10 Hip-Hop Authors

As Hip-Hop continues to grow and expand it's reach beyond music, it seems as if more and more rappers are adding the title "author" to their resumes.

Just this week Common released his book, One Day It'll All Make Sense, adding to a list of rappers like Jay-Z, Malice, T.I. and Nas, who have either released books or signed book deals in the last 12 months.

Hit the next pages to view our list of Hip-Hop rappers that have put down the mic to pen books.

Enter the Vook. It is what it sounds like. The Vook's makers claim it blends text and video in a single, uninterrupted reading and viewing experience.

This new reading format allows the reader to read and watch high-quality, professionally produced video with visuals that add more depth and advance the plot of the story more than static pictures or illustrations.

Four vooks have already been published by Atria Books as part of a partnership between Simon & Schuster, Inc., and Vook. These titles are available in two formats: standalone mobile applications for the iPhone and iPod touch (at the Apple App Store), or as Web browser based editions simonandschuster.com and vook.com.

The four books available now are:
PROMISES by Jude Deveraux
$6.99
131 pages/17 videos

EMBASSY by Richard Doetsch
$6.99
125 pages/13 videos

RETURN TO BEAUTY by Narine Nikogosian
$6.99
83 pages/16 videos

THE 90-SECOND FITNESS SOLUTION by Pete Cerqua
$6.99
170 pages/13 videos

Check out the demo below and tell us if you think this is a game changer. Will it make you read more?

In "Only The Rich Can Save Us" millionaires and billionaires are super heroes that save the world. As of late right wingers and their followers have been reading the works of author Ayn Rand, whose book themes involved the wealthy going against the meddlesome government and an elite class of superior human individuals rejecting altruism.

Rand's books have been bestsellers all over again for the past 2 years now. Nader's book is promoting ideas about the exact opposite.

In Nader's vision of his practical utopia the super rich investor, businessman, and philanthropist Warren Buffett is so moved by the post-hurricane Katrina media coverage he goes to New Orleans himself to help the families in need. While he's there an African American grandmother tells him "Only the super-rich can save us."

Inspired, Buffett gets together 17 older, super-rich Americans to develop a plan to save the Untied States. The team includes Fox Network founder Barry Diller, Ross Perot, Yoko Ono, Phil Donahue, William Gates, Sr., Leonard Riggio, Bernard Rapoport and even the super-rich Bill Cosby.

Nader insists the strength of "Only The Rich Can Save Us" is the lift the reader can get from freeing up the imagination in a positive way to come up with solutions for our current grim realities.

The President Obama critic says his book also details step by step tactics and strategies of how the superheroes save the country to act as a blueprint or starting point in real life for its readers.

Ralph Nader has been called a spoiler, among other things, for his sporadic presidential runs that "threatened to take votes away" from the Democratic Party in the 2000 presidential election. That is actually not possible because the Democratic Party still manages to be unattractive to many who would be their natural base all on their own.

I think it's interesting that the starting point for the Warren Buffett character to actively try to save the country was an African American grandmother in post Katrina New Orleans. I don't advocate following Ralph Nader into hell, but as a so called spoiler, third party candidate, and presidential critic Nader has consistently raised some points that are important for people, especially Black people, to consider.

Ralph Nader was one of the only presidential candidates in 2000 to even mention redlining, the institutionalized practice of systematically segregating Black people, and others, into poor neighborhoods for example.

As for "Only The Rich Can Save Us", the real life super rich were happy to make appearances in the book. Ted Turner even sent a thank-you note.

"Only The Rich Can Save Us" was released by Seven Stories Press last week and is in stores now.