They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

BOUT Please see the "INFO" tab for more information about the available editions of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us. The audiobook, narrated by the author, is now available. * A 2018 "best book to give this holiday season" —TODAY (Elizabeth Acevedo) * A Best Books of 2017 —Rolling Stone (2018), NPR, Buzzfeed, Paste Magazine, Esquire, Chicago Tribune, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, CBC, Stereogum, National Post, Entropy, Heavy, Book Riot, Chicago Review of Books, The Los Angeles Review, Michigan Daily * An ABA 'December 2017 Indie Next List Great Reads' Pick * A Midwest Indie Bestseller Five-Year Hardcover Anniversary Edition of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us (Nov. 2022): Expanded Paperback Edition of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us (May 2023): Now available in hardcover for the first time, featuring three additional essays and a new afterword by author Jason Reynolds, and an introduction by author Eve L. Ewing, this five-year anniversary edition of They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us is a celebration of the lyricism, brilliance, and endearing voice of a breakout writer. Whether he’s attending a Bruce Springsteen concert the day after visiting Michael Brown’s grave, or considering public displays of affection at a Carly Rae Jepsen show, Abdurraqib writes with a poignancy and magnetism that resonates profoundly. In the wake of the 2015 Paris nightclub attacks, Abdurraqib recalls how he sought refuge as a teenager in music, at punk shows, and wonders whether the next generation of young Muslims will be afforded that same opportunity. While discussing the everyday threat to the lives of Black Americans, Abdurraqib recounts the first time he was ordered to the ground by police officers. Described as “a collection of death-defying protest songs for the Black Lives Matter era*,” in these searing, unforgettable essays, Abdurraqib reflects on everything from Chance The Rapper and Nina Simone to Allen Iverson and Serena Williams, from summer crushes to the thrill of common joys in children. In his thoughtful consideration of music, culture, and daily life as a lens through which to view our world, Abdurraqib proves himself a bellwether for our times. [*Walton Muyumba, Chicago Tribune]   Reviews Scroll to bottom for Goodreads reviews. "With the depth and versatility of an immensely talented poet, and the strong perceptive wit of a cultural critic, Hanif Abdurraqib shows us in this collection of essays his tremendous ability to bend language to his will. For him, like it is for many of us, music is an entrance into a larger discussion of our emotions, and our collective cultural understanding... This book taught me something fresh about humanity with every turn of the page, and it will stay with me for a long time to come." —Matt Keliher, Subtext (Minneapolis, MN) "These are smart and thoughtful pieces, some about life as viewed through the lens of culture, such as his experience at a Carly Rae Jepsen show and his thoughts on attending concerts in the wake of the shootings in Paris. And some are about his experience as a Black man living in America." —Liberty Hardy, Book Riot "10 OF THE BEST ESSAY COLLECTIONS" (Feb 24, 2023) "The award-winning poet, essayist, and culture critic's debut essay collection... was such an iconic first attempt, the book will be receiving a second act through a new hardback edition out this November (2022)." —Kay Wicker, theGrio "20 Black poets to know this National Black Poetry Day" "With compassion, wit, and a bit of hopeful punk nihilism, these essays use music—punk, emo, hip-hop, and pop—to explore America from Ferguson to Chicago to the 'burbs." —Chris Lee, Boswell Book Company (Milwaukee, WI) "I loved, like beyond all measure, Hanif Abdurraqib’s They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us. It’s a collection of essays about music and culture that are written with such insight and tenderness that I read it in a day and immediately read the whole thing again... It’s spectacular." —Samantha Irby, in The New York Times (May 10, 2018) "Abdurraqib is just phenomenal. I don’t know what else to tell you. These sentences make me feel how I feel watching Simone Biles on a vault, or Shoma Uno on the ice, or anyone who is just impossibly fucking stellar at whatever they’re doing." —Bryan Washington on They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us in The A.V. Club "Bryan Washington’s 10 favorite books of the decade" "I am always so moved by Abdurraqib's lyrical writing, which to me seems to occupy a genre of celebratory elegy that only he is capable of inhabiting. He weaves cultural criticism and personal memoir in such a beautiful way, making the two modes feel inevitably and inextricably bound." —Jonny Sun, on They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us in The Week "Jonny Sun recommends 6 emotionally powerful books" "[Abdurraqib's] ode to 'Trap Queen' as the new 'I Will Always Love You' first caught my attention. I was instantly hooked." —Questlove on They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us in Vulture "Questlove’s 10 Favorite Books" "'Brief Notes on Staying,' an essay in Hanif Abdurraqib’s 2017 book, inspired 'PLEASE STAY' (Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker lend vocals on the track). It’s about losing people and being exhausted, but needing to find a way to get through life." —Lucy Dacus on They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us in Vanity Fair "Hanif Abdurraqib's music writing possesses a singular, impossible magic—he cracks open the very personal nature of fandom with empathy and skepticism in equal measure." —Jessica Hopper, author of The First Collection of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic and Night Moves "Abdurraqib bridges the bravado and bling of praise with the blood and tears of elegy." —Terrance Hayes, author of American Sonnets for My Past And Future Assassin and To Float In The Space Between "With They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, I felt like [Hanif Abdurraqib] encouraged more compassion out of me with every essay." —Lucy Dacus, The Creative Independent "Songwriter Lucy Dacus on the continued evolution of her creative practice, understanding your parents, navigating online spaces, and what it means to write with intention." "Rhythmic repetition makes for roaring passages that beg to be read aloud, but for all his poetic muscularity, Abdurraqib understands the value of linguistic economy." —Pete Tosiello, The Washington Post "Hanif Abdurraqib’s essay collection They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us chronicles what it is to be Black in 21st-century America through multiple frames, primarily music." —Paul Lisicky, Electric Literature "10 Books About Music As Self-Invention" "One of the defining nonfiction works of the past decade... The book isn’t only music criticism, but it keeps returning to music amidst reflections on racism, grief, terror, and joy and thus still provides a welcome alternative to the staid conventions of most music criticism. The writing is gorgeous but also humane, grounded, and aware of its implications for culture and society at large in the United States. I didn’t care much about Fall Out Boy before reading Abdurraqib’s essay tying their music to a personal tragedy, but I sure did when I was done. Abdurraqib’s combination of keen analysis, well-wrought personal reflection, and enthusiasm for the music he loves makes They Can’t Kill Us an instant classic for music criticism and an essential read." —Josh Friedberg, Pop Matters "5 Great Books That Reinvent Music Criticism" "This collection of essays explores music, pop culture and race in America, all while remaining engaging and deeply empathetic... Abdurraqib touches on themes of loss, grief and love. Each of his essays presents a new take on how our experiences shape us. I think this book should be mandatory reading for any kid who grew up in the Midwest and appreciates listening to music." — Shannon Mahoney, The Miami Student "What to read next," April 8, 2025 "Hanif Abdurraqib was the writer I needed more than anything in the world at this particular moment in time... an expansive portrait of the inner life of a man in relation to music and the world around him and where in that world to glean joy, and it’s rendered in sentences that are so beautiful they make the hairs stand up on your arms. Seriously, you have to read this right the hell now!" —Rufus Hickok, Ordinary Times (Review of They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us) "What the world needs now … is more Hanif Abdurraqib. And more Carly Rae Jepsen and more Gerard Way and more Ric Flair and more Allen Iverson, and all the other spirits and cult figures the Columbus author conjures in his new book, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us. Hanif’s essays pivot from pop culture to cultural politics naturally, but suddenly—like a Barry Sanders spin move—deftly weaving the experience of today’s Black man and how his experiences separate from the shared nostalgia of the white world around him. He goes from Ferguson to Jersey, a Springsteen concert overlapping with Mike Brown’s murder. The NBA All-Star game or the Super Bowl halftime show, in his words, are given entirely new value and meaning. There’s few people that can talk about pro wrestling and emo and race and inequality with equivalent credibility. He’s Lester Bangs and Kevin Powell and Stephen A. Smith and Ta-Nehisi Coates." —Travis Hoewischer, 614 Magazine "The Interview: Hanif Abdurraqib" (Jan 2, 2018) "Through his poetic ruminations on that out-of-placeness and the way in which he ties in American culture, I feel less alone.... And when he talks about what the band [Fall Out Boy] meant to him and a friend he lost, I dare you not to shed a tear." —Jeff Boyd, author of The Weight, in Electric Literature "7 Novels About People Feeling Out of Place" "Despite all of the shameless commercialism, an unexpected upside of emo nostalgia is the influx of thought-provoking books about the genre’s history and resurgence. The best among them are Hanif Abdurraqib’s They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, a poetic collection of essays..." —Kevin Kearney, Inside Hook "What We Talk About When We Talk About Emo" “I’ve never read a book quite like this. In a series of powerful essays on music (but really, so much more), Abdurraqib transports you into an early 2000s moshpit as the only Black man in the crowd, challenges you to reevaluate artists from Lupe Fiasco to Carly Rae Jepson, and encourages you to meditate on belonging, violence, and loss alongside him. This book is both a balm and a lesson in history. You’ll laugh, cry, and underline every word.” —Medhini Kumar, Evergreen "Evergreen Staff Picks" (Dec. 2024) "They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us is by turns incisive, exciting, and insightful. It is a musical inventory of America’s past, present, and future... Abdurraqib writes about things we know in ways we don’t, and readers are sure to learn something if they stop and listen to this vital voice." —Rebecca Valley, Drizzle Review (Review of They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us) "One of the most vital books on music I read this year was the critic and poet Hanif Abdurraqib’s essay collection They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, which spoke so eloquently to the importance of making space for dreaming, laughing, and, of course, listening to joyful music in troubled times." —Lindsay Zoladz, Slate "The Ohio poet/critic digs deep into what it means to be American in our moment — and how much music has to do with it." —Rolling Stone, The Best Music Books of 2018, (by Jon Dolan & Kory Grow & Rob Sheffield & Andy Greene & Will Hermes) "This is an exceptional book of essays, and hearing it in Abdurraqib’s voice places an extra star on something that already has all the stars... Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, which is probably why I could listen to him read me a car manual and I’d hang onto every word." —Jamie Canaves, BookRiot "9 Recent Audiobooks Narrated By the Author That Your Ears Will Want To Hear." "The spoken word poet’s pieces are deep, uncensored analyses of topics ranging from music to death, from culture to sports, saturated with the weight of his memories and experiences... There is something precious in how Abdurraqib’s writing transcends changes in emotion and in tone to flow so seamlessly from one topic to the next... In his writing, there is no separation between art and life. Each informs and intertwines with the other." —Allison J. Scharmann, The Harvard Crimson (Review of They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us) "Abdurraqib writes about the music he holds dear, and the experiences which have embedded this music in his life, with such lyricism that the writing nears music itself—and his love of the subject is palpable." —Arianna Rebolini, Buzzfeed, Best Nonfiction Books Of 2017 "To say Hanif Abdurraqib writes about the music that’s the soundtrack to our lives is an understatement... Abdurraqib is taking the music many already enjoy and asking us to consider its more profound implications." —Mandy Shunnarah, PANK Magazine "The Personal, the Political, and the Musical: An Interview with Hanif Abdurraqib on They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us" "An impactful and intensely readable collection of essays about music, culture, race—and where they intersect." —Amy Stave, Changing Hands Bookstore (Arizona) "They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us critiques our culture and politics through the lens of music. Lyrical but poignant, Abdurraqib’s essays make sharp observations about current events and pop culture as well as his experiences being black and Muslim in the US. A wholly refreshing, insightful, and powerful collection." —Jarry Lee, BuzzFeed, "9 New Books We Think You'll Love" "Abdurraqib is unflaggingly curious about the salvation that music brings, and the, intentional or not, consequences of listening." —Lesley Jenike, Ploughshares "Music, Violence, and Joy in They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us" "Abdurraqib explores America through its popular culture." —Jason Diamond, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, 2017 Favorites "Life's poetry speaks in exaltation and profanity, triumph and cruelty, Michael Jordan and Carly Rae Jepsen. In this lyrical mosh pit, Hanif Abdurraqib uses music as a lens to meditate on the splendor and the squalor of the American experience with a brutal honesty borne of an uncompromising, punk rock sincerity. After all, this country was found