Chamber Music - by Will Ashon (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Will Ashon tells, in 36 interlinked 'chambers', the story of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and how it changed the world. As unexpected and complex as the album itself, Chamber Music ranges from provocative essays to semi-comic skits, from deep scholarly analysis to satirical celebration, seeking to contextualize, reveal and honor this singular work of art. Chamber Music is an explosive and revelatory new way of writing about music and culture."--

Book Synopsis

"Each of these chambers contains wonders of history, destiny, and mythology. Chamber Music is hip hop as race and class politics, as music and as poetry on the move. Through Ashon's vibrant textured prose we watch in awe as these young men seize on whatever the culture has to offer, sampling leftovers and legacies, making themselves into ferocious artists" --Margo Jefferson, award-winning author of Negroland

"Stylistically loaded, reckless, funny, naked, thorough, thoughtful, mysterious, devastating, unrelenting, and compassionate. One of the most rewarding pieces of hip hop criticism ever written."--Jeff Chang, author of We Gon' Be All Right: Notes on Race and Resegregation and Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation

Will Ashon tells, in 36 interlinked "chambers", the story of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and how it changed the world. As unexpected and complex as the album itself, Chamber Music ranges from provocative essays to semi-comic skits, from deep scholarly analysis to satirical celebration, seeking to contextualize, reveal and honor this singular work of art. Chamber Music is an explosive and revelatory new way of writing about music and culture.

Review Quotes

"There has never been a book quite like Will Ashon's Chamber Music.. his narrative is never less than fascinating and meticulously researched.. his descriptions of the group's music are so charged and thrilling that they make relistening to their work seem a matter of urgency."--Guardian

"A conceptually audacious critical study about the conceptual audacity of the Wu-Tang Clan--and well beyond.... Hip-hop fans and anyone interested in the deeper seams of American culture will be glad [he wrote it.]"--*****STARRED KIRKUS REVIEW

About the Author

Will Ashon was born in Leicester in 1969. Having worked as a music journalist, he founded the record label Big Dada Recordings in 1996, which he ran for over fifteen years, signing acts like Roots Manuva, Wiley, Diplo, Kate Tempest, and Young Fathers and, in the process, winning the Mercury Music Prize twice. He lives in London.