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Quote by Jess Row

“My parents didn't really restrict my movement, so I got involved in the underground music scene and the activism scene; I was doing some volunteering in food relief. I spent a lot of time throughout the city in poor areas, even though my family lived in a wealthy area.”

Quote by Jess Row

Author

Jess Row, born on October 25, 1974, is an American short story writer known for his unique perspective and profound insights into the complexities of modern urban life. more

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“I was relatively isolated from people of color. My parents are too old to be Baby Boomers; they had me later in life. So we didn't listen to any black music at all in the house, not even Ben E. King.”

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“One must distance oneself from the idea of strict realism. It seems to me that real nature doesn't exist anymore, this idea of "the wild." This is why I love parks, and why I chose to use them in my work - they are beyond nature. I see nature as a resource.”

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“I was raised with opera and very white-bread folk music like The Kingston Trio. That was about as daring as it got. So when I discovered hip-hop as a teenager, at first it made no sense to me at all.”

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“The hip-hop that I really connected with was Public Enemy, KRS-One, Ice Cube, and N.W.A. That late '80s and early '90s era. The beginning of gangster rap and the beginning of politically conscious rap. I had a very immature, adolescent feeling of, "Wow, I can really connect with these people through the stories they're telling in this music."”

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“Hip-hop is mostly what I listen to, other than jazz. I've given up on pop music and indie rock.”

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“The gestures and the swagger and the attitude of black men is imitated everywhere in American culture, but people still find black men intolerable.”

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