In “A Little Devil in America,” Abdurraqib digs into historical, musicaland personal vaults to unearth layered moments of performance, such as dancing in a basement on the east side of Columbus, Ohio, to the music and videos of Whitney Houston;conversations with elders at a local BBQ joint in Memphis; andJosephine Baker working as a spy for France’s military. Abdurraqib details how these performances fit into the overall conversation centered on American culture.

Meyer, Lily (February 5, 2019). "In 'Go Ahead In The Rain,' The Love For A Tribe Called Quest Is Infectious". NPR. Archived from the original on February 8, 2019 . Retrieved February 8, 2019. The essay ‘Give Merry Clayton Her Roses’ left me speechless and listening to Gimme Shelter on repeat for hours; sending chills up and down my spine starting at the 2:48 mark every. single. time. Was there anything that you learned when you were researching the book that was new to you? Or that resonated with you the most?

I think about how often me and the boys I knew and know were taught to love each other through expressions of violence. How, if that is our baseline for love, it might be impossible for us to love anyone well, including ourselves. Andrews, Meredith (September 18, 2019). "Nonfiction - 70th National Book Awards". National Book Foundation . Retrieved February 21, 2023.

SN: One of the things that you’re well known for is your ability to perform your work in public onstage and really move people. How difficult has it been for you over the past year to not have that outlet?and…. These and’s will make you smile if you choose to read or listen to this wonderful book. Nobody enhances the word AND more than Hanif…with purpose and love…

It was a very internal thing. Because I found myself asking myself, ‘How have you performed? Be honest.’ I thought about times I’d stepped outside of myself in an attempt to make myself in any way larger, or to make myself in any way more of something, and then broke that down. I ran into a wall, because I think the word performative has such a negative connotation. But I wanted to detach myself from that and kind of say, well, there are ways I perform that are not entirely for the satisfaction of other people. There are ways that I perform that propel me through a day that I don't know if I could get through otherwise. There are ways I perform that serve very specific interests that bring me closer to the people I love. And that is also a type of performance. And the type of performance that deserves to be honoured as any other performance would. And so I think first asking myself the question of, ‘how have I performed?’ and ‘how have I felt ashamed of performing?’ And then kind of trying to crawl my way out of what that shame felt like and seemed like to me. VENUGOPAL: Abdurraqib is also the author of "A Fortune For Your Disaster," a collection of poems, and "Go Ahead In The Rain: Notes To A Tribe Called Quest," as well as the essay collection, "They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us." He's also host of the podcast "Object Of Sound" and "Lost Notes: 1980." Hanif Abdurraqib, welcome to FRESH AIR. Hanif Abdurraqib’s They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Usis a penetrating and profoundly timely collection of essays. It is music writing at its sharpest, most perceptive, and most urgent... Most remarkable, perhaps, is Abdurraqib’s ability to perceive and define connections between his subjects, himself, and the fractured, complicated culture in which we live."Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil. THE LAST WORDS Hanif wrote must have been directly written for me. I needed to hear them. It was like God was giving me a ‘all-is-well…’it-will-be-okay’….vaccine of truthful protection. Edgers, Geoff (January 26, 2019). "A true fan offers a riveting tribute to A Tribe Called Quest". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 7, 2019 . Retrieved February 7, 2019.

Oller, Julia. "Hanif Abdurraqib's Columbus". Columbus Monthly. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019 . Retrieved August 20, 2019.Previous winners of the Gordon Burn prize – which is run in partnership by the Gordon Burn Trust, New Writing North, Faber & Faber and Durham book festival – include Mina, for her crime novel The Long Drop, and Peter Pomerantsev for This Is Not Propaganda, an investigation into the war against reality. Burn, who died in 2009, was known for nonfiction including Happy Like Murderers, which told the story of Fred and Rosemary West, and the novels Fullalove and Born Yesterday: The News as a Novel. The entire collection of essays are soooo rich - with soul - sorrow & joy - history - passion and wonder - HA: For me personally, I don’t think the writing of a book gets anyone free. And I don’t think my writing of a book gets anyone free. I mean, there’s a way that this book can adjust some thinking around the full humanity of performers and performance. That’s great. But I think political education and community solidarity and revolutionary upheavals of oppressive state apparatuses — that actually gets people free. That doesn’t mean that I’m ashamed I wrote a book. I’m just not overselling the potential. ... There have been countless books that have been read that I’ve loved, maybe people have loved, and that has yet to shift the cultural consciousness of America on the whole. Perhaps this is a cynical outlook, but I just don’t think that my writing of a book is going to get anyone free. Which doesn’t mean ... Again, I am proud of this book. I’m proud of the work in it. I definitely did my best with the tools I had. And I’m thrilled about that. But I don’t want to oversell the potential for what it can do in the world. My hope is that it is pleasurable to read, and it sends people down some joyful rabbit holes. Employing his signature style of skillfully weaving personal essay, lyrical prose, poetry, and cultural criticism, Abdurraqib produces the best, most polished, most accomplished, and perhaps most personal book of his illustrious career. One of the very best books of recent years, A Little Devil in America builds on the foundation of the author’s previous works and explodes expectations into a personal history through lived experience and lifetime joys. It is a book that brims with wonder and introspection while also honoring the significance and contributions of so many of the lives within it. Abdurraqib’s passions are fully on display, and his widespread love is infectious in the best way possible, resulting in a masterwork that will not only move readers but will also send them off into their own personal rabbit holes of joy and wonder. This is, perhaps, the greatest gift a writer can give to his readers, and A Little Devil in America delivers it in spades.