50 Cent Book:

		List Price: $12.95		Publisher: Anchor Salesrank: 202069 Released: November 22, 2005
		Our Price: $7.49
		Used Price: $2.99
		Media: Paperback

Editorial Review:
Based on police wiretaps and exclusive interviews with drug kingpins and hip-hop insiders, this is the untold story of how the streets and housing projects of southeast Queens took over the rap industry.

For years, rappers from Nas to Ja Rule have hero-worshipped the legendary drug dealers who dominated Queens in the 1980s with their violent crimes and flashy lifestyles. Now, for the first time ever, this gripping narrative digs beneath the hip-hop fables to re-create the rise and fall of hustlers like Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichols, Gerald “Prince” Miller, Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, and Thomas “Tony Montana” Mickens. Spanning twenty-five years, from the violence of the crack era to Run DMC to the infamous murder of NYPD rookie Edward Byrne to Tupac Shakur to 50 Cent’s battles against Ja Rule and Murder Inc., to the killing of Jam Master Jay, Queens Reigns Supreme is the first inside look at the infamous southeast Queens crews and their connections to gangster culture in hip hop today.

Queens Reigns Supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent, and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler Reviews:
Amazing read!
2009-03-22 - This book is a wonderful read for fans of hip hop and also for readers who want to learn about life in Jamaica, Queens in the 70s and 80s. The author has done an amazing job gaining access to documents and to real characters who influenced hip hop today and then presenting the information in a compelling narrative.

From South Side to the darkside..Jamaica Queens!
2008-07-29 - The book Queens Reigns Supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent, and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler really depicts the inner circle of the 80's drug culture in South Side Queens. Growing up in Bedstuy,Brooklyn and hanging out in Jamaica, Queens gave me a whole new prospective of the "suburbs". I thought growing up in the projects in Bedstuy was bad enough and it was a condition you could not help. From murders, robberies to stick up kids, you name it, we had it. So when I went to high school in Queens I never thought that kids that grew up in houses, parents with the high paying city jobs could be be so dubious, cut throat and down right murderous all in the name of the almighty dollar from drugs sales. This book slices the cake straight down the middle and lets you taste the filling inside!

From Queens Come KINGS!!!
2008-01-19 - Great book and great body of work documenting the origins of much of what commercial hip hop currently reflects. A must have for any rap music aficionado. Although rap was created in the Bronx the successful blueprint for the business of rap was drafted in Queens. While Bronx artists like Afrika Bambaata and The Furious Five were inspired by Funk and Soul acts of the time such as Parliment Funkadelic the rappers in Queens were heavily influenced by some of NY's most notorious hustlers and gangsters. Men like Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols and Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff who also hail from Queens. Essentially, the legendary criminal figures of Queens influenced an entire generation worldwide through the pop icons who emulated them and also called Queens home. From Fat Cat to 50 Cent... Queens Reigns Supreme!

[...]

Book Reigns Supreme
2007-10-28 - Excellent Book, I read the entire book in less than 5 days, and I don't read many books. I lived in the south Jamaica Queens in the 80's, so I can relate to the story of the hustlers and gangsters that were roaming around during that time. The book gives you a peep at a underworld few people actually lived to tell. It blends the drug hustlers of that era with what is going on in Hip Hop these days. The book brillantly captures the rise and fall of the drug lords running Queens in the 80's. This book is hard to put down. Hopefully a lesson will be learned for whom ever reads this book.

An Urban History Lesson....Life chooses you
2007-08-30 - I read this book in its entirety today. It bought back a lot of memories and pain. As a 38YO husband, father of 3 beautiful children, with a wonderful wife and 18 year IT career, I grew up during the 80's crack epidemic. I sold drugs. I was a crack addict. I watched childhood friends involved in the drug game die. I saw beautiful women become crack addicts. Even then, as a teenager, I wondered why something so small could cause so much destruction. This book reveals a lot. How drugs almost destroyed Urban America, in particular NYC. This book should serve as a history lesson to young people who view rappers as gangsters. "Real gangsters move in silence". This book should also serve as a reminder to people who survived the devastating decade that was the 80's. "Never forget where you come from".

It's easy for privileged people to dismiss the urban population; however when you have people that are disenfranchised, suffer abject poverty, and lack educational, creative, and/or financial opportunities; the majority will do whatever necessary to create opportunities for themselves, even if it means hurting their own. It's unfortunate that the crack epidemic was largely ignored until children of White America started dying.

Although the author highlights the exploits of particular South Queens drug gangs, I think the overall context of the book should be reviewed in a larger perspective: From the Civil Rights inequality, to government disenfranchisement, as a result of Vietnam, subsequent escapism via drug abuse, to opportunities via drug sales, to capitalism/exploitation via urban music.

This book should serve as a guide for kids that want to get involved in hip-hop/rap music (STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF. STOP BEING SOMEONE ELSE).

It should serve as a wakeup call to those (Music companies/Law Enforcement/Religious organizations) that want to exploit kids in the music game (STOP EXPLOITING OUR CHILDREN).

It should serve as a warning sign to all Black youth that murder each other for nonsense (STOP KILLING EACH OTHER. THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT US TO DO).

As long as there's a mongoose, there'll be a snake. As long as there's an audience, there'll be a minstrel. It's sad how life chooses you....