City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success

by Nelson George

Traces the author's rise from a youth spent in Brooklyn's Brownsville housing project to a Grammy Award winner and two-time National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, in an account that describes his early family life, the pop culture that inspired his career, and his collaborations with such figures as Spike Lee and Chris Rock.

Genres: Memoir, Music, Nonfiction, African American, Biography, Writing, Autobiography

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

Nelson George is an author, filmmaker, television producer, and critic with a long career in analyzing and presenting the diverse elements of African-American culture.

Queen Latifah won the Golden Globe for playing the lead in his directorial debut, the HBO movie 'Life Support'. The critically acclaimed drama looked at the effects of HIV on a troubled black family in his native Brooklyn, New York. He recently co-edited, with Alan Leeds, 'The James Brown Reader (Plume)', a collection of previously published articles about the Godfather of Soul that date as far back the late '50s. Plume published the book in May '08.

He is an executive producer on two returning cable shows: the third season of BET's American Gangster and the fifth airing of VH1's Hip Hop Honors. George is the executive producer of the Chris Rock hosted feature documentary, Good Hair, a look at hair weaves, relaxers and the international black hair economy that's premiering at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.


Nelson George serves as host of Soul Cities, a travel show that debuted in November 2008. on VH1 Soul. Nelson visited Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Memphis, New Orleans and the Bay Area. He eats food, visits historic sites, and hears lots of music. LaBelle, Robin Thicke, Babyface, Rafael Saadiq, Angie Stone and Jazmine Sullivan are among the many artists who talked with Nelson and perform. The second season starts shooting in Spring 2009.

Throughout the '80s and '90s George was an columnist for Billboard magazine and the Village Voice newspaper, work that led him to write a series of award winning black music histories: 'Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound'; 'The Death of Rythm & Blues'; and 'Hip Hop America'. He won a Grammy for his contribution to the linear notes package on the James Brown 'Star Time' boxed set. George co-wrote 'Life and Def', the autobiography of his old friend Russell Simmons. He's also had a career writing fiction, including the bestselling 'One Woman Short', and the story, 'It's Never Too Late in New York', which has been in several anthologies of erotica.

As a screenwriter George co-wrote 'Strictly Business', which starred Halle Berry, and 'CB4', a vehicle for Chris Rock. His work with Rock led to his involvement with 'The Chris Rock Show', an Emmy award winning HBO late night series. He was an executive producer of Jim McKay's film, 'Everyday People', which premiered at the Sundance festival, and Todd Williams' Peabody award winning documentary 'The N Word'. In 2009 Viking will publish his memoir, 'City Kid', a look at the connections between childhood in Brooklyn and his adult career in Manhattan, Los Angeles and Detroit.

Reviews

[Stagger Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

George is great at writing about black music, film and culture but not so great at his own life. The account of growing up in sixties/ seventies Brooklyn is great in places but often a bit monotone, while as his writing and film career blossom it gets pretty sketchy and formulaic. It stays just short of self congratulation and name dropping - but only just - and his writing about women, except those he's related to, is pretty dismissive (he actually uses the phrase 'bevy of beauties' at one point).

But it breezes along, holds your interest and is generally pretty good natured.

[Kate]

From The Art of memoir reading list by Mary karr

[Damarys Reyes Tomczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good memories

Great to read such good memories from his life and how different paths are taken by him and family members

[Dennis Metoyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book “City Kid”, written by Nelson George, is an extremely good read. It was released in March of 2009. At the time that I read this book, I wasn’t entirely interested in reading books, but his book and the way he told the story of his life made me want to read more of his books. At times it made me laugh a bit, but it was also serious. Through the text, you could understand that he is a highly educated man. As he’s telling the story of his life, you could pretty much imagine yourself as him because of the way he was so descriptive and he really didn’t leave much out.
In this book, the author has a way of telling his life story in a way that actually keeps the reading wanting to continue. Although I read this book over a year ago, I do remember much of it and this is rare because not all books can attract me to continue reading like this one. Also, I kind of felt like there was a little bit of suspense in the story because of the way he described certain moments. He would describe it so vividly, but kind of slowly so that when he finished it led up to something very interesting. This book definitely deserves a good rating.

[Desi Bjorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This passionate memoir recounts the life of a man obsessed with the written word and enchanted by music. Coming of age in the pre-Hip Hop era of music, George gives a personalized recount of what it was like to be a music lover and striving artist.

George's work is by all definitions a memoir. It is not a biographical telling of his life that moves in chronology. Instead, the entire book centers around his love of writing and music and his determination to be a part of both worlds. George's journey towards being a professional writer is engaging and entertaining. Part of this can be attributed to his growing up and living in New York City and the other reason is that, despite having grown up in the inner city projects, George does not glamorize ghetto life (which has become the stereotypical norm of those who rise from the hood and look back).

Enjoyable, informative, and eloquent. If you love Hip Hop and/or literature, you will enjoy this book.

[Joshua Finnell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Library Journal Xpress Review:

Verdict: Readers who enjoy George’s fiction (e.g., Show & Tell), nonfiction (e.g., Hip Hop America), or film and TV production and direction work (e.g., Life Support) will appreciate this story of how he used his love of writing and music to transcend his circumstances.
Background: George grew up in the Samuel J. Tilden housing project in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, NY. Through his mother’s music and book collection, he discovered a love of soul music and literature. He writes of this passion motivating and sustaining him as he graduates from St. John’s University, becomes a successful journalist, and collaborates with some of the most influential people in black popular culture, including Spike Lee, Russell Simmons, Bryant Gumbel, and Chris Rock.—Joshua Finnell, McNeese State Univ. Lib., Lake Charles, LA

[Jesse Wadle · Rating 5 out of 5]

City Kid is about a man named Nelson George and the hardships he went through growing up in poverty. The book takes place in the mid-seventies and so on. He lived in a ghetto neighborhood of New York. He grew up in a dysfunctional family, with no father figure in his life. His single mother worked hard every single day to provide for her two childeren. His sister had also fallen victim to the streets. The humanitarian issue in this book is poverty. This book explains the issue very well. Nelson is actually the narrator of this novel, and he explains poverty through a personal perspective. I feel better informed on this issue after reading this book. I really enjoyed the book because, in order for us to understand exactly what poverty was, Nelson opened himself up and revealed secrets and personal accounts of his life.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Nelson George since I was in college and he was a music critic for the Village Voice chronicling hip-hop as a viable art form. In fact, he was my first adult "celebrity crush" (I like 'em cerebral) and I even got to hang out with him at a basketball game (I always meet my crushes eventually - and then I don't care anymore! :) Because of his close proximity to a lot of the creators and tastemakers of that time he was able to cast an educated, critical eye on what others saw as a passing phase. This memoir is great insight into how he became the acclaimed music critic, novelist, essayist, and filmmaker that he is today.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brisk slight read that really comes down to demographics. Are the 70s and 80s in New York fascinating to you? The birth of hip-hop and the mid 90s Back Arts movement. For me, yes yes and more yes. So I loved City Kid.

You may not care. This is a book with a choir it preaches to. I am in that choir. But there are moments--about families, maturity and growing up--that are transcendant, that remind me of Colson Whitehead's "Sag Harbor" which I loved even though I'm not black and from New York. And that's why I'd recommend it, even if you're standing outside this church, wondering about the shouts of joy inside.

[Chi Chi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good memoir from one of my favorite music journalists. As such, the book is weakest and most uncomfortable when he's writing about personal emotions and faults and the such. He's at his best describing scenes around him, like being around Spike Lee when She's Gotta Have it was being released, or being in L.A. during the riots with Chris Rock.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable these-were-my-salad-days memoir from the always enjoyable Nelson George. The high points were discovering George's early influences en route to becoming a notable music journalist (he dug Marvel Comics and Fellini and Hemingway...); some draggy sections follow though. Wish the editing had been better too. I caught two or three errors in titles of works, names, etc.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, didn't make it through this book...which may be the first book (non-academic) I haven't read all the way through in a long time. Im not sure what I was expecting. If you'd like to borrow it, let me know.

[Sidik Fofana · Rating 4 out of 5]

SIX WORD REVIEW: The "out the hood" how to.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's just a bit sloppy, that's all. Plus, the parts when he talks about the ladies are just a tiny bit creepy. But! It's also great to have another narrative of, as he calls himself, a black nerd.

[SaraJane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Page 15:
"Music can pull you out of the box of your location, circumstances, and the particulars of your life for as long as you sing along."

[Ronald Limberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb memoir!

[Armand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off very promising but it just gets duller and duller. Shame, I really wanted to hang in there and finish it but it was just too boring.

[M. Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning about Nelson George's journey to becoming one of the best writers of our time. The inclusions about his romantic life just did not seem to fit, they seemed thrown in.