Books That Made Author Nadirah Simmons Want to Write Her Own
Author of "First Things First: Hip-Hop Ladies Who Changed the Game" and all-around badass Nadirah Simmons gives some book recs
This week I’m so excited to hand over the mic and share a guest post from the incredible Nadirah Simmons. I met Nadirah eight years ago at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She worked on the Digital team creating and producing web videos and social media content that landed the show an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Interactive Program in 2019. On the side she founded The Gumbo, a media hub to showcase and celebrate Black women in hip-hop, which quickly grew to a following of over 15,000 across platforms—a reflection of Nadirah’s magnetism and how passionately she executes big ideas. She’s been a creative force since I’ve known her and something I really admire is how many times I’ve seen her lift up the people around her. When she told us she was leaving the show to write a book, I was thrilled for her but not surprised.
Her book, First Things First: Hip-Hop Ladies Who Changed the Game, came out a few weeks ago and it reframes the history of hip-hop—highlighting the many women who shaped the genre from the beginning (often without getting credit). It’s a vibrantly fun, informative read that gives context to a musical culture that has infused the soundtrack of our lives.
I can’t wait to see all the cool things Nadirah does because I know this is truly only the beginning. Now onto her book recommendations!
x AJR
NADIRAH SIMMONS:
Here are five books that you may or may not be surprised to learn shaped how I wrote First Things First: Hip-Hop Ladies Who Changed the Game:
Hip-Hop (And Other Things) by Shea Serrano
Shea is one of my all-time favorite authors. He writes with so much clarity and humor, often inserting himself in the factual moments he’s explaining to help you relate on a personal level. HHAOT is one of my favorite books by him, and not just because I wrote in it. His ability to take some of our biggest hip-hop stars, moments, songs and albums and explain them through a lens of “other things” was and remains truly masterful. Reading Shea’s work was what gave me the confidence to let my personality shine in my debut, and let that be the lens through which people could understand the impact of women in hip-hop.
Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture by Tricia Rose
I read this while working on my senior thesis at Rutgers! Tricia Rose is such an incredible academic mind, and this book right here was kind of my introduction to hip-hop in academia. I knew there were album reviews and documentaries and endless interviews with our favorite artists, but Tricia Rose taught me how to understand this culture that I love through research, history and primary and secondary sources. She’s the reason I still spend so much time on JSTOR—a digital library of academic works widely used by students in college—searching for connections and histories. That’s how I was able to make the connection between legendary Blueswomen and Mary J. Blige in the book.
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down by Joan Morgan
Joan Morgan is a legend. In every sense of the word. She coined the phrase “hip-hop feminism” and gave Black women the language necessary to navigate all of those “gray areas” that exist as a fan of hip-hop. I don’t even think I can write a blurb that does this book justice lol. But please know, you need to read it.
Passing by Nella Larsen
Not a hip-hop book, but a great book nonetheless that was turned into a Netflix movie in 2021. (Writing 2021 really floored me, because I still feel like it’s 2020. Time is FLYING.) Anyway, the book tells the fictional story of a two Black women who were childhood friends. They reunite in adulthood, with one friend astonished to find that the other lives her life “passing,” i.e. living as a white woman because she is able to pass as one. I love the way Nella wrote this book—her words pull you in and make you feel like you are a part of the story, instead of observing the characters and the themes through some sort of window. And even though my debut is non-fiction, that’s what I want my book to feel like when you read it. Like you’re right there with these ladies taking in all of their accomplishments.
Oh! And if this topic interests you, read The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. It’s another great story about passing, and it’s being turned into a series at HBO.
Love by Toni Morrison
Trying to pick one Toni Morrison book to include might have been the second hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, right behind writing my own book! In my mind, Toni Morrison is one of our greatest writers, alongside bell hooks (always lowercase) and Audre Lorde. And she’s also written some of the greatest novels ever—The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Beloved, the list is quite literally endless. I probably picked Love because it was the last Morrison book I read (read re-read) before I started writing First Things First: Hip-Hop Ladies Who Changed The Game. Either way, it’s the perfect representation of her non-linear writing style.
I agonized over telling women in hip-hop’s stories in order in the book. Start with the party, then the first recorded records, then the first albums, then the first awards, and keep going is what I told myself at the beginning. But it just felt, wrong. The way I talk about things to my friends and isn’t always linear. Shoot, our lives aren’t linear. And what I didn’t want to do with the book was create an environment where the reader could guess what was next. Because if that’s the case, you could have just gone to Wikipedia to get all of your information!
I wanted to write the way we live, and that’s with new moments, people and revelations coming to and at us without us even knowing. That’s why you get a chapter about Courtney Sloane designing furniture and spaces for some of the biggest names in hip-hop and my desire for her to design my future home right before the section on television and film. Because how could I watch the movies I wrote about in the book without the perfect space to do so?
x Nadirah
NADIRAH’S READING LIST
Hip-Hop (And Other Things) by Shea Serrano
Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture by Tricia Rose
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down by Joan Morgan
Passing by Nella Larsen
Love by Toni Morrison
Buy a copy of First Things First: Hip-Hop Ladies Who Changed the Game by Nadirah Simmons! It will make you at least 40% cooler, guaranteed.