A Hip-Hop Story

"A Hip Hop Story" is the absolute best work of fiction focusing on hip hop out today. It is written in a beautiful, even poetic manner. Heru Ptah gives us all things that hip hop covers - battling, politics, loneliness at the top, your crew, the music industry, philosophy, misogyny, and so many more things that any true hip hop lover will embrace. Don't get it twisted, this book is long, but you will want to follow it to the end to see what happens. As you read you'll find resemblances to Tupac and Biggie, God bless the dead. The book conveys thoughts either one of these great artists may have had when they were living. This is also a book for those that may not love hip hop, it gives an understanding of the culture. I commend Heru for writing such an intelligent and thought provoking work of fiction and would like to read more fiction from this author. All hip hop artists should be required to read this book as an introduction into the industry. Buy this book, it will be money well spent.

I bought A HipHop Story,whilst I was on the subway in New York in 2003.I felt attached to the book whilst reading it because I identifed with the characters in the book. I was very sad when my most favourable character left the scene. I felt that the book showed me a different side to love, the fact of being in love and being loved. I felt that I learnt a lot from reading this book.The book is remarkable, reading the book helped me identify with the characters and i felt that the book dealt with a lot of issues which were important to todays society. The issues are important to explore, to give an insight to the readers. After reading the book I feel like i needed another book to fill the void of this book.This has been my best buy to date. Thanks to Heru Ptah for writing such an insipring book, I await his next publication.

I want to commend Heru for his novel. I just finished the book and I feel emotionally attached to it. The last time I have ever felt an attachment to a piece such as this was a novel I read in my "Crime and Punishment in American Literature" class. I did not have much knowledge of the hip-hop industry, but now I think I have a better understanding. I think however that the back cover of the novel is misleading, but in a good way. After reading this novel to just simply say it is a love story really does not capture how magnificient this story is. Micah to me is the most interesting character. I believe he is the Flawless Erika fell in love with. As flawless kept saying in repsonse to Micah "this name", he never acknowledged him as a person when he was around or when Erika was explaining her love for him, I think his character was not meant for human existence but rather for a loving spirit that took on likeness to Flawless. I respect Hannibal the most, and I fell in love with Flawless. Truely an excellent book, much success in the future with the movie. Might I suggest DMX to play Hannibal's character?

Everybody is not a novel reader. But if you like hip-hop, are interested in contract negotiations, behind-the-scenes coverage of hip-hop performances, the love between a man and a woman, ghost writing, or the effect hip-hop has on its fan base, please pick up A Hip Hop Story by Heru Ptah. If you don't want to read the whole book, just check out one of the strongest chapters in the whole novel, Chapter 32. Ptah has mastered the art of writing about critical events (i.e. war, politics, violence, etc.) in a conversational matter when no other writers so far have been able to do this without preaching. Even better, he does it through the eyes of two fictionalized hip-hop artists with totally different backgrounds, lifestyles, and philosophies. Flawless, the exceptional pretty boy who has a major talent for lyrics, is the infamous freestyle battler who beat Hannibal, the raunchier, in-your-face lyricist. After that freestyle, they have gone back and forth down the road to their future. They both share one dream though: to get to the top of hip-hop music. I won't lie to you. There were some spots where I wanted to pull out the violins. I used to say women made love sound corny, but this book proves that men do too. Ptah should've asked some women how it felt to lose their virginity cause the whole "wanting him deeper and deeper" deal was completely inaccurate. But anyway, the author made impressive points like the difference between an industry audience during a performance as opposed to a public audience. (If you saw the reaction to Lil' Jon & the Ying Yang Twins on the Vibe Awards, you'll understand his point). He spoke on the sometimes-overprotective love between siblings. He spoke on the problems with holding onto friendships when a hip-hop career becomes successful. He even speaks on the power of words during battling sessions, adding along several freestyles of the fictional characters. Ptah even adds as much humor as he does realism in a part so surprising all I can say is read Book Five. Better yet, just read the whole book. It's worth the money.

Being that I'm not a big hip hop fanatic, I must say that I couldn't put this book down. I actually finished reading the book in one day. Heru Ptah has not only captured the true nitty gritty essence of the "hip hop industry", but created memborable/complex characters in the storyline. This book will definitely be a classic, it's the first real novel about hip hop and mc battles. It's Gen X and Gen Y's version of "West Side Story".A MUST READ FOR ANY FICTION FAN!!!