The next next level
Subtitle: a story of rap, friendship, and almost giving up
By: Leon Neyfakh
Publisher: Melville House
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 170
ISBN-13: 9781612194462; 9781612194479
Copyright date: 2015
Subjects: Rap musicians; Biography
Description: "In the tradition of Carl Wilson's Let's talk about love, an unforgettable account of fame, fandom, and the problem of making art in the twenty-first century. In his multi-hyphenate ambitions, the musician who calls himself Juiceboxxx couldn't be more modern--you might call him a punk rock-rapper-DJ-record executive-energy drink-magnate. Journalist Leon Neyfakh has been something more than a fan of Juiceboxxx's since he was a teenager, when he booked a show for the artist in a church basement in his hometown of Oak Park, Illinois. Juiceboxxx went on to the tireless, lonely, possibly hopeless pursuit of success on his own terms--no club was too dank, no futon too grubby, if it helped him get to the next, next level. And, for years, Neyfakh remained haunted from afar: was art really worth all the sacrifices? If it was, how did you know you'd made it? And what was the difference, anyway, between a person like Juiceboxxx--who devoted his life to being an artist--and a person like Neyfakh, who elected instead to pursue a stable career and a comfortable, middle-class existence? Much more than a brilliant portrait of a charismatic musician always on the verge of something big, The Next Next Level is a wholly contemporary story of art, obsession, fame, ambition, and friendship--as well as viral videos, rap-rock, and the particulars of life on the margins of culture"--
Table of contents: title: Do it yourself; title: Affiliations; title: Genius vs. critic; title: Stupid, stupid, stupid; title: Neon Hunk, etc.; title: You are invited; title: The next next level; title: Dream on; title: Postscript.