Questlove is writing a memoir. Of course Questlove is writing a memoir. It's almost like all of Questlove's life — from grinding out worldwide tours with the Roots to finding minor TV stardom via Jimmy Fallon, from coaxing brilliance out of the world's most reclusive geniuses to backing Hov on the world's glitziest stages — has been leading up to this, right here. But he's not only led a theatrically, elaborately involved life … he's also got the chops to tell it. Through Twitter and his celebrity stories and a thousand magazine guest columns and opinion pieces, he's proven himself as a sharp, no-B.S. writer that would have made one hell of a music journalist if he'd never picked up a pair of drumsticks. So yes to this memoir. A thousand times yes.
On Monday, Columbia University announced the Pulitzer Prizes for books, and — as has only happened six times since the awards began in 1948, and not since 1977 — no Pulitzer was awarded in the fiction category. The Pulitzer board has spoken! And your highbrow literature does not amuse it!
Over the past 24 hours, I completed a novel titled Power and Beauty: A Love Story of Life on the Streets.
By T.I.
When I first decided to buy this book (definitely expensing it), read it, and then write about it, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. For one, I expected it to be Matt Christopher-length — 140 pages, max. But no, says T.I., because his debut novel is 340 pages long. Two, I thought it was somehow going to be like one of his albums, but in novel form. Definitely not (even though there are two back-to-back chapters titled "Whatever You Like" and "Ride Wit Me"). And three, despite my extremely strong Atlanta pride and love for Clifford Harris, I expected reading Power and Beauty to be one of the most painful 10-hour experiences of my life. I'm almost embarrassed by how wrong I was.
