City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success

"In his vivid and charming memoir, novelist and screenwriter George (Hip Hop America) recounts incidents from an eventful life that has ranged from a tough upbringing by his single mother in Brooklyn in the 1960s to a career of assorted writing gigs in music journalism, television and film. Early in the book, George captures the anxieties of an intelligent child in a dangerous neighborhood, finding solace in his mother's soul records, screenings of Planet of the Apes and Hemingway and Fitzgerald novels. Later, George provides a welcome and appropriately nerve-wracking portrait of a young New York writer, interning at the Amsterdam News and writing concert reviews for Billboard. Slowly, the mature writer and tastemaker emerges, witnessing and shepherding hip-hop's sometimes rocky transition into the mainstream pop-music world, as exemplified by a bizarre concert bill featuring the Commodores, Bob Marley and hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow. George's life has been blessed by the presences of an eclectic array of black entertainers, including a young Russell Simmons and a struggling Chris Rock, and he sketches these characters with affection, though at times the book feels more like a collection of anecdotes than a cohesive narrative. Nonetheless, George provides tempting glimpses of the vibrant New York of the recent past." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

In this candid, colorful memoir about a nerd from the Brooklyn projects who makes it big, George illuminates how the pain of life can be turned into thoughtful books and cinema.

Nelson George is the author of six novels and nine nonfiction books on African American culture. He has received two ASCAP-Deems Taylor awards, a Grammy Award, and has been a finalist twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has produced television programs for BET, VH1, and HBO, including the award-winning film Life Support, which he wrote and directed and is based on his sister's life.