Hanif Abdurraqib
In They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, Hanif Abduraqqib tackles American culture through the prism of music. His analysis forms a lens on what it means to be black in modern America. He focuses on the significance, message, band members, and historical and political context of rap music. Weaving in and out of his discussion are personal details of his upbringing, family, friends, and neighborhood. He includes insights about Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Nina Simone, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Marvin Gaye.
What may seem like a disparate collection of essays about a variety of different topics coalesces around the theme of struggling to survive in a culture that frequently demands silence and invisibility of its black population and perpetrates violence against black bodies. Abdurraqib writes with urgency, sincerity, and passion. There is a breathless quality to his writing, as if he is rushing to get his thoughts on paper. Music is his vessel through which he feels and processes what is happening around him. It serves as a reminder of who he is, where he came from, whom he loved, and whom he lost.
Abdurraqib’s navigates effortlessly from music to life and/or death. Each informs the other in an intertwining dance. In one breath, he describes what it’s like to be the only black audience member in a Bruce Springsteen concert before he transitions to visiting the grave of Michael Brown. His writing is suffused with genuine heartache at the suffering of those caught at the intersection of race, class, and gender. He eulogizes young black lives cut short by racial violence. He speaks of being a Muslim and of prejudice against Muslims, especially after 9/11. Some essays are more poignant than others; some encapsulate moments of joy in an otherwise bleak environment—moments that carry us forward and give us hope to continue. All essays contain nuggets of piercing insight of what it means to be black in America. And all are in diction that is eloquent, lyrical, and moving.
Hanif Abdurraqib is not only a sensitive and astute critic of culture. He is a gifted writer whose prose captures the rhythm, lyricism, and intensity of poetry.