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Books Hip-Hop Music Rap Reviews

“The Motherlode” – A Beautiful, Undefinable History of Women in Hip-Hop

“Men write history, but women live it.”

Chloe Angyal

It’s true that history is written by the victors, but it’s also been predominately written by men. That is especially true in hip-hop. As the culture closes in on its fiftieth birthday, the contributions of women, whether behind the mic or behind the scenes, have been largely overlooked, marginalized, or outright ignored.

The Motherlode (Abrams, 2021) by Clover Hope could help begin to change that. A cogent and forceful entry in the ongoing need to give the ladies their due, it is a book that is undefinable, or at least not easily categorized, that also happens to be the definitive history of women in hip-hop.

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Films Movies

“The Godfather Coda” – Better Than “Part III,” Which Was Better Than You Remember

The Godfather Part II is not only my favorite film, but I would argue it is the finest film I have ever seen. It’s a perfect movie, from start to finish. No film could ever hope to succeed it.

So when I, one of the staunchest defenders of The Godfather Part III, heard that it would be getting a new edit, I was both curious and excited to see what Francis Ford Coppola did to restore – as much as he could thirty years later – his final film on Michael Corleone.