Psalms of My People: A Story of Black Liberation as Told through Hip-Hop

Understanding hip-hop is essential to understanding the Black experience in the United States. Drawing on James Baldwin's assertion that artists are the ones who know the truth about us, lenny duncan argues that modern hip-hop artists serve as contemporary Black poets whose work reveals the history of Black peoples in America. In Psalms of My People, duncan examines hip-hop artists from recent decades—including N.W.A, Tupac, Biggie, Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, and Kendrick Lamar—as if their work were sacred scripture. The songs and lyrics receive detailed critical and contextual interpretation, accompanied by illustrations that blend ancient and modern art styles throughout the book. Duncan traces hip-hop's history as a vehicle for telling the modern story of Black liberation in America, spanning from the end of the Civil Rights Era through the death of George Floyd. The book explores how hip-hop artists have given voice to the experiences, suffering, and resilience of Black Americans across four centuries of history.