Hip-Hop purists and nerds alike are sure to salivate over this new Black Thought freestyle over Nas’s Illmatic classic “N.Y. State of Mind.” Thought’s rendition is titled “Rage Is Back,” and it features the Legendary Roots Crew frontman displaying a wizardry with words on DJ Premier’s gritty beat. And if you’re wondering, yes… this is just as epic as you’d imagine.
The freestyle will appear on a project by J. Period, who was enlisted by New York Times best-selling author Adam Mansbach to create a mixtape as a companion-piece to his new novel, also titled Rage Is Back. The novel is set in New York City, and is already being called “the great American graffiti novel.”
Literate Hip-Hop heads can purchase Rage is Back from the iTunes bookstore here. Also Amazon’s “Book of the Month,” those who prefer print can purchase the hardcover or the Kindle version for the tech savvy.
Listen to “Rage Is Back,” and reada description of the novel, below.
In this mind-bending journey through a subterranean world of epic heroes, villains, and eccentrics, Adam Mansbach balances an intricately plotted, high-stakes caper with a wildly inventive tale of time travel and shamanism, prodigal fathers and sons, and the hilariously intertwined realms of art, crime, and spirituality. Moving throughout New York City’s unseen communities, from the tunnel camps of the Mole People to the drug dens of Crown Heights, Rage Is Back is a kaleidoscopic tour de force from a writer at the top of his game.
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Photo: Philly 360
