Killer Tune by Dreda Say Mitchell

Killer Tune

Dreda Say Mitchell

Does gangsta rap incite crime? How far should a man go to protect his community? Rapper LT is hoping for a record contract and another prize at the Notting Hill Carnival when his father is found dead. A series of secret tapes propel him back to the race riots of 1976, a time when music and politics went hand in hand. A novel of action and ideas all played out against a pulsing soundtrack of rap and reggae.

Extract
LT watched as M.C. Insanity spun the sampled disc with the power of the last move she might ever make. Vivaldi's violins mixed with an R 'n' B beat spun on. Laced behind both was LT's trademark sound of erratic human breathing. A half-breath in, a half-breath out. The Ice Shack sound, his musical MO. The words to his rap began to swell behind his front teeth.
'Fire it up in the morning
Send that match way high
Gasoline Ghetto make over
Burn down the system
Die baby die'
Parallels
  • Yardie by Victor Headley
  • Fruit of a Lemon by Andrea Levy
  • Running Hot by Dreda Say Mitchell
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Violence
Explicit sexual content