In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

18 White Girl in a Record Store Ho-tel, Mo-tel, what ya gonna do today (say what)/ Gonna get a fly girl, gonna get some spank n’ drive off in a def O.J. —Sugarhill Gang I walk into Stedeford’s on the North Side looking for Rapper’s Delight 20 years late, see the Black Power reissue & want Curtis Mayfield & the speech by Stokely. The owner yells: Hey Art, grab #8604, Black Power & everybody looks up: white girl in a record store wants diamond in the back/sunroof top— the 10-year-old begging his mother for some Ne-Yo & the drugged-out guy with an arm cast who’s falling into the stacks— then heads back down to slapping CDs in their bins. The owner puts on James Brown: I’m Black and I’m Proud—yells back at me: we just got in that Obama song, what’s it called, Art? A deep voice from the back: Yes We Can— & I want to hide, like he thinks now Obama’s in, I’ve had my awakening (maybe he’s making a sale) Art, why don’t you grab that one, too. [Art, a.k.a. The Funkster, knows every R&B album, is president of the George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic fan club] & inside not wanting to be that white/ that clueless—whatever cool I had is gone/ I slide toward the door/ Art yelling after me: We got some Tupac shirts on sale out front—I leave with the Isley Brothers, Fight the Power. ...

Share