Andrew Emery

Wiggaz With Attitude Andrew Emery

Rapping into a hairbrush, breakdancing on the kitchen floor, carrying around the world's smallest, quietest ghetto-blaster: In 1980s Britain, long before the world has heard of Eminem, how does an aspiring white teenage rapper keep going in the face of universal ridicule?

Wiggaz With Attitude is a unique and hilarious account of both the author's attempts to become Leeds's greatest ever hip-hop star, and of hip-hop itself. A new sound that changed the way we dance, dress and talk, it gave the author's generation a fresh perspective on the world. This is their story, told through one wannabe rapper's rise and fall. Mostly fall.

It's both a scathingly honest memoir and a sharp piece of music criticism. In a flurry of niche hip-hop publishing, no one has captured the more universal story of the fans and of the aspirational rappers who toiled in obscurity, penning lyrics in school science classes, being mocked for their fat laces and ringing into local radio stations to rap.

The story follows the author's discovery of hip-hop in 1984, how it subsequently took over his life and set him on a path to be a rapping superstar... or so he thought. From forming his first group to recording his first demos, haggling with record labels and performing pitifully attended live shows, this is an unflinchingly candid telling of the life of an amateur rapper at a time and in a place where they weren't taken seriously. The book also charts how this rich musical culture affected his peers, his town, his country and his world, with extensive footnotes to both inform and amuse. This isn't just about Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, it's also about John Peel, Our Price and Samantha Fox.