{"product_id":"9781608461585","title":"L-vis Lives!: Racemusic Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003eFROM THE POET the \u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e calls “the new voice of Chicago,” comes \u003ci\u003eL-vis Lives!\u003c\/i\u003e, a bold new collection of poetry and prose exploring the collision of race, art, and appropriation in American culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eL-vis is an imagined persona, a representation of artists who have used and misused Black music. Like so many others who gained fame and fortune from their sampling, L-vis is as much a sincere artist as he is a thief. In Kevin Coval's poems, L-vis' story is equal parts forgotten history, autobiography, and re-imaginings. We see shades of Elvis Presley, the Beastie Boys, and Eminem, and meet some of history's more obscure “whiteboy” heroes and anti-heroes: legendary breakdancers, political activists, and music impresarios.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA story of both artistic theft and radical invention, \u003ci\u003eL-vis Lives!\u003c\/i\u003e is a poetic novella on all of the possibilities and problems of “post-racial” American culture—where Black art is still at times only fully accepted in a white face, and every once in a while an “L-vis” comes along to step in to the void.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ei am a hero\u003cbr\u003eto most. the great hope\u003cbr\u003eof something other.\u003cbr\u003ea complex back-story.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003esomething other than\u003cbr\u003ethe business of my father.\u003cbr\u003ebland’s antonym.\u003cbr\u003ejim crow’s black sheep.\u003cbr\u003ethe forgotten son\u003cbr\u003eleft to rise in the darkness\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eamong the dis\u003cbr\u003ecarded in the wild\u003cbr\u003eof working class, single\u003cbr\u003emother hoods. a hero\u003cbr\u003ewho transcends\u003cbr\u003ewho translates the dis\u003cbr\u003esatisfactions of the plains;\u003cbr\u003ekids of kurt cobain,\u003cbr\u003emethod man amphetamine,\u003cbr\u003ethe odd Iowan who digs dirt\u003cbr\u003eand lights beyond the pig yard,\u003cbr\u003espits nebraskan argot,\u003cbr\u003ehero to the heart\u003cbr\u003eland, middle brow(n) america\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Haymarket Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47129809322224,"sku":"9781608461585","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781608461585_p0.jpg?v=1763835537","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781608461585","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}