Triksta: life and death and New Orleans rap by Nik Cohn

What happens when a middle-aged white male music journalist who's obsessed
with New Orleans sets out to make a rap album. This book takes you deep
into the poverty and struggle of the real pre-Katrina New Orleans behind
the tourist facade. Even if you don't care about or for rap this is still a
gripping read about personal journey across cultures. If you do want to
know more about rap Cohn's stories of the rappers he works with help to
explain what gangsta is all about. There is a final chapter added to the
paperback edition after Hurricane Katrina with personal inside stories of
what happened and his own return after the flood. Rap lives on but the New
Orleans he both hated and loved - the old quarters with their rich street
culture and family networks is gone forever. Yet sadly the gangs with the
drugs and the guns are returning because where else will have them.