Michael Eric Dyson's Book "Holler If You Hear Me" Is Published

Five years after Tupac’s death, a university professor dedicated an entire book to the question of who he was. In September 2001, Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur by Michael Eric Dyson was released, as a hardcover for 24 dollars. Dyson was a Baptist preacher and taught religion at DePaul University.

Conversations with Companions

For the book, Dyson spoke with Toni Morrison, Jada Pinkett Smith and Mos Def, among others. According to Publishers Weekly, the strongest passages come from the conversations about Afeni Shakur, the former Black Panther. Dyson uses Tupac’s lyrics to discuss issues in hip-hop, such as misogyny and the distrust between young and old. Tupac, he argues, is “more than the sum of his artistic parts.”

Praise with Reservations

The American Prospect reviewed the book in February 2002. Dyson calls Tupac “perhaps the representative figure of his generation,” reviewer Alex Kellogg wrote, and praises him too generously. In addition, the book quotes surprisingly few of Tupac’s lyrics.