Every now and then a writer steps out of, and beyond status quo to write from another realm of influence. The fact that in the publishing world there’s a litany of options that authors can tap into for flexibility to be viable...and in academia we have a process that feed into writing that has a flair for dramatic interlude. We call it divergent thinking -- coming up with fluency, variety and originality. Debut author, Hozeh delivers his story with good fiction and science of the mind for a compelling read...just don’t call it science fiction! In my opinion, I like the term paranormal simply because the genre is a jaunt across conventional lines to make life off the beaten path another stratospheric venture. Hozeh’s book, The Hip Hop Manifesto allows the writer just that. He threads motives around the heart of a story relative to a new order, and a coming of age saga involving a protagonist seeking self-realization and an empowered mindset to manifest (his) reason for being. The gist of the story originates in the 22nd Century and finds our hero El Adrel wandering and wondering amid a myriad of quandaries in search of the maternal sanctum he lost as a child, a sense of maturity where manhood is essential to his survival, and the power of the spoken word, a.k.a. Verbalism -- the dominant religion of the day and the belief system enhanced by the Prophets. The forces of nature that fuels this story colors a world where El Adrel is muddled by his quest for salvation and his inability to gain a toe-hold on what it means to excel above and beyond expectations of The Four -- heretofore the Mystics who weld extraordinary mental powers, preserving the tradition recorded in ‘the Manifesto’.
To understand how the story unfolds is to know that the aforementioned is merely the center of this story as El has no choice but to unravel the mysteries of the belief system centered on the lyrical content and recorded wisdom of rappers and cerebral scribes that are deemed prophets and patriarchs. It was with this understanding that El knew he had to embark on a journey like no other. He sets out across the great plains of an erstwhile, if not wasted United States to find the syllabus of his lost religion -- The Hip Hop Manifesto!
I enjoyed reading the book, despite a slow tedious start that threatened to tax the resolve to go on. What saves the need for continuity is the author’s gift for threading motives around the heart of a story following its plot that had enough verve to mask a few glitches along the way. Those glitches were the author’s penchant for staying too long with a scene where contrast would’ve served a better adjunct for a change of pace. He more than made up for them with a tenacity for diverse settings as the plot thickened with the introduction of a Temptress and a demigod determined to wreck havoc on good intent, and a quest that is El’s to lose face or gain notoriety. The epilog proves to be most intriguing as our El Adrel is forced to make a decision that will color his canvas with hues that would reflect all that would identify success or failure! The New Order is upon him to opt for a triad before him -- Power, Wealth, or the Almighty Voice that could be most tangible than the former or the latter.
If indeed you are enamored with paranormal fiction as I was reading this, embrace this compelling story that should whet your appetite. How can you not enjoy a story with a maxim that promotes finding and exposing what is hidden...that which also reveals how a soul can be saved while the rhythm is right and “the destination is merely temptation, but the journey is sanctified”, so says The Four. The Hip Hop Manifesto is just the tip of the iceberg for this talented writer with much more to add to this magnificent tale. Hozeh weaves this story with the mantra that to ignore your call is to be compelled to search for your identity to be a force within the nature of man to control his own destiny. Buy this book and be enlightened -- the manifesto can be yours with every page-turning delight!
