case not only that hip-hop is a pivotal piece of cultural history, but also that to some extent it is history……
Originally published in The Washington Post
I met my former MFA classmate Sasha Bonét on Admitted Student Night in the spring of 2014. I recognized her as a force of nature on sight. It couldn’t be more fitting that her new book….
An annotation of Fefe Dobson’s “Stupid Little Love Song” excerpted from the essay collection Boyz N the Void: A Mixtape to My Brother. Originally published on BOMB Magazine
As an English professor, a musician, and a Black person, I’m ready to shred misconceptions about who is and who isn’t fit to jam. Originally published in The Boston Globe
When assistant professor, author and punk musician G’Ra Asim was in the third grade, the world as he knew it turned upside down. From Carolyn Jack’s Key Changes
G’Ra Asim ’14 on Rock Music and Black Culture: Boston Globe
Writing, Literature and Publishing alum G’Ra Asim ’14 writes in the Boston Globe Ideas section that rock ‘n’ roll belongs to Black musicians, and should be considered a Black art form alongside other genres of music.
I have gotten older and bigger and certainly no less Black in the years since I first heard Chris Rock’s diagnosis of this problem. Originally published on Guernica Mag.
Being a black male intellectual used to make me stand out. Now, it’s the norm. Thanks for nothing, man. Originally published on Salon.com
On the vestigial baggage of gender identity. Originally published on TheBaffler.com
