The Hip Hop Murderer .
The Hip Hop Murderer is an urban fiction novella penned by author, philanthropist, music producer & recording artist Dwayne E. Bowen.
Street Certified…When I first opened the pages of the novella entitled The Hip Hop Murderer at the start I wasn’t very impressed due to certain grammatical oddities. However, I felt that it wasn’t on the part of the author, but more so with the editing. The errors I’d encountered were not that of incorrect spellings and punctuation but rather in the narrative portions pertaining to the descriptive dialect. For example, it was the difference of “He said” vs. “Joe’s saying” and such. Using such terminologies sometimes made me feel as though I was being talked to rather than being led and which made me as though I was not part of the story in certain instances.
Nevertheless, my disdain was quickly overcome by the story’s substance, and its powerful message intertwined within the body of passages throughout. Simply put, the moral substance contained within its pages reminded me of what Urban Fiction is supposed to be all about. And that is, Urban Fiction is not just about the violence, blood baths, crude dialect, and controversy that many street novels do envelope. On the contrary, much of Urban Fiction entails writing that addresses important issues that are at the core of urban living itself; whether it’s fictional or not. The Hip Hop Murderer in my opinion definitely delivers in this aspect 100%. This novella truly is an exceptional story which centers around an extremely, upset vigilante father who is a Caucasian American named Joe Baskerville who by the way is in a loving interracial relationship; who by no means is you average Joe.
Joe, having served his time in the elite forces alongside his good friend Bruce causes him to inadvertently become an absentee father of two twin teenage sons Bryan and Ryan. During their service Bruce loses his only son who becomes a casualty at a rap concert. In turn, Joe becomes highly disturbed that much of the hip hop music of today has infiltrated, and corrupted the minds of its youthful audience with all its demeaning lyrics including his son Bryan.
After an agonizing funeral, Joe returns home to his family only to witness his son Bryan being very disrespectful to his mother even to the point of almost referring to her as a bitch and threatening to reveal her unbecoming actions during his father’s absence. Furthermore, Joe becomes even more upset when he learns from his other son Ryan and Phaedra (Bryan’s girlfriend) that Bryan has basically become a chain-weed-smoking wanna-be rapper.
Both Joe and Bruce decide to address the societal problems they believe are caused by today’s rap lyrics promoted by hip Hop’s premiere artists. Albeit, each man chooses to handle their current situations very differently. Bruce decides to get his message out using the web as his primary medium while on the other hand Joe addresses the FCC head on. However, after a meeting in DC gone awry, ending with an FCC representative being left within his office snoozing like Rip Van Winkle after his face meets Joe’s fist. Joe decides to speak with the most influential artists within the State of NJ; which includes a rappers named Do Bad…, radio personalities, and famous Dj’s of sort. But, when they fail to hear Joe’s fatherly pleas choosing a fast buck over societal woes, Joe takes matters into his own hands leaving a trail of dead bodies in his path.
Reading this novella entitled The Hip Hop Murderer left me looking at the Hip Hop industry as a concerned parent, and what it has become. And as a former artist growing up in the eighties when rap was in its infancy this novella has made me look anew. I believe that most who read this story will think very hard before pushing the play button and letting Lil Wayne and a host of other foul-mouthed rappers blare out the speakers within the hearing range of their underage teens. When reading this novella, you will not only want to know what happens to Joe and his family, but how the Hip Hop community and FCC addresses this dilemma when faced with a killer more deadly than the DC Sniper.
Again, I must reiterate that despite any shortcomings within I still would recommend this book as a read worth ones time. I would easily give this book a 3.8 out of five stars, and that’s only due to the lack of fluency at times, in addition to the grammatical choice of words within certain aspects. I believe that if these are corrected this novella would easily surpass my current rating. I also believe this novella should be inside numerous classrooms full of many wayward teens who think that listening to Hip Hop music or otherwise, that focuses on negative portrayals is cool. Rather instead, they may learn something wise from reading this controversial story. With that being said; if one were to truly live by those same adverse lyrics…, the same will eventually leave them lying in the dust.
To find more info on Dwayne Bowen or purchase The Hip Hop Murderer. Click the links below:
http://www.facebook.com/AuthorDwayneEBowen
https://soundcloud.com/power-you
NO COMMENTS