Jooyoung Lee spent five years among rappers at the Los Angeles KAOS Network, observing and shooting video of its weekly hip-hop open mic Project Blowed. In the streets of South Central's Leimert Park neighborhood (as one performer reminds him, "This is the 'hood.... Don't be fooled by the palm trees"), Lee gathered material for Blowin' Up, his engaging study of young black men trying to build enough rap skills to blow up, from a corner spitter to a professional recording star. Lee acknowledges that it took some time for a Korean American sociologist at UCLA to win the trust of black ghetto rappers, but when he put his funk-style popper dance skills on display in a krumping battle, the MCs were impressed and began to share their personal stories. Individual anecdotes from the likes of Big Flossy, Choppa, Trenseta and NA ("No Alias") give Blowin' Up its authenticity and narrative flow.
Lee's research follows some 30 rappers from early ciphers (workshops where established peers advise them to "Get your bars up, homie... and practice your hooks"--sort of a hip-hop Iowa Writers Workshop) to a paying MTV spot or club gig. Like a playground baller with a sweet dribble, a rapper spitting frees needs to learn how to work with a team and manage his branding if he wants to go pro. Very few make it, but these young men live in an environment stacked against them with what Lee calls "existential urgency." They have few safety nets and no good Plan B, so blowin' up is their only way out. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.