Flyboy in the Buttermilk
Essays on Contemporary America
Will be published approx. on 2. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
368 pages
978-1-83731-402-7 (ISBN)
Description
An electrifying collection of essays from legendary cultural critic and Pulitzer Prize-winner Greg Tate
'Easily one of the greatest wordsmiths ... [and] the best American writer and thinker of the past forty years' Washington Post
From one of the most original, creative, and provocative writers on American culture comes a now-classic collection of essays, delving 'far and wide into Black music, into film, into the beats and rhyme of culture' (Questlove).
These pieces orbit social, pop cultural, political, and economic subjects-- from the rise of hip-hop, the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the music of Miles Davis, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Bad Brains, and many others, to the crisis of the Black intellectual and the irony of the GOP recruiting Black Americans. With unrivalled flair, Tate writes in a voice that is at once angry, joyous, self-critiquing, and dazzlingly witty.
Tate teaches us 'it is not too late to say too much, to be so dissatisfied with the world as it is that we throw far too many words toward the sky, and see what the heavens throw back' (Hanif Abdurraqib).
'Easily one of the greatest wordsmiths ... [and] the best American writer and thinker of the past forty years' Washington Post
From one of the most original, creative, and provocative writers on American culture comes a now-classic collection of essays, delving 'far and wide into Black music, into film, into the beats and rhyme of culture' (Questlove).
These pieces orbit social, pop cultural, political, and economic subjects-- from the rise of hip-hop, the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the music of Miles Davis, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Bad Brains, and many others, to the crisis of the Black intellectual and the irony of the GOP recruiting Black Americans. With unrivalled flair, Tate writes in a voice that is at once angry, joyous, self-critiquing, and dazzlingly witty.
Tate teaches us 'it is not too late to say too much, to be so dissatisfied with the world as it is that we throw far too many words toward the sky, and see what the heavens throw back' (Hanif Abdurraqib).
Reviews / Votes
One of the most captivating and original collections of arts criticism ever written. * Orion * Truly seminal * Jazzwise * Required reading for music criticism fans. * Chicago Reader * One of the godfathers of hip-hop journalism. * The Source * A clinic on literary brilliance. -- Jelani Cobb A singular voice, a fount of bravura essays on the fantastical creativity, determined resilience and wry paradoxes of Black creativity and life ... he affected every writer I cared about and learned from - we're all Tate's children * The New York Times * Restores a blueprint for criticism in the 21st century. The cultural gravity of this book makes it an essential part of any library on Black aesthetics, music criticism, and art criticism. -- John Rodzvilla * Library Journal * One of a handful of books I regularly pull off the shelf just to soak in a few paragraphs and juice the brain up into writing mode . . . Flyboy is a handbook for preserving your own wild sanity under the terrordome. You should pilfer it from your best friend's bookshelf posthaste. -- Carl Wilson * Bookforum * Hits hard with the truth, again and again. -- Sasha Frere-Jones * 4Columns *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
500 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83731-402-7 (9781837314027)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Greg Tate (1957-2021) was a music and popular-culture critic and journalist whose work appeared in many publications, including The Village Voice, Vibe, Spin, The Wire, and Downbeat. He was the author of three books of cultural criticism, winning a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 2024 in recognition of his pioneering work. Tate, via guitar and baton, also led the conducted improvisation ensemble Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber.
Questlove is a six-time Grammy Award-winning musician, Academy Award-winning filmmaker, drummer, DJ, producer, director, culinary entrepreneur, and New York Times-bestselling author.
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain't Worth Much, was named a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize, and was nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. His first collection of essays, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was named a book of the year by BuzzFeed, Esquire, NPR, O: The Oprah Magazine, Paste, CBC, The Los Angeles Review, Pitchfork, and Chicago Tribune, among others. His most recent book, A Little Devil In America, was the winner of the 2021 Gordon Burn Prize and the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.
Questlove is a six-time Grammy Award-winning musician, Academy Award-winning filmmaker, drummer, DJ, producer, director, culinary entrepreneur, and New York Times-bestselling author.
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain't Worth Much, was named a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize, and was nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. His first collection of essays, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was named a book of the year by BuzzFeed, Esquire, NPR, O: The Oprah Magazine, Paste, CBC, The Los Angeles Review, Pitchfork, and Chicago Tribune, among others. His most recent book, A Little Devil In America, was the winner of the 2021 Gordon Burn Prize and the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.