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Boyz n the Void: a mixtape to my brother
Writing to his brother, G'Ra Asim reflects on building his own identity while navigating Blackness, masculinity, and young adulthood--all through wry social commentary and music/pop culture critique
How does one approach Blackness, masculinity, otherness, and the perils of young adulthood? For G'Ra Asim, punk music offers an outlet to express himself freely. As his younger brother, Gyasi, grapples with finding his footing in the world, G'Ra gifts him with a survival guide for tackling the sometimes treacherous cultural terrain particular to being young, Black, brainy, and weird in the form of a mixtape.
Boyz n the Void: a mixtape to my brother blends music and cultural criticism and personal essay to explore race, gender, class, and sexuality as they pertain to punk rock and straight edge culture. Using totemic punk rock songs on a mixtape to anchor each chapter, the book documents an intergenerational conversation between a Millennial in his 30s and his Generation Z teenage brother. Author, punk musician, and straight edge kid, G'Ra Asim weaves together memoir and cultural commentary, diving into the depths of everything from theory to comic strips, to poetry to pizza commercials to mapping the predicament of the Black creative intellectual.
With each chapter dedicated to a particular song and placed within the context of a fraternal bond, Asim presents his brother with a roadmap to self-actualization in the form of a Doc Martened foot to the behind and a sweaty, circle-pit-side-armed hug.
How does one approach Blackness, masculinity, otherness, and the perils of young adulthood? For G'Ra Asim, punk music offers an outlet to express himself freely. As his younger brother, Gyasi, grapples with finding his footing in the world, G'Ra gifts him with a survival guide for tackling the sometimes treacherous cultural terrain particular to being young, Black, brainy, and weird in the form of a mixtape.
Boyz n the Void: a mixtape to my brother blends music and cultural criticism and personal essay to explore race, gender, class, and sexuality as they pertain to punk rock and straight edge culture. Using totemic punk rock songs on a mixtape to anchor each chapter, the book documents an intergenerational conversation between a Millennial in his 30s and his Generation Z teenage brother. Author, punk musician, and straight edge kid, G'Ra Asim weaves together memoir and cultural commentary, diving into the depths of everything from theory to comic strips, to poetry to pizza commercials to mapping the predicament of the Black creative intellectual.
With each chapter dedicated to a particular song and placed within the context of a fraternal bond, Asim presents his brother with a roadmap to self-actualization in the form of a Doc Martened foot to the behind and a sweaty, circle-pit-side-armed hug.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published May 11, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 1, 2021
This book is ostensibly written by the 30 something G'Ra Asim to his teenaged brother Gyasi. The intention is to explore the “.....chasm between the value system of the house we grew up in and the broader culture in which we reside.” It is partly autobiographical (my favorite part) and partly a sociological exploration of race, gender, identity and cultural norms.
G'Ra is a writing professor and punk musician and a lot of this book is about punk. I doubt that I have ever heard a punk song and I didn’t even recognize the names of any of the punk groups that the author references, so I guess that I am not the target audience for this book. However, if the author wants to grab the attention of teenagers he should use fewer sentences like this: “Post-conventional identity is what I see as a kind of practical triangulation between Charles Cooley’s looking-glass self, Lawrence Kohlberg’s post-conventional morality and W.E.B. DuBois’s double consciousness.” Or this: “Between being raised in a poor, black, bohemian family of quixotic values and answering to an ambiguously ethnic, unpronounceable name, I felt keenly an irreducible otherness that I thought would always exclude me from the normative ideals of society.” I found parts of this book interesting but parts seemed a little pompous. 3.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
G'Ra is a writing professor and punk musician and a lot of this book is about punk. I doubt that I have ever heard a punk song and I didn’t even recognize the names of any of the punk groups that the author references, so I guess that I am not the target audience for this book. However, if the author wants to grab the attention of teenagers he should use fewer sentences like this: “Post-conventional identity is what I see as a kind of practical triangulation between Charles Cooley’s looking-glass self, Lawrence Kohlberg’s post-conventional morality and W.E.B. DuBois’s double consciousness.” Or this: “Between being raised in a poor, black, bohemian family of quixotic values and answering to an ambiguously ethnic, unpronounceable name, I felt keenly an irreducible otherness that I thought would always exclude me from the normative ideals of society.” I found parts of this book interesting but parts seemed a little pompous. 3.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
November 17, 2021
Simon says:
A pleasurable and heady manifesto about race, identity, and punk rock, Asim’s collection of essays is simultaneously humorous and academic. Each chapter is an annotation to a song on a mixtape made for the author’s younger brother. The annotations are jumping off points for thoughtful commentary on socio-political issues: Asim creates a type of guidebook for growing up Black—the title refers to Asim’s assertion that Black people are made to be invisible in a cultural context, a monolith of scary stereotypes that erase individuality. Grappling with his identity as a Black punk rocker, Asim delivers funny and insightful explorations concerning the cultural expectations of what defines Blackness. The personal anecdotes Asim weaves through his thought experiments make heavy topics digestible, and there’s a light touch that lends a briskness to the heady proceedings.
A pleasurable and heady manifesto about race, identity, and punk rock, Asim’s collection of essays is simultaneously humorous and academic. Each chapter is an annotation to a song on a mixtape made for the author’s younger brother. The annotations are jumping off points for thoughtful commentary on socio-political issues: Asim creates a type of guidebook for growing up Black—the title refers to Asim’s assertion that Black people are made to be invisible in a cultural context, a monolith of scary stereotypes that erase individuality. Grappling with his identity as a Black punk rocker, Asim delivers funny and insightful explorations concerning the cultural expectations of what defines Blackness. The personal anecdotes Asim weaves through his thought experiments make heavy topics digestible, and there’s a light touch that lends a briskness to the heady proceedings.
April 1, 2021
This book is a bit of a mash-up of Between the World and Me, and Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes on A Tribe Called Quest. However, while it was well written, and interesting, it didn't have the spark of either of the aforementioned books.
G'Ra Asim is making a mixtape for his little brother Gyasi, and has written essays describing his choices. He is eager to impart on his brother his hard won lessons of life, framed through his love of punk, his love of words and learning, and his love of their family. The essays are pretty good, and when they hit a certain stride they are great. For me this would have worked better as a memoir because I was riveted when Asim described scenes from his life. As a highly intelligent (it seems to run in the family; the author Jabari Asim is G'Ra and Gyasi's father) young man chafing against the typical stereotypes handed off to black men, G'Ra is compelling. He loves punk music, and finds comfort in its philosophy. He went from being the kid of working class parents in gang riddled St. Louis, to being the child of more affluent intellectuals in Balitmore. Along the way he talks sibling rivalry, issues with teachers and classmates, working and playing music, and the day when his mother had to carry his bicycle home with gang members shooting their guns around her. (She made G'Ra and his brother run ahead of her, and the guilt he felt leaving her behind, even at her insistence, is palpable.) When G'Ra is not talking about memories of his life, he is talking a lot about the history of punk, which didn't interest me at all. The punk angle may be a draw for some people, but punk music has never been my jam, so I wasn't that interested in reading about it. I went to high school in Northern California where all the white boys were obsessed with idiotic bands like Blink-182, NOFX, Ten Foot Pole, etc. He also goes on long tangents about his own takes on life, and these sections got so wordy I ended up skimming them just to get the basic idea. The point that was buried in these long paragraphs was often interesting, but I felt like I was digging up boulders to get to them.
In my opinion, Go Ahead in the Rain is a much more deftly crafted book, but then, I am huge fan of hip hop, so take that statement with a lump of salt. Boyz in the Void is a pretty good book, one that would appeal to punk fans, but it didn't have enough of a heart. Most of the time it felt like reading a textbook except for moments when the author managed to show a moment of soaring spirit. The rest of it was bogged down with words.
G'Ra Asim is making a mixtape for his little brother Gyasi, and has written essays describing his choices. He is eager to impart on his brother his hard won lessons of life, framed through his love of punk, his love of words and learning, and his love of their family. The essays are pretty good, and when they hit a certain stride they are great. For me this would have worked better as a memoir because I was riveted when Asim described scenes from his life. As a highly intelligent (it seems to run in the family; the author Jabari Asim is G'Ra and Gyasi's father) young man chafing against the typical stereotypes handed off to black men, G'Ra is compelling. He loves punk music, and finds comfort in its philosophy. He went from being the kid of working class parents in gang riddled St. Louis, to being the child of more affluent intellectuals in Balitmore. Along the way he talks sibling rivalry, issues with teachers and classmates, working and playing music, and the day when his mother had to carry his bicycle home with gang members shooting their guns around her. (She made G'Ra and his brother run ahead of her, and the guilt he felt leaving her behind, even at her insistence, is palpable.) When G'Ra is not talking about memories of his life, he is talking a lot about the history of punk, which didn't interest me at all. The punk angle may be a draw for some people, but punk music has never been my jam, so I wasn't that interested in reading about it. I went to high school in Northern California where all the white boys were obsessed with idiotic bands like Blink-182, NOFX, Ten Foot Pole, etc. He also goes on long tangents about his own takes on life, and these sections got so wordy I ended up skimming them just to get the basic idea. The point that was buried in these long paragraphs was often interesting, but I felt like I was digging up boulders to get to them.
In my opinion, Go Ahead in the Rain is a much more deftly crafted book, but then, I am huge fan of hip hop, so take that statement with a lump of salt. Boyz in the Void is a pretty good book, one that would appeal to punk fans, but it didn't have enough of a heart. Most of the time it felt like reading a textbook except for moments when the author managed to show a moment of soaring spirit. The rest of it was bogged down with words.
did-not-finish
January 13, 2022DNF @ 26%
Other than the author's brother, I am not entirely sure who this book is for. This book sits at an interesting intersection of literary traditions, I took a class on autobiographical forms and almost everything I studied I can see reflections of in this book. Obviously, this bears some resemblance to both James Baldwin writing to his nephew, and Hanif Abdurraqib's Go Ahead in the Rain in terms of using a discography as a lens for memoir, but Asim doesn't navigate these forms as deftly. Perhaps it's because his lens of punk rock (which he labels as dominated by white cishetero men) is not necessarily an accessible or mainstream popular sphere and so it requires more introduction than A Tribe Called Quest did for Abdurraqib's audience, but also it seems that Asim doesn't fully bring together how punk rock shapes his life and has lessons for his brother. Mind you, I am dnf-ing this so this might be better developed towards the end, but another issue I have with this collection is the length of the essays. They feel overly long and meandering and I found myself not quite knowing what the specific point of each essay was. I also think that language-wise this is a relatively inaccessible book because of how heavy handed some of the academic jargon is, and this again begs the question of who is the audience other than the brother, because I wasn't sure. I think this would slot in well to a course like the autobiography one I took simply because of how it experiments with form, but outside of an academic setting, I don't know who's picking this book up.
Other than the author's brother, I am not entirely sure who this book is for. This book sits at an interesting intersection of literary traditions, I took a class on autobiographical forms and almost everything I studied I can see reflections of in this book. Obviously, this bears some resemblance to both James Baldwin writing to his nephew, and Hanif Abdurraqib's Go Ahead in the Rain in terms of using a discography as a lens for memoir, but Asim doesn't navigate these forms as deftly. Perhaps it's because his lens of punk rock (which he labels as dominated by white cishetero men) is not necessarily an accessible or mainstream popular sphere and so it requires more introduction than A Tribe Called Quest did for Abdurraqib's audience, but also it seems that Asim doesn't fully bring together how punk rock shapes his life and has lessons for his brother. Mind you, I am dnf-ing this so this might be better developed towards the end, but another issue I have with this collection is the length of the essays. They feel overly long and meandering and I found myself not quite knowing what the specific point of each essay was. I also think that language-wise this is a relatively inaccessible book because of how heavy handed some of the academic jargon is, and this again begs the question of who is the audience other than the brother, because I wasn't sure. I think this would slot in well to a course like the autobiography one I took simply because of how it experiments with form, but outside of an academic setting, I don't know who's picking this book up.
June 21, 2021
Might first thought was, “You got all of that out of an Anti-Flag song?”
My last thought was, “Oh yeah, of course, Bad Brains contains multitudes!”
Mostly, though, the punk rock was shoehorned into the woke-ness, which itself was shoehorned into the bio stuff - the best part (and plenty woke unto itself)
Or at least, it spoke to me. I was a young man in the DC suburbs listening to these same bands at the turn of the century, too. So it was fun, kinda catching the nostalgia. And while, ultimately, I enjoyed Boyz in the Void, I’m not sure I’d recommend it to anyone beyond my main man Ali.
My last thought was, “Oh yeah, of course, Bad Brains contains multitudes!”
Mostly, though, the punk rock was shoehorned into the woke-ness, which itself was shoehorned into the bio stuff - the best part (and plenty woke unto itself)
Or at least, it spoke to me. I was a young man in the DC suburbs listening to these same bands at the turn of the century, too. So it was fun, kinda catching the nostalgia. And while, ultimately, I enjoyed Boyz in the Void, I’m not sure I’d recommend it to anyone beyond my main man Ali.
February 26, 2021
When I began reading 'Boyz N the Void' I didn't know what to expect. What I found was an incredibly insightful, heartfelt, and well thought out book that read like an introspective journal. As a white, 38yr old mama of three I'm sure I'm not the target audience for this memoir/letter to the author's younger brother, but I really enjoyed the opportunity to read this. Punk rock has never been high on my list of listening preferences (which has always contained everything from rock to pop to R&B to classical to hip hop to rap to alternative) so the majority of the playlist contained within was new to me. As an activist from the age of fifteen onward I was able to appreciate G'Ra's lifelong quest for knowledge and revolutionary ideals found outside the inane regurgitation of thought which runs so prominently throughout the masses. While I may not understand what it's like to be a young, black man I can fully relate on some levels. The broken and corrupt systems which run this country (and the world at large really) have never treated everyone equally, and until freedom and equality are applied to everyone, no matter their pigmentation or financial situation, true freedom and equality will not exist. Until and unless racism becomes nothing more than an archaic evil of the past we all need to do better, stand together, and fight for a better future. We owe it to not only to our children, the generations yet to come but those who came long before us. I hope that the author's brother appreciates the insight bestowed upon him and I really hope that this book will help to bridge some gaps of understanding.
Thank you to Shelf Awareness and Beacon Press for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book!
Thank you to Shelf Awareness and Beacon Press for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book!
April 20, 2021
I waited to write this review because I wasn’t altogether certain how to write a review about a book that, on the surface, held promise but, in reality, missed the mark. At least for me.
People have compared this to Between the World and Me—a book I loved and still adore to this day—but it lacked the gravitas of Coates’s work; I simply couldn’t connect with G’Ra Asim’s experience, and it had nothing to do with his inability to convey the difficulties he faced, bleh does that very well, but he spends so much time speaking about the music that you lose the thread of the matter.
I know more about the bands Asim loves, and why, than I do about how those bands led him to something greater within himself as a man; a something that led him to being the kind of older brother capable of assisting his younger one in navigating his own otherness.
What I did understand is Asim loves punk music but he wishes a genre built on non-conformity wasn’t still so annoyingly centered in conformist ideals—particularly as they relate to race, sex, and gender.
I got that in spades ...and every now and then Asim would seemingly remember this was supposed to be about his brother and he’d try to tie it altogether.
Perhaps, and I can’t say this enough, this simply wasn’t a book meant for me. It certainly has its high-points but they don’t stick in my mind long enough to give them mention.
In the end, the book fell flat for me.
Thanks to Edelweiss+ for the ARC. Opinion is my own.
People have compared this to Between the World and Me—a book I loved and still adore to this day—but it lacked the gravitas of Coates’s work; I simply couldn’t connect with G’Ra Asim’s experience, and it had nothing to do with his inability to convey the difficulties he faced, bleh does that very well, but he spends so much time speaking about the music that you lose the thread of the matter.
I know more about the bands Asim loves, and why, than I do about how those bands led him to something greater within himself as a man; a something that led him to being the kind of older brother capable of assisting his younger one in navigating his own otherness.
What I did understand is Asim loves punk music but he wishes a genre built on non-conformity wasn’t still so annoyingly centered in conformist ideals—particularly as they relate to race, sex, and gender.
I got that in spades ...and every now and then Asim would seemingly remember this was supposed to be about his brother and he’d try to tie it altogether.
Perhaps, and I can’t say this enough, this simply wasn’t a book meant for me. It certainly has its high-points but they don’t stick in my mind long enough to give them mention.
In the end, the book fell flat for me.
Thanks to Edelweiss+ for the ARC. Opinion is my own.
June 23, 2021
Brilliant! This is personal communication with insight, shared with the public. Asim writes for and to his brother, about Blackness, culture and coming of age amidst the turmoil. A punk rocker and writing professor with ideas to share, Asim is amazing, as is his book.
I met this book at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, WA
I met this book at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, WA
October 10, 2021
This is a book my someone I knew in college, G'Ra Asim. Very thoughtful and thought provoking.
January 28, 2024
It’s only January and I feel like this is going to be the best book I’ve read this year
April 21, 2025
It all started with Propagandhi. A random conversation over my Slack at work that led to someone recommending Boyz in the Void. They had seen G’Ra give a reading and have been recommending the book ever since. Book set up as a mix tape, I was in. Always searching for a kindred writing spirit.
Though our demographics are different, I felt so connected to G’Ra, his thoughts and experiences presented through this punk rock lens invited me in. It gave me the common ground to easily connect with what he was saying, even though my experiences were totally different. We had just enough in common for him to bring me along, educate me, show me his unique world view. )I mean we are quoting Joan Didion, name dropping the Explosion, Weasel, and MTX is enough for me to ask why we are not already friends.)
It should be called out (and I do really love) that punk kids have a common frame of reference, regardless of years or decades, of states or countries, of genders or subgenera that separate our experiences. I love that punk community transcends dogmatic ethos and that it bridges the gaps of our unique intersectionality. We seem to come to the music and the community from different places and for different reasons, but the ones who stick around have found that heart and soul of the movement. It unlocks something that we didn't even realize that we were looking for.
Anyway, this is how I felt reading G’Ra’s book. This book, though I have never met him or (most likely) never even been at the same show as him, made me feel less alone/ Less alone as a writer, a punk rock kid, and as a grown adult who still carries those values with me. It makes me happy and hopeful that there are people like G’Ra in the world. That they are writing. That they are still playing in punk bands. That they are the ones teaching.
Though our demographics are different, I felt so connected to G’Ra, his thoughts and experiences presented through this punk rock lens invited me in. It gave me the common ground to easily connect with what he was saying, even though my experiences were totally different. We had just enough in common for him to bring me along, educate me, show me his unique world view. )I mean we are quoting Joan Didion, name dropping the Explosion, Weasel, and MTX is enough for me to ask why we are not already friends.)
It should be called out (and I do really love) that punk kids have a common frame of reference, regardless of years or decades, of states or countries, of genders or subgenera that separate our experiences. I love that punk community transcends dogmatic ethos and that it bridges the gaps of our unique intersectionality. We seem to come to the music and the community from different places and for different reasons, but the ones who stick around have found that heart and soul of the movement. It unlocks something that we didn't even realize that we were looking for.
Anyway, this is how I felt reading G’Ra’s book. This book, though I have never met him or (most likely) never even been at the same show as him, made me feel less alone/ Less alone as a writer, a punk rock kid, and as a grown adult who still carries those values with me. It makes me happy and hopeful that there are people like G’Ra in the world. That they are writing. That they are still playing in punk bands. That they are the ones teaching.
March 24, 2024
There were parts of this book that I absolutely adored and others that I could not vibe with. Regardless of personal opinion, Asim is a master with words. Each line is dense and layered, poetry and prose meet and greet you with a smirk and wink.
Even with all the praise I could give, I can't say I'm sure who to recommend this Mix Tape to. Maybe that's the point, beyond Gyasi, this isn't meant for any one person or group of people. It exists and if it piques your interest enough, you're sure to find something to love about it. And maybe not love. Either way, it's a great read and I'll be combing back through it sooner than later.
Even with all the praise I could give, I can't say I'm sure who to recommend this Mix Tape to. Maybe that's the point, beyond Gyasi, this isn't meant for any one person or group of people. It exists and if it piques your interest enough, you're sure to find something to love about it. And maybe not love. Either way, it's a great read and I'll be combing back through it sooner than later.
October 11, 2024
Touches on so many interesting subjects: race, class, Beat authors, punk music, education, societal blunders due to assumptions and stereotypes, etc. Reading it as academia was key for me. Dictionary a necessity for me. At times it was a “clunky” read but overall lots to take away.
March 12, 2021
3.5 stars
July 6, 2021
this book covers a lot of topics and ranks as the book where i had to look up the most words. part dissertation, autobiography and social commentary. good music choices too
October 3, 2021
A highly literate and theoretical recollection of how punk music shaped G'Ra Asim's identity, values, and perspective that the author uses as an offering of brotherly guidance.
Read
May 1, 2022Very thought-provoking in ways I wasn't expecting.
Read
September 9, 20253.5⭐
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