1. The Paths of Rhythm
2. Once Upon a Time in Queens
3. Push It Along
4. The Low End
5. Award Tour
6. 1nce Again
7. The Source Cover
8. Lament
9. Documentary
10. Family Business
11. Common Ground
12. Thank You 4 Your Service
Acknowledgments
A New York Times best-selling author and visiting writer in the MFA program at Butler University, Hanif Abdurraqib is an acclaimed poet and cultural critic whose work has appeared in the New York Times, MTV News, and other outlets. A nominee for the Pushcart Prize, he is the author of the highly praised poetry collection The Crown Ain't Worth Much and the essay collection They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, which was included in the Chicago Tribune's 25 Must-Read Books list for fall 2017 and received recognition from reviewers coast-to-coast, including a starred review in Publishers Weekly. He is currently at work on They Don't Dance No Mo', a history of black performance in the United States.
Music fans should be reading absolutely everything Hanif Abdurraqib
writes, period. He approaches all his subjects with deep generosity
and respect, making observations personal and political, all
written with a poet’s canny pen. Here he turns his ear to A Tribe
Called Quest...He deftly situates their work within the rap
landscape and the broader music scene with his astute, critical
lens.
*Book Riot, "10 Terrific Nonfiction Books About Music"*
Riveting and poetic…Abdurraqib's gift is his ability to flip from a
wide angle to a zoom with ease. He is a five-tool writer, slipping
out of the timeline to deliver vivid, memoiristic splashes as well
as letters he's crafted to directly address the central players,
dead and living.
*Washington Post*
Abdurraqib’s Tribe expertise inspires the reader to seek out
albums, playlists, and songs, with a spirit of exploration that
reflects the group itself.
*The A.V. Club, "The 15 most essential music bios (and
autobiographies) so far this century"*
Warm, immediate, and intensely personal...This lush and generous
book is a call to pay proper respects not just to a sound but to a
feeling.
*New York Times*
Abdurraqib is a poet, and he writes with a precise, gorgeous rhythm
that makes a reader want to linger on each line. (My copy of the
book is dog-eared and highlighted into oblivion.) But what kills me
the most is Abdurraqib's empathy—for the people who make the music
that sustains us, and also for us, for being sustained.
*The New Yorker, "Our Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2019"*
Lots of books tell us why an artist matters, but this is one that
reminds us how special it is to find an artist that matters to
us.
*Treble*
Go Ahead in the Rain isn’t just a love letter to one of the
greatest hip-hop groups ever—it’s also a brilliant poet unpacking
his formative connections to the beats, the wordplay, and the jazz
that set Tribe apart...Go Ahead in the Rain examines how young
fandom evolves into something more like true adoration.
*Pitchfork, "Best Music Books of 2019"*
Even at his most introspective, Abdurraqib embraces nostalgia
without succumbing to it, and honors the experience of fandom while
interrogating it...With Go Ahead in the Rain, he manages to both
celebrate their achievements and 'lay them to rest.'
*The Atlantic*
The poet and critic’s love letter to his favorite hip-hop crew is a
deeply moving journal of fandom, death, grief, and growing up.
*Rolling Stone, "Best Music Books of 2019"*
Some of the most insightful writing I’ve seen on the evolution of
hip-hop into a brilliantly cohesive whole. . . Abdurraqib’s
analysis of grief, authenticity, and the political content of
hip-hop stand out, and the letters he writes to the group’s members
highlight his evolving compassion and empathy for the group’s
struggles.
*Pop Matters*
Abdurraqib's book doesn't attempt an arm's length, scholarly
approach to analyzing the group and its music; instead, Abdurraqib
speaks from his own experiences, often in the form of questioning
or appreciative open letters to members of the band. It's a bold
conceit, but if the book loses a bit of reserved objectivity in the
process, it gains much more: an emotional grounding for why the
group was so important to the author, and, by extension, why their
music should matter to readers, too.
*Foreword Reviews*
Even those who know little about the music will learn much of
significance here, perhaps learning how to love it in the
process.
*Kirkus, Starred Review*
Go Ahead in the Rain is more than just an homage to A Tribe Called
Quest…it's more like a reckoning. The result is a critical
examination of the group—their message and history—as well as a
musical memoir of sorts, and an exploration of the lasting impact
music can have on the soul.
*Vanity Fair*
Abdurraqib explores and exposes the power of music, of art, to not
just connect with people, but to connect people, to make movements,
to inspire change and revolution, on levels both large and small.
In powerful, poetic language, Abdurraqib makes clear the legacy of
ATCQ, both the one the group called upon for their own creation and
the one they left behind.
*Nylon*
Go Ahead in the Rain is an accurate, honest documentation of the
band, their music, and the time…Brilliantly entertaining,
informative, and self-reflective. This is essential reading.
*February Indie Next List*
[Abdurraqib] allows us into his own history alongside the
groundbreaking group, blending personal, musical, and cultural
insights into something that truly resonates.
*Buzzfeed News*
The book comes to life when [Abdurraqib] speaks from his own
experiences…Although Go Ahead in the Rain is a no-brainer for
devoted hip-hop heads (even those who think they've read all there
is to know about the group), Abdurraqib's poetic homage to ATCQ
(and hip-hop in general) will captivate casual music fans as
well.
*Booklist, Starred Review*
Go Ahead in the Rain is a literary hybrid: part academic monograph
on the group and its music, part pocket history of hip-hop, part
memoir, and part epistolary elegy. It is a book that conveys the
wonder of being a fan and the visceral impact of experiencing the
feeling of having oneself reflected back in music and pop
culture.
*Publishers Weekly*
If you're a hip-hop fan, you need to get it…a brilliant piece of
music writing.
*Saturday Review, BBC Radio 4*
Abdurraqib...manages to write about music by making his language a
type of music. He pays homage to A Tribe Called Quest in the only
way fitting, with flow and charm and emotional rawness.
*Mancunion*
Fans of Abdurraqib’s writing will recognize his ability to
seamlessly weave together stories about multiple, often disparate
topics. Whether he’s reminiscing about his failed attempt to master
the trumpet as a child, or geeking out over the history of sampling
in hip-hop, or dissecting a 2011 Tribe documentary, each story
serves the larger purpose: recounting the life of A Tribe Called
Quest through a fan’s eyes.
*Columbus Alive*
In his personalized approach to the group's musical legacy,
Abdurraqib articulates how the group helped to define his personal
growth, helping readers appreciate the power that our favorite acts
have in helping us create a durable sense of identity.
*Nylon*
[T]his is a writerly talent worthy of our awe. One could argue
writers are at their best when they use their insight to make sense
of the world they observe. In a book about A Tribe Called Quest
specifically—a group that attracted fans across race, gender, and
generation gaps—Abdurraqib’s penchant for holding and showing so
much simultaneously is a perfect fit.
*Barrelhouse*
[Abdurraqib] has a seemingly limitless capacity to share what moves
him, which means that to read Go Ahead in the Rain, you don't
need to be a Tribe Called Quest fan: Abdurraqib will make you one.
His love for the group is infectious, even when it breaks his
heart...[Abdurraqib writes] about music so beautifully and
intelligently that readers are moved to love it, or reminded to
love it more.
*NPR*
[Abdurraqib's] exploration of A Tribe Called Quest uses his love
for the group to leverage remarkably sharp insights about the band
and himself. Forthright without being solipsistic, the book is a
marvel of criticism and self-examination.
*Pitchfork*
It's a dazzling act, watching Abdurraqib weave in and out of
Tribe's fabled history, working outside of their historical
narrative to more clearly contextualize it.
*Passion of the Weiss*
Go Ahead in the Rain is both the promised love letter of its
cover image and a remarkably helpful guide to Tribe neophytes.
Those who know nothing will know slightly more, and will find a
place to start. Those who grew up listening to these records...are
likely to find joy and connection in Abdurraqib’s memories.
*Rock & Roll Globe*
[T]his book is like an all-night hangout session with a really
smart friend. Abdurraqib writes about A Tribe Called Quest as a
fan, but also as a thinker with a finely tuned sense of what's at
stake in their music. Brilliant.
*Parnassus Musing*
Abdurraqib mixes observations about the group with passages of
personal retrospective and a rich description of Tribe's musical
context.
*The Current*
The book pays attention to the larger changes in the culture, but
its overall tenor is warm, immediate and intensely personal.
*New York Times, Editor's Choice*
[Abdurraqib] weaves an astoundingly compelling narrative…[Go Ahead
in the Rain] is, without a doubt, an artistic statement of
beauty.
*Anhedonic Headphones*
The vantage from which [Abdurraqib] dissects Tribe's legacy is
rooted in the heritage of black music and delivered from the
present cultural moment, making Go Ahead in the Rain, much like
Tribe's music, capable of remaining relevant for decades to
come.
*PopMatters*
Abdurraqib…makes an implicit argument for a criticism that works
toward connection. At the heart of Go Ahead in the Rain are
questions about ourselves; it asks how and why we love artists, and
what we can do with that love.
*The Nation*
Go Ahead in the Rain is a fan's narrative on A Tribe Called Quest
that gives readers the language to imagine a better world.
*Electric Literature*
[Aburraqib is] a lovely curator and chronicler of all things A
Tribe Called Quest. We are reminded that the soul of the group was
always one to be shared, then and now, between Hanif and me,
through speakers in art rooms and headphones on bus rides, to
anyone willing to hear.
*The Michigan Daily*
Go Ahead in the Rain is not just for fans of A Tribe Called Quest,
but for anyone who has ever felt deeply understood by a band, or
found comfort in the solitude of putting on a pair of
headphones.
*Washington City Paper*
Abdurraqib's writing is so generously thoughtful...He makes
everything feel relevant, and he doesn’t swerve into the more
self-congratulatory music writing that dives so far into the weeds
without reserving room for the joy and heartache that springs from
the music.
*Paste Magazine*
[Go Ahead in the Rain is] illuminating for fans of the group, but
even hip-hop novices will be moved by Abdurraqib's book. It's a
tribute to A Tribe Called Quest and a tribute to the power music
has to grow with the listener. It's a book for anyone who has
secluded themselves in headphones, pressed play, and heard
themselves singing back in someone else's voice.
*Vibe*
[A] memoir of listening and feeling, a deeply personal book
unafraid to pair music criticism with intimate reflections.
*Longreads*
Go Ahead in the Rain…cunningly and lovingly weaves memoir and
eloquently told music history into a compelling and absorbing
tribute to the transformative power of music.
*No Depression*
[A] searing, thoughtful coming-of-age story about hip-hop, race,
and the beloved Native Tongues jazz rap luminaries fronted by Q-Tip
and the late Phife Dog.
*Philadelphia Inquirer*
Abdurraqib offers a level of historical understanding that only a
passionate fan could deliver.
*Pittsburgh Post-Gazette*
Few writers explore their subjects as lovingly as Hanif Abdurarqib,
whose thoughtful, lyrical, insightful new book…should be required
reading for everybody.
*Chicago Reader*
Abdurraqib deftly weaves the biographical, autobiographical and his
own elegiac letter writing into just over 200 pages that not only
chronicle Tribe's beats and rhymes, but their place and meaning
both in his own life and the larger cultural sphere. The result is
at once a comprehensive career overview and a riveting personal
reflection.
*Exclaim!*
[Go Ahead in the Rain] evokes the sensation listeners get at the
end of the last track of a wonderful recording, that recognition of
having just heard something remarkable.
*Library Journal*
By looking at the short, brilliant, stop-and-go existence of the
ensemble A Tribe Called Quest, Abdurraqib has written one of the
great books about hip-hop, opening up its genesis, its
construction, its evolution and one particular group's history with
the clarity of the hold Visible V-8 toy.
*Houston Chronicle*
Go Ahead in the Rain transcends the usual fan book for its poetic
prose as well as its insights into the wider context of the
music.
*Shepherd Express*
Abdurraqib can tell better stories about music than sometimes the
music can tell about itself…He can take one note and extrapolate an
entire psychic history, both of his own wolrd and the world of the
musician.
*Full Stop*
At this book's heart lurks a brilliantly vivid portrayal of a
certain type of obsessive fandom: not the spectacular kind that
leads people to camp outside artists' houses, turn up to greet them
at airports and harass them on social media, but a more subtle,
internalised variety, where an artist's music ceases to be
something you merely love and gradually infects you to the point
that it becomes a prism through which you view almost
everything...in writing a book that could make even a naysayer
whant to hear [Tribe's] music as a matter of urgency, Abdurraqib
has provided a perfect epitaph.
*The Guardian*
Go Ahead in the Rain might appeal most to the music-obsessed, but
its audience is wider than its title suggests. At its heart, the
book looks at the constant conversation between life and art: how
music changes the way we understand and interact with the world,
and alters the culture at large.
*Seattle Times*
Hanif has a way of making you care deeply for the artists he's
writing about…Drawing from his own experiences and peppered with
personal letters to the members themselves, Hanif creates an
immersive experience for readers to forge a connection to and love
for hip-hop.
*The Rumpus*
Abdurraqib brings specificity to what being a Tribe fan means by
threading the path of the East Coast rap group with his own.
*Bookforum*
Abdurraqib achingly, beautifully illustrates the evolution of
Phife's role [in A Tribe Called Quest].
*Slate*
Reading [Go Ahead in the Rain] is like listening to The Low End
Theory with a good friend, and confiding in each other all the
feelings and thoughts the music brings up…For anyone who's listened
to Tribe so many times that their music feels commonplace, part of
the air, invisible, Abdurraqib brings it back to vivid presence
through context and beautiful, poetic description.
*KQED Arts*
Easily one of the year's best books about music, a smart,
thoughtful, deeply felt look at one of the best acts (not just
hip-hop, but pop music in general) of all time.
*austin360*
Perhaps the first notable hip-hop book…to seamlessly blend memoir
with sociocultural history…[Abdurraqib's] is a moving and
wide-spanning vision, each story providing a kaleidoscopic view of
one of the greatest acts to ever exist.
*Athenaeum Review*
A stunning work.
*Kenyon Review*
The writing throughout this book is so sharp that I found myself
reading and then immediately re-reading lines, amazed at their
beauty and precision…Go Ahead in the Rain's tangential, hybrid form
is a more accurate representation of the way memories attached to
music often feel: non-linear, disjointed, but altogether
emotionally vivid.
*JMWW*
Intimate and expansive…Abdurraqib has a stunning ability to break
apart the meaning of music and move it beyond an aesthetic. It is a
way of existing, of surviving.
*The Adroit Journal*
Love letters to musicians are best kept private, one person’s
fandom being another’s boredom. But Hanif Abdurraqib’s tribute to
rap group A Tribe Called Quest is an exception: the poet and critic
loops discursively around rap history, racial politics and memoir
in the manner of the band’s easy-going but incisive songs.
*Financial Times*
In lining up his own story with that of A Tribe Called Quest,
Abdurraqib lovingly pays the group the highest tribute possible.
Part memoir, part biography, all heart and all great.
*InsideHook*
The core pleasure [of reading Go Ahead in the Rain] is watching
Abdurraqib watch Tribe work. When Phife is distracted during the
recording of Tribe's debut album, sneaking away from the studio to
catch nearby Knicks games, Abdurraqib is right there with him. Us
too.
*Vanity Fair, "The Best Books of 2019, So Far"*
By trying to explain why he has always loved A Tribe Called Quest,
Abdurraqib manages to give us insights not just about himself but
about the evolution of hip-hop, its place in the world today, and
the very nature of fandom.
*Rogues Portal*
One need not be a fan of Tribe in order for [Go Ahead in the Rain]
to do its work, and this is because Abdurraqib elegantly underpins
his personal investment in Tribe with the long history of race,
culture, and aesthetics in American life.
*Public Books*
Beyond the glorious trivia to be found in these pages—great fun for
all people instinctively traveling—Abdurraqib invites a more
general readership. Particularly when he explores why we love the
sounds we love.
*Longreads*
[Abdurraqib] lyrically unspools the band's history. Hip-hop fans
and non-hip-hop fans alike will find humor, wit, and astounding
lyricism in this collection.
*PEN America*
Abdurraqib…is one of the most exciting and empathetic writers we've
got…[Go Ahead in the Rain is] a full book of trenchant and highly
personal essays about [A Tribe Called Quest].
*The Ringer*
Abdurraqib’s stunning essays – especially his book-length homage Go
Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest – have proven him
one of his generation’s most essential cultural voices.
*The Boston Globe*
This arrestingly personal, sweeping biography explains why A Tribe
Called Quest mattered—both as musicians who helped transform the
landscape of rap in the 1990s and as artists whose albums changed
the author’s life.
*Library Journal, "Best Arts Books 2019"*
If you're a hip-hop head, you've got to get Hanif Abdurraqib's Go
Ahead in the Rain…it's a beautiful meditation on the pioneering rap
group and one of the rare books about hip-hop to be long-listed for
a National Book Award.
*BuzzFeed News, "68 Books For Every Person On Your Holiday
List"*
I loved Go Ahead in the Rain because it's about what it means to
take refuge in music and also what it means to break out of that
refuge through music.
*NPR's Favorite Books of 2019*
Part history and part love letter, [Go Ahead in the Rain is] a
unique kind of music book that will have you revisiting Midnight
Marauders ASAP.
*GQ, "The Best Books of 2019"*
[Go Ahead in the Rain] reads like a well-researched journal entry
meets hip-hop history lesson.
*Alternative Press, "Top 10 Music-Related Books of 2019"*
Abdurraqib…fills this book with jazz and memories of the great rap
magazine The Source, childhood crushes and, of course, a warm
history of a legendary group. It's that rare vivisection, the kind
that cuts cleanly and deeply, but leaves the subject more alive
than when we found him.
*Chicago Tribune, "The 10 Best Books of 2019"*
Go Ahead in the Rain is a Tribe song of positivity and persistence,
an excellent illustration of the way that Abdurraqib both describes
and mirrors the impact of his subject.
*Hudson Booksellers, "Best of 2019"*
[Go Ahead in the Rain] is yet another essential for your reading
list, part music criticism, part appreciation and something else
entirely.
*Treble Zine*
Go Ahead in the Rain…seems to push the whole genre of music writing
forward.
*Garth Risk Hallberg, The Millions*
[Go Ahead in the Rain] could create a lifelong fan of a book-lover
who's never even heard of 'Bonita Applebum.'
*Creative Loafing Tampa*
[A] provocative commentary…Abdurraqib uses his fandom of this
influential and jazzy 1990s-launched hip-hop group to come to grips
with his own life, thoughtfully reflecting on everything from
African drums and American slavery to the deaths of Leonard Cohen
and Minnesota's own Philando Castile to provide context and
perspective.
*Minneapolis Star-Tribune*
Abdurraqib explores fandom, artistry, love, and pretty much
everything else there is, with remarkable skill and
generosity…there are a lot of great books on this list; this is my
favorite.
*Powell's Books Blog, "Best Nonfiction of 2019"*
A poetic salute to what Abdurraqib considers to be the greatest rap
group of all-time.
*Paste Magazine, "2019 Gift Guide for Music Lovers"*
The beauty of Hanif Abdurraqib's trim volume is that it doesn't try
to be definitive. Instead, Abdurraqib embraces the subjectivity of
his fandom, putting the seminal hip-hop duo into context via his
own experiences coming of age along with the genre. There's a lot
of critical insight into this first great book about ATCQ, one that
hopefully won't be the last but will endure regardless.
*The Current, "Best music books of 2019"*
With [Go Ahead in the Rain], Abdurraqib creates a lasting work with
an ambitious scope. He obscures the line between social commentary,
memoir, and biography. Most importantly, Abdurraqib constructs a
worthy homage to one of hip-hops most innovative artists.
*Labour/Le Travail*
Booklength criticism masquerading as memoir, an account of growing
up as boho youth whose ears and brains get opened, Hanif
Abdurraqib’s fond exegesis chews over A Tribe Called Quest like
even the most meticulous 33 1/3 entry doesn’t.
*Humanizing the Vacuum, "The best books of 2019"*
Go Ahead in the Rain is a sparkling tribute to A Tribe Called
Quest...Abdurraqib is an excellent guide through the cultural
landscape that made (and unmade) Tribe, effortlessly weaving
socio-cultural history, music criticism and personal anecdote in an
accessible manner, to remind you if you had forgotten and convince
you if you had been unaware of the band’s art and impact beyond
their Lou Reed-sampling hit 'Can I Kick It'.
*Times Literary Supplement*
Abdurraqib identifies with Phife Dawg, and his letter to the late
rapper is particularly moving. Go Ahead in the Rain is not
comprehensive, but at times it is as moving as the music
itself.
*Irish Examiner, "Noteworthy music books of the year"*
Abdurraqib's erudite ode to A Tribe Called Quest walks readers
through their unique formation, but also easily freewheels across
late 80s and 90s pop and hip hop culture…His depiction of a
singular time in America (which he grounds in his own reflections
of high school), when technology was changing everything rapidly
and music felt less stratified, and his exploration of sample
culture before the tightening effects of copyright laws, are
particularly precise and just right.
*Publishers Weekly, "The Best Books We Read in 2019"*
A must-read for Tribe fans, Go Ahead in the Rain is also a love
letter to the music of our youth, and how our relationship with
those musicians can become such a vital part of ourselves as we
move through life.
*Bad Feeling Magazine, "Best of 2019: The best pop culture
books"*
[Go Ahead in the Rain] manages to be both a vivid history of early
hip-hop and an extended elegy for a rap group that defined the
author's sensibility.
*Guernica*
An encompassing, engrossing look at one influential group's
fomentation and legacy.
*Bustle*
The beauty of Go Ahead in the Rain, of its engagement with Tribe
Called Quest's jazz-influenced hip-hop, is how Abdurraqib discards
well-trodden assumptions about what criticism is: that it must
relegate the critic to a position of detached, passionless
analysis, or that it must proceed in orderly, logical fashion in
order to prove a point. In place of these conventions Abdurraqib
presents a work concerned with enmeshment in and with the music,
the history that it expresses and alters, and the communities that
have given us this music...Go Ahead gives us a glimpse into a
criticism that doesn't just subject black music to the conventions
of the critical essay. Rather, it allows black music to contort and
reinvent those conventions.
*National Book Critics Circle*
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