DaChickenShack’s Fall Reading List For Millennials

DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS by Walter Mosley

A mystery about a unwilling Texas native day laborer forced to become a Los Angeles detective. Devil in a Blue Dress, a defining novel in Walter Mosley’s bestselling Easy Rawlins mystery series, was adapted into a TriStar Pictures film starring Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins and Don Cheadle as Mouse.

ADDICTED by Zane

For successful African-American businesswoman Zoe Reynard, finding the pleasure she wants, the way she wants it, is not worth the risk of losing everything she has: marriage to the man she has loved since childhood, a thriving company, and three wonderful children. But Zoe feels helpless in the grip of an overpowering addiction…to sex. The book was made into a movie starring Tyson Beckford, Boris Kodjoe and Sharon Leal as Zoe.

BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World is a novel written in 1931 by Aldous Huxley. Set in London of AD 2540 (632 A.F.—”After Ford”—in the book), the novel anticipates developments in drug abuse, reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning that combine to profoundly change society.

ASSATA by Assata Shakur

With wit and candor, Assata Shakur recounts the experiences that led her to a life of activism and portrays the strengths, weaknesses, and eventual demise of Black and White revolutionary groups at the hand of government officials. The result is a signal contribution to the literature about growing up Black in America that has already taken its place alongside The Autobiography of Malcolm X and the works of Maya Angelou.

NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS by Frederick Douglass

In this, the first and most frequently read of his three autobiographies, Douglass provides graphic descriptions of his childhood and horrifying experiences as a slave as well as a harrowing record of his dramatic escape to the North and eventual freedom. Former slave, impassioned abolitionist, brilliant writer, newspaper editor and eloquent orator whose speeches fired the abolitionist cause, Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) led an astounding life.

DaChickenShack’s Summer Reading List for Millennials

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X as told to Alex Haley

Alex Haley coauthored the autobiography based on a series of in-depth interviews he conducted between 1963 and Malcolm X’s 1965 assassination. The Autobiography is a spiritual narrative that outlines Malcolm X’s philosophy of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A must read.

THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist follows a young Andalusian shepherd named Santiago in his journey to Egypt, after having a recurring dream of finding treasure there.

1984 by George Orwell

1984, is a dystopian novel by George Orwell published in 1949. The novel is set in Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain), a province of the superstate Oceania in a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public manipulation, dictated by a political system under the control of a privileged Inner Party elite that persecutes all individualism and independent thinking as “thoughtcrimes”.

THE COLDEST WINTER EVER by Sister Souljah

Set in the projects of Brooklyn, New York, The Coldest Winter Ever is the story of Winter Santiaga (aptly named because she was born during one of New York’s worst snowstorms), the rebellious, pampered teenage daughter of a notorious drug dealer.

BLACK LIKE ME by John Howard Griffin

Black Like Me is a nonfiction book by journalist John Howard Griffin first published in 1961. Griffin was a white native of Dallas, Texas and the book describes his six-week experience travelling on Greyhound buses (occasionally hitchhiking) throughout the racially segregated states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia passing as a black man.

Devin The Dude| SPOTLIGHT

Every so often an artist comes along and changes the course of things. Innovative original style. Edgy foresight. A stupid dope vision.
These are a few of the components that make up some of the best artist of the times. Imagine if Micheal Jackson had’ve fizzled out after his Motown deal in the 70s. Imagine if 50 Cent had died in that near fatal shooting that left him with an alleged 9 bullet holes. Imagine if Diddy had’ve graduated from Howard business school in the 90s and gone off to Wall Street instead of Beat Street. The songs and styles we all know them best for would have gone unheard.
Devin The Dude has never been the biggest artist in the game, he’s never had the “machine” behind him, he’s never even won an award for music as far as we know (Dr.Dre’s Chronic 2001 where Devin croons a hook doesn’t count). However he is one of the best to ever do it. Diamonds in the rough is what hip hop is ALL about. Even at hip hop’s inception the popular sound was lame and everyone wanted to know what the kids in the projects with no voice had to say. Before high powered hip hop labels existed propelling their artists to the forefront, the culture knew who was dope. “Hey man did you see Kool Herc in the park last week. Have you heard this kid from Bed Stuy freestyle? Man did you hear that song Freaky Tales?” etcetera etcetera. Finding great hip hop is like finding a great barber, a great lawyer, or a great mechanic the referral system works best. Devin The Dude has forged a 20 plus year career out of that exact system. He has recently released a new album and new singles to go along with it. But we wanted to take you all back to the beginning and the reason why this artist will always be heralded by greats like Dr.Dre.
His debut solo album cosigned by Scarface appropriately titled The Dude is a hip hop classic! Fuck the Grammys! Fuck the BET Awards! We dedicate our official SPOTLIGHT post to Devin The Dude and we thank Rap A Lot Records for continually promoting such classic hip hop. Your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. Enjoy the full album stream of Devin’s debut album. If you are one of the hip hoppers constantly complaining about the state of hip hop take about an hour out of your life to make it a little bit better.
And if you need a reason other than the fact that we told you its dope to lend this legendary artist an ear maybe name dropping will help you see the light. Devin has been cosigned by Scarface, Outkast, Dr.Dre and Snoop Dogg, Currensy, WIz Khalifa, and countless others who have sold more records and have way more radio spins and get no benefit, other than people knowing they know what’s hot, by saluting Devin’s music.
Tracks like Do What The Fuck You Wanna Do, Write or Wrong, Sticky Green, and I Can’t Quit make this album arguably one of the best rap albums to be released. Enjoy!