Gunshots In My Cook-Up: Bits and Bites of a Hip-Hop Caribbean Life.

by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds Atria Books, October 2002 $23.00, ISBN 0-743-40741-5

Gunshots In My Cook-Up will convince readers of one thing, if nothing else: the author has done a lot of living.

In his first book, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds includes all the details a good memoir should, recalling moments in his life that will impact readers. Hinds offers plenty of self-reflection, in this case framed in the context of the explosion of hip hop music and culture as a corporate entity.

Hinds is probably best-known as the former editor-in-chief of The Source magazine, the foremost hip-hop publication and the bible of rap music. His experience at The Source certainly informs who he is as a professional, but Gunshots presents a remarkable story even before Hinds came to The Source.

A first-generation Guyanese-American (hence the cultural reference of the title), Hinds adolescence was spent in Flatbush, Brooklyn and Freeport, Long Island. Flatbush is heavily Caribbean where Freeport is more diverse. Hinds' introduction to hip hop came during childhood and his connection to the culture stayed with him as he grew older, whether at reggae parties in Brooklyn or at Princeton, where he attended college and DJed with like-minded undergrads.

The book includes detailed observations of hip-hop icons, including Jay-Z, Sean "P Diddy" Combs (when he was still Puff Daddy), Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, Dr. Dre among others, as well as diatribes about female and white rappers.

Among the most notable of Hinds' tales from the hip-hop front lines are his final days at The Source magazine. The author documents some of the more confrontational exchanges at The Source, where the cronyism of Source CEO David Mays on behalf of rapper Raymond Scott (formerly Ray Dog, now known as Benzino) prompted Hinds' resignation.

To his credit, Hinds accurately recalls how urban consumer magazines--Vibe in particular--exacerbated what is now called the `East Coast-West Coast' rivalry with tabloid style headlines in one of its profiles of a major artist. For years these stories have been urban music industry and magazine lore. Hinds presents them firsthand, from the perspective of a true authority in the business.

At times, Gunshots is abstract and Hinds' penchant for lyric-like prose can be excessive given his true-to-life approach. But the honesty and candor of the book more than compensates. Truth is a writer's gift, and Hinds has made good use of it.