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List Price: $15.00 | | Publisher: Basic Civitas Books
Salesrank: 299626
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
With a new preface by the author. Ten years after his murder, Tupac Shakur is even more loved, contested, and celebrated than he was in life. His posthumously released albums, poetry, and motion pictures have catapulted him into the upper echelon of American cultural icons. In Holler If You Hear Me, “hip-hop intellectual” Michael Eric Dyson, acclaimed author of the bestselling Is Bill Cosby Right?, offers a wholly original way of looking at Tupac that will thrill those who already love the artist and enlighten those who want to understand him.
Holler If You Hear Me (2006) Reviews:
FASCINATING 
2008-09-10 - This book was amazing. I am from rural Nebraska, and was only 10 when Tupac was killed, so I knew almost nothing about him. I have since purchased EVERY Tupac CD and would recommend this book to you. Michael Eric Dyson is a very intelligent man that shows you the duality that is required of black men in our society.
Hip Hop can be intellectual
2007-04-26 - Micheal Dyson's book "Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur" was a pleasant and refreshing surprise. I purchased the book thinking it would be another biography of my favorite artist and I got so much more. It spoke to me intellectually as well as making me culturally aware of the issues and concerns of the black community yesterday, today, and tommorrow. I felt like this is the best book about Tupac out there today, not because it follows every step of his life, but because I got to take a look at him as a protagonist and an antagonist in urban socieity. I found out what books he read, what people thought of him outside of his culture, the influence he had on society outside of rap, and most importantly I figured out about his thought process and honesty. Michael even gives us an interesting perspective of Tupac as a child of a Black Panther, the last of the Shakurs'. This book is for anyone who is a real fan of Tupac and wants to see him from every angle possible.
Solid book on the fallen rap star
2007-01-09 - I must give props to Micheal Eric Dyson. He did a good job on this autobiography of this rebel of the underground. Michael Eric Dyson writes pretty good detailed accounts on Tupac's life without the being bias or partial(something a lot of these trash ragazines couldnt do to save their puny lives!). This son of a Black Panther was a lot deeper than these egocentric clowns you compare him to in the rap game. Tupac was giving you gems since his first magnum opus 2pacalypse Now. A lot of the rappers you compare him to still talk abou absolutely nothing. Its sad that there are still some childish jackals out there trying to desecrate the memory of this conscious poet. Even though he was a flawed character(like everybody else!) he was still giving you treasures like Part Time Mutha, Trapped, Violent, Keep Your Head Up, Point Tha Finga, Dear Mother etc and Micheal Eric Dyson notes this. I strongly recommend Holla If You Hear Me. REST IN PEACE TUPAC AMARU SHAKUR AND PEACE TO MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
Would have been a better book If he actually would have TALKED ABOUT TUPAC MORE! 
2006-01-31 - Tupac Amaru Shakur may not have been Hip Hop's "best" rapper of all time, but he is hands down, without question, the greatest and most compelling Hip Hop FIGURE, of all time. what amazes me so much about Tupac is how he seems to represent so many different things to so many different people.Some people see Tupac as nothing more then a foul mouthed Thug who got what he deserved when he was killed. Other people see him as a Hip Hop Martyr/revolutionary who was on the verge of becoming a great leader, when he was killed. Then their are those who who don't think of Tupac as anything more then a dead rapper. While others see 2pac as not only the voice for his genre, but rather the voice for his generation.To me, the truth is, Tupac was/is probably a combination of all those things to some degree. He is and probably will always remain the only true ICON in rap.Like I said earlier, he wasn't the best rapper, he wasn't the best lyricist, he didn't have the best metaphors, he wasn't the best battle rapper, but it was just somthing about him, something about his charisma, someting about his passion, something about his emotion, something about his words, something about his voice, that just somehow seemed to separate him from everyone else.If their was one M.C. who deserved a book written about them and their life, Pac was clearly that person.
I gave this book 4 stars, but it really deserves about a 3.5 star rating. The book is supposed to be about Tupac, but Tupac only seems to be a vehicle for Michael Dyson to discuss Young Black Males as a whole. That's all fine and dandy, but I didn't buy this book for that.I bought this book to get insight on Tuapc, and in terms of that, this book dissapointed to a certain degree.But what really grabed me in this book was when they were talking about his experiance in prison. They talked about how he may or may not have been raped. To me, that was nothing more then what it was, a rumer. A lot of people don't know this, and something they should have added in the book, right before he went to prison and after he was shot 5 times, he was suicidal.In fact, at his house one day, his family caught him sitting in a living room with F**k the world written across his forehead and a 45 pistal he was pointing at his head. Now imagine, on top of everything else, how he would have reacted, if the most degrading, humiliating thing that could possibly happen to a man(or women for that matter), happened to him, on top of everything else.Ive digressed.
The bottom line is, this would have been a very enjoyible book, sans all of the big words as well as all the interviews with people who not only didn't know Tupac but in all likelihood, never even so much as seen or came in contact with the brother before(Stanly crouch,Kephra Burns,Mos def Talib Kweli, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Ray Jay, Sonia Sanchez,ect.).In fact, I really don't even know what buisiness they had even being put in this book(W/ all do respect to all of them).The book Title is called; "Searching For Tupac Shakur" not, "What people who never even knew Tupac Shakur think about him". If you want a real book on Tupac Shakur, and only Tupac Shakur, Then you should pick up Darrin Bastfields book on Tupac.This, buy no means,is a bad book however.
I must confess that I am only half way through the book 
2005-10-18 - and so it may be unfair for me to give an opinion but sense i am a book worm, the kind that prides myself on reading a book in one day, I feel that I am experienced enough to pick up a certain sense of the author by the first chapter.
Now, in saying that, so far, from what I've read, I feel the authoer (Mr. Dyson) is trying to appeal to people outside of hip hop because it is as if he's saying that Tupac was more than a thug, or there was something very dynamic about his thug formula at the same time tragic (to say the least).
There's no doubt in my man that Tupac (r.i.p.) was an intelligent person to some level because of how he articulated his words and I knew he had some grass root flavor because the brother was straight up real in what he was saying (interviews, appearences) outside of his music. But I feel that Mr. Dyson is trying to tell the world (white world?) that Tupac was a very soulful and artistic person who was gotten trapped inside of his art that lead to a very tragic ending; that he (tupac had more to offer the world) before his early death.
I feel that who ever Mr. Dyson was trying to reach with his semi-autobiography of the slain star is very least insulting towards the average person's intelligence because history dictates that once a person is stuck with interest by a person, place or thing, that person will go out on their own to find out more information about the object of their attention (be it elderly white rock n' roll types, blues people, whoever) and in saying that, perhaps, this type of mindset is who Mr. Dyson was aiming at.
Another thing that bothers me about hip hop journalism in general is that in general, I don't know who were the true ideal reader that these books are meant for: are they for the true hip hopper or is it the true hippor and a more broader reading base (with high literary skills?) because whenever I read this types of books (3 so far) I need a thesaurus next to me. And I figure hip hop isn't about using big words, and so if one wants to write about the art form, they have to also think like the fan and not like themselves to make a core impact. Not that I'm saying this book hasn't made a good impact (look at the other reviews) but when one makes a comparison (and you should), I like Chuck D's book, "Fight the Power" because it's simple, down to earth, and honest. Infact, I was surprised how Chuck D honest approach throughout the whole book because he was humble and not egotistical or biased.
Anyway, read the book, like I'm continuing to do so and judge for yourself.
