Wiggaz With Attitude: My Life as a Failed White Rapper

Rapping into a hairbrush, breakdancing on the kitchen floor, carrying around the world’s smallest, quietest ghetto-blaster: in the 1980s, 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 that captures 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 to 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.

Reviews from Amazon UK:

"Plenty of books have picked over how hip hop started and where it came from, but how was it received out in the wider world? What did it mean for the kids thousands of miles away in suburbs and backwaters who picked it up via tapes, imports and pirate radio, got all the references wrong, but still had their lives changed by it and helped turn hip hop from a potentially short lived novelty to a worldwide cultural force? This book's funny and well written enough that even if you're not immersed in hip hop, the story will still resonate - it's close to a rap version of Seb Hunter's Hell Bent for Leather or Chuck Klosterman's Fargo Rock City. If you enjoyed either of them, you'll love this."

"Accessible, punchy and laden with hilarious anecdotes, the 40-something (or 30-something) Hip Hop head will be able to relate to. Coupled with extensive, deep and well researched footnotes to rival Nicholson Baker's 'The Mezzanine', this memoir is essential reading for anyone interested in the personal histories of old school Hip Hop. Brilliance."

"An incredibly amusing and honest look into what it was like being a kid into the niche hip hop scene while growing up in the eighties. you don't need to be a rap nerd to enjoy this book it's written incredibly skilfully with the perfect mix of honesty, comedy and nostalgia. Oh, and the footnotes are superb! Buy it!"

"You'll read it in a day or two, so fresh and breezy is the writing, and whether you love hip-hop or not you'll find so much minutiae of 80s provincial life to wallow in, you'll forget you're reading a memoir and transplant yourself into the hilarious stories within. Ace."

"Andrew Emery clearly knows rap music better than most and the passion is brought out in every page. Highly recommended even if you don't love rap"

"A hugely entertaining read, filled with self-deprecating humour. I smiled and laughed my way through it- such an easily readable book."
"An honest, funny and heart warming memoir of life growing up with an unrequited love of hip-hop."

"While Emery’s knowledge is frighteningly comprehensive it's worn deceptively lightly. Opinionated, passionate and frequently laugh-out-loud funny, Wiggaz… is essential reading."

Andrew Emery is the author of The Book of Hip-Hop Cover Art (Mitchell Beazley) and has written extensively on hip-hop music and culture for dozens of publications including The Guardian, Mojo, Arena, Q, Loaded, Hip-Hop Connection, The Word, Ego Trip and The Face. He co-founded and edited the influential Fat Lace Magazine (which gave a then little-known Eminem his first ever cover story). He blogs about hip-hop and writing at www.wiggazwithattitude.com