Text Messages

the long version

"A true testament to hip-hop's intersectional revolutionary power and an unapologetic representation of the Muslim world in the 21st century's most uniquitous art form"--Back cover. Text Messages is the first multi-genre collection by Montreal-based Iraqi hip-hop artist, activist, and professor Yassin "Narcy" Alsalman. Composed entirely on a smartphone during air travel and married to artwork from comrades, Narcy's writing speaks of the existential crises experienced by diasporic children of war before and during imperialism in the age of the Internet. Narcy's verses span the space between hip-hop and manifesto, portraying a crumbling, end-stage capitalist mental breakdown and the potential of promise in a post-pandemic world.