Melville House Books

“After years in the literary underground, “street lit” — a sort of hip hop black literature that is often self published and sold on U.S. street corners — may finally hit the big time,” says Diane Bartz in a Reuters wire story. ” Religion, obsession with brand names and explicit struggles between right and wrong play a large role in the books, making them a combination of morality tales, Mario Puzo’s most violent Mafia novels and chick-lit shopping fiction.” While the genre has its roots in the books of the 1960s and 70s by Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim, the break-out book was Sister Souljah‘s novel “The Coldest Winter Eve,” which has gone on to sell a million copies, says Bartz. Says Simba Sana, owner of the suburban Washington, DC chain Karibu, “It wasn’t really a phenomena at first. They basically appealed to dudes who were just out of prison.” But not everyone is happy about it now that it is a phenomenon. Howard University lit prof Tony Medina says “There’s a whole wealth of literature out there that’s more challenging, more redemptive. People are saying, ‘At least they’re reading.’ That’s garbage. That’s a cop-out.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.