Our friend, Elijah Wald, has his new book just out, The Dozens: A History of Rap's Mama. Among the illustrations, getting a whole page to itself, and a long caption, is the Stela of Great Chief Of Militia Nesdjehuti c. 725 BC) reads (right to left)
[ "A donkey shall copulate with him, a donkey shall copulate with his wife, his wife shall copulate with his child." The Egyptian term for copulate was n-k, cognate with the Arabic nik, whence the French nique, as in nique ta mére. The concept survves in Swahili, mama yako anatombwa na punda, "Your mother copulates with a donkey," quoted in the filmCotton Comes to Harlem. (Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. Tanslation by Jac. J. Janssen.) " ]
And, why yes, if you should ask, el V is credited in the acknowledgments -- his kind of book fo shu! Actually, it is wonderful, and makes great reading aloud, which of course it would, the subject being what it is. Eiijah's books are always great -- his previous title was, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock and Roll, a valuable and entertaining study of the Billboard Number One hits from the time it began. You can just hear Elijah chortling away as he writes all those Bad Words on every page and knowing that the Oxford University Press will be publishing them.
El V's having a photo shoot of self, hat and guitar for Kiss You Down South's cover art. Why yes, the album - cd - whatever is finally coming out!
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