Next week, Yale University Press will release “The Anthology of Rap”, a comprehensive collection of lyrics to more than 300 rap songs in print form.  Sam Anderson, a book critic for New York magazine, reviewed all 788 pages of the book without having heard more than a few songs.  He’s a book critic–how much whiter can you get? (EDIT: Poor wording!  See the comments below.)

Anyways, after experiencing hip-hop for the first time, he writes that he is “evangelically excited” about the book.  He even suggests Big Daddy Kane is the best rap artist of all time, on paper at least.

See, the man has never listened to hip-hop.  Ridiculous.

So, NPR decided to bless this convert with the actual audio to some of the songs he now loves, and his reaction is incredible.  His opinion of some artists completely changes–Lil Wayne, for instance, is “100% different out loud than in my mind.”  This article is essentially a play-by-play of the Anderson’s response to everything from “Brooklyn Zoo” by ODB to “Monster” by Kanye, Jay-Z, and Nicki as he experiences them, as a man in the upper echelon of literary knowledge, for the first time.  Incredibly interesting read, right here.

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