Beschreibung:

NURIDDIN, Jalal Mansur ("Lightnin' Rod" 1944-2018). Hustler's Convention. New York: Harmony Books, 1973. 8vo. Illustrated throughout. Original publisher's illustrated wrappers (very light rubbing). FIRST PRINTING of Lightnin' Rod's narrative poetry adapted from his landmark funk album of the same title. Often referred to as the "Grandfather of Rap," he spent part of his early life with the Fort Greene Chaplains gang in Brooklyn and consequently spent some time in prison. It was here that Nuriddin converted to Islam and learned "jail toasts," a style of proto-rap which he called "spoagraphics" ("spoken pictures"). He was a founding member of The Last Poets group of musicians and poets that grew out of the Harlem Writers Workshop in the 1960s but departed before their 1967 album Right On. He released Hustler's Convention in 1973, which tells the story of two fictional brothers, Sport and Spoon. The record featured Tina Turner and the Ikettes, Kool and the Gang, Billy Preston, and more. Hugely influential on the early development of hip hop, the album was a favorite of Grandmaster Flash and was sampled by the Wu-Tang Clan, the Beastie Boys, and others. Chuck D described the album as "a verbal roadmap for people trying to understand the ghetto they were in: 'What is this life that ahead of me, and how can I actually figure out how to handle it?' That's what this record was." This book presentation of the poems is scarce with few copies seen on the market.