In my last few Substacks I’ve written about a variety of music books that could be potential Christmas gifts. Well, my wife had a bit of a beef. What about your books Nelson? Hard to argue with her logic. I’ve had a real upswing in people reading this newsletter in the last month and, I suspect, many of you may not know my publishing history. My best known books have looked at aspects of African-American musical history — such as Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound, The Death of Rhythm & Blues, Hip Hop America and The Hippest Trip in America about the long running Soul Train television show.
Through the independent publisher Pacific Books I published a collection that is also the name of this Substack - The Nelson George Mixtape Vol. 1. I’ve got plenty of material for a volume 2 and hope to get around to it in 2023.
There’s also a collection of writings, mostly from my years contributing to the Village Voice, called Buppies, Bboys, Baps & Bohos: Notes on Post-Soul Black Culture.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=buppies+bboys+baps+and+bohos+nelson+george&i=stripbooks&crid=1I9033QZOAHUY&sprefix=buppies+bboys+baps+and+bohos+nelson+george%2Cstripbooks%2C91&ref=nb_sb_noss
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Rhythm-Blues-Nelson-George/dp/0142004081
https://www.amazon.com/Where-Did-Our-Love-Go/dp/025207498X/ref=pd_lpo_2?pd_rd_w=o0W4l&content-id=amzn1.sym.116f529c-aa4d-4763-b2b6-4d614ec7dc00&pf_rd_p=116f529c-aa4d-4763-b2b6-4d614ec7dc00&pf_rd_r=6D0WWNDTT12VRZ7D8D37&pd_rd_wg=sYWU5&pd_rd_r=a7cd0c2a-ff1c-4a1a-96c3-2d66768046f9&pd_rd_i=025207498X&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/Hippest-Trip-America-Evolution-Culture/dp/0062221043/ref=pd_bxgy_img_sccl_2/138-1795675-2987513?pd_rd_w=O6lYo&content-id=amzn1.sym.7f0cf323-50c6-49e3-b3f9-63546bb79c92&pf_rd_p=7f0cf323-50c6-49e3-b3f9-63546bb79c92&pf_rd_r=QH2PGMN8PY2HTKM42XJQ&pd_rd_wg=aISoq&pd_rd_r=f4d20e57-3e15-4ddc-b0bc-682696a7af85&pd_rd_i=0062221043&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/Hip-Hop-America-Nelson-George/dp/0143035150/ref=d_pd_sim_sccl_3_5/138-1795675-2987513?pd_rd_w=co8sI&content-id=amzn1.sym.9125e5ab-ea95-44ef-9958-112d5f0f26f0&pf_rd_p=9125e5ab-ea95-44ef-9958-112d5f0f26f0&pf_rd_r=7X86BVG8J2FK1Y1W612A&pd_rd_wg=Rz37S&pd_rd_r=c68bf598-baaa-4a4a-880e-4f07f6b66c8e&pd_rd_i=0143035150&psc=1
https://www.pacificpacific.pub/collections/books/products/the-nelson-george-mixtape-volume-1-softcover-1
What a lot of folks don’t know is that I’ve also had a career as a crime novelist. My central character is a dude named D Hunter, bodyguard, sometime detective and talent manager. I’ve done five novels featuring the D. The most popular of the quintet is The Plot Against Hip Hop, which utilizes the various conspiracy theories as a jumping off point for my look at hip hop’s twists and turns.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+plot+against+hip+hop&i=stripbooks&crid=32YJKYDUXRA4U&sprefix=the+plot+against+hip%2Cstripbooks%2C108&ref=nb_sb_ss_fb_1_20
In the last few years documentary filmmaking has taken up most of time. I’ve been working a book, but its on the back burner. Hopefully I can clear some time to focus on it this winter. In the meantime here’s a bit of my literary catalog. If you enjoy music I’m sure one of these books will hold your interest.