About the Author

MK Asante is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, hip-hop artist, and professor of creative writing and film at Morgan State University.

Reviews

A story of surviving and thriving with passion, compassion, wit, and style. Maya Angelou
In America, we have a tradition of black writers whose autobiographies and memoirs come to define an era. . . . "Buck "may be this generation s story. NPR
The voice of a new generation. . . . You will love nearly everything about "Buck." "Essence"
A virtuoso performance . . . [an] extraordinary page-turner of a memoir . . . written in a breathless, driving hip-hop prose style that gives it a tough, contemporary edge. "The Philadelphia Inquirer"
Frequently brilliant and always engaging . . . It takes great skill to render the wide variety of characters, male and female, young and old, that populate a memoir like "Buck." Asante [is] at his best when he sets out into the city of Philadelphia itself. In fact, that city is the true star of this book. Philly s skateboarders, its street-corner philosophers and its tattoo artists are all brought vividly to life here. . . . Asante s memoir will find an eager readership, especially among young people searching in books for the kind of understanding and meaning that eludes them in their real-life relationships. . . . A powerful and captivating book. Hector Tobar, "Los Angeles Times"
Remarkable . . . Asante s prose is a fluid blend of vernacular swagger and tender poeticism. . . . [He] soaks up James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston and Walt Whitman like thirsty ground in a heavy rain. "Buck" grew from that, and it s a bumper crop. "Salon"
"Buck" is so honest it floats even while it s so down-to-earth that the reader feels like an ant peering up from the concrete. It s a powerful book. . . . Asante is a hip-hop raconteur, a storyteller in the Homeric tradition, an American, a rhymer, a big-thinker singing a song of himself. You ll want to listen. "The Buffalo News"
The book s strength lies in Asante s vibrant, specific observations, and, at times, the percussive prose that captures them. The author s fluid, filmic images of black urban life feel unique and disturbing. "Kirkus Reviews"
Asante s noir chronicle is imaginative, powerful, and electric, written with passion and conviction. "Publishers Weekly "(starred review)
This is an inspiring story about perseverance and finding purpose that is sure to appeal to readers interested in hip-hop, black studies, and American pop culture in general. "Booklist "(starred review)
"Buck" takes the daily words of the American streets and forges something low and lovely. Angry, profane, and beautiful, it honors the best of hip-hop s literary canon by producing a work worthy of inclusion. Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of "The Beautiful Struggle"
"Buck" sings a song that will force all of America to face what it has become and remember what it could be. Eddie Huang, author of "Fresh off the Boat""

"A story of surviving and thriving with passion, compassion, wit, and style."--Maya Angelou
"In America, we have a tradition of black writers whose autobiographies and memoirs come to define an era. . . . "Buck "may be this generation's story."--NPR
"The voice of a new generation. . . . You will love nearly everything about "Buck.""--"Essence"
"A virtuoso performance . . . [an] extraordinary page-turner of a memoir . . . written in a breathless, driving hip-hop prose style that gives it a tough, contemporary edge."--"The Philadelphia Inquirer"
"Frequently brilliant and always engaging . . . It takes great skill to render the wide variety of characters, male and female, young and old, that populate a memoir like "Buck." Asante [is] at his best when he sets out into the city of Philadelphia itself. In fact, that city is the true star of this book. Philly's skateboarders, its street-corner philosophers and its tattoo artists are all brought vividly to life here. . . . Asante's memoir will find an eager readership, especially among young people searching in books for the kind of understanding and meaning that eludes them in their real-life relationships. . . . A powerful and captivating book."--Hector Tobar, "Los Angeles Times"
"Remarkable . . . Asante's prose is a fluid blend of vernacular swagger and tender poeticism. . . . [He] soaks up James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston and Walt Whitman like thirsty ground in a heavy rain. "Buck" grew from that, and it's a bumper crop."--"Salon"
""Buck" is so honest it floats--even while it's so down-to-earth that the reader feels like an ant peering up from the concrete. It's a powerful book. . . . Asante is a hip-hop raconteur, a storyteller in the Homeric tradition, an American, a rhymer, a big-thinker singing a song of himself. You'll want to listen."--"The Buffalo News"
"The book's strength lies in Asante's vibrant, specific observations, and, at times, the percussive prose that captures them. The author's fluid, filmic images of black urban life feel unique and disturbing."--"Kirkus Reviews"
"Asante's noir chronicle is imaginative, powerful, and electric, written with passion and conviction."--"Publishers Weekly "(starred review)
"This is an inspiring story about perseverance and finding purpose that is sure to appeal to readers interested in hip-hop, black studies, and American pop culture in general."--"Booklist "(starred review)
""Buck" takes the daily words of the American streets and forges something low and lovely. Angry, profane, and beautiful, it honors the best of hip-hop's literary canon by producing a work worthy of inclusion."--Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of "The Beautiful Struggle"
""Buck" sings a song that will force all of America to face what it has become and remember what it could be."--Eddie Huang, author of "Fresh off the Boat"

"[MK] Asante is the voice of a new generation. . . . You will love nearly everything about "Buck.""--"Essence"
"Frequently brilliant and always engaging . . . It takes great skill to render the wide variety of characters, male and female, young and old, that populate a memoir like "Buck." Asante [is] at his best when he sets out into the city of Philadelphia itself. In fact, that city is the true star of this book. Philly's skateboarders, its street-corner philosophers and its tattoo artists are all brought vividly to life here. . . . Asante's memoir will find an eager readership, especially among young people searching in books for the kind of understanding and meaning that eludes them in their real-life relationships. . . . A powerful and captivating book."--Hector Tobar, "Los Angeles Times"
"A story of surviving and thriving with passion, compassion, wit, and style."--Maya Angelou
"The debut of a remarkable talent almost lost to drugs, crime and violence . . . Asante's prose is a fluid blend of vernacular swagger and tender poeticism; it's no surprise that when he finally finds his feet again, the place he feels most affirmed is a spoken-word club. . . . Adolescents are notoriously myopic, but one of the great strengths of "Buck" is the range of perspectives and voices Asante weaves into what might have been a one-man show."--"Salon"
"'The fall in Killadelphia. Outside is the color of corn bread and blood. Change hangs in the air like the sneaks on the live wires behind my crib.' . . . There's a rare beauty in lines like these, paired with a sense of foreboding. They promise a book filled with fresh visions, vernacular grit, electricity and violence. They promise something different, and the book delivers. . . . ["Buck"] is primarily a memoir of a young man's mis-education, re-education, self-education and street-education. . . . "Buck" is so honest it floats--even while it's so down-to-earth that the reader feels like an ant peeri

"Frequently brilliant and always engaging . . . It takes great skill to render the wide variety of characters, male and female, young and old, that populate a memoir like "Buck". Asante [is] at his best when he sets out into the city of Philadelphia itself. In fact, that city is the true star of this book. Philly's skateboarders, its street-corner philosophers and its tattoo artists are all brought vividly to life here. . . . Asante's memoir will find an eager readership, especially among young people searching in books for the kind of understanding and meaning that eludes them in their real-life relationships. . . . A powerful and captivating book."--Hector Tobar, "Los Angeles Times"

"A story of surviving and thriving with passion, compassion, wit, and style."--Maya Angelou

"The book's strength lies in Asante's vibrant, specific observations, and, at times, the percussive prose that captures them. The author's fluid, filmic images of black urban life feel unique and disturbing."--"Kirkus Reviews"

"Asante's noir chronicle is imaginative, powerful, and electric, written with passion and conviction."--"Publishers Weekly "(starred review)

"This is an inspiring story about perseverance and finding purpose that is sure to appeal to readers interested in hip-hop, black studies, and American pop culture in general."--"Booklist "(starred review)

""Buck" takes the daily words of the American streets and forges something low and lovely. Angry, profane, and beautiful, it honors the best of hip-hop's literary canon by producing a work worthy of inclusion."--Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of "The Beautiful Struggle"

""Buck" sings a song that will force all of America to face what it has become and remember what it could be."--Eddie Huang, author of "Fresh off the Boat"

Praise for "Buck"

"A story of surviving and thriving with passion, compassion, wit, and style."--Maya Angelou

""Buck" takes the daily words of the American streets and forges something low and lovely. Angry, profane, and beautiful, it honors the best of hip-hop's literary canon by producing a work worthy of inclusion."--Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of "The Beautiful Struggle"

""Buck" sings a song that will force all of America to face what it has become and remember what it could be."--Eddie Huang, author of "Fresh off the Boat"