the powerful talkers

As a teenager, I'd have to say Aaron McGruder is probably the one guy in the world who makes politics funny, excluding those guys who make it nerdy funny. I listen to rap, and yeah, I read the newspaper, so I understand every strip, but even if you don't do either, the book is funny for everybody.

Unless you're ignorant.

How the cover is racist is beyond me--obviously these people have never heard of the rap group Wu-tang Clan, who happen to be immensely popular. That he makes fun of a white girl who is clueless about black culture--well, you just can't take a joke. He's making fun of suburban white rich kids who think they're "gangstas", callin' themselves the "OG" when they probably don't even know what that is. That girl had never seen a black person yet listened to rap. Aaron was highlighting the stupidity of these kids listening to rap.

And that he's ugly...Well, those people just have insecurity issues.

McGruder tries his best to keep it fresh (you suckas!), pertinent, and thought provoking. And he almost always succeeds.

Overall, I can see both sides with this siiue, having read the book over the past few days.

In displaying the examples of Boondockery from the first naional strip in 1999 (Riley, we're not in Chicago anymore) to the post 9-11 slams at the current wartime culture, Aaron McGruder shows the reader how the focus of the strip has shifted and lets us make up our minds. Even he admits in the intro that he was getting tired of the character based strips on Jazmine (who I miss, she was sweet), the Star Wars Guy, etc. and felt the necessity of speaking out during the Bush era and on things he felt were detrimental to African-American culture. McGruder can really be shrill and self-righteous against people he disagrees with, but this is typical of satirists.

There is enough real-life fodder for all this, and this book will certainly stand as a good time capsule of American life in the early millennium. The problem is that in the future, the humor in this book (especially the constant hip-hop inside gags such as the title of this book, which is from a Public Enemy lyric) will be about as funny as Lenny Bruce, Jack Parr, the Smothers Brothers, Bloom County, and Lil Abner are today.

"Deceased Brooklyn Rapper with Big swollen Belly/Any Karate flick starring Jim Kelly?" Hey, you have to give SOME stars to people who write lines like this.

This book is enjoyable for the whole family! McGruder has our whole family cracking up from the youngest of us,10 yrs. old, to the oldest- 51 yrs. old, and everyone of us in between. We all need a laugh once in a while and this book provides it for everyone. No matter what you usually read, or what your background is, you will enjoy this collection.