Scars of the Soul Are Why Kids Wear Bandages When They Don't Have Bruises

“Lewis has composed an observant and urban B-boy’s rites of passage . . . a hiphop bildungsroman told in prose full of buoyancy and bounce.”—Greg Tate, author of Flyboy in the Buttermilk

Scars of the Soul is a confessional, stylistic account (in the Joan Didion tradition) of coming-of-age in the Bronx alongside the birth and evolution of hip-hop culture.

Miles Marshall Lewis was born in the Bronx in 1970 and currently lives in Manhattan. He is a former editor of Vibe and XXL, and his work has been published in The Nation, The Source, the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Essence and other magazines. He holds a B.A. in sociology from Morehouse College and studied at the Fordham University School of Law.

A riveting hip-hop memoir with a preface by internationally acclaimed poet and actor Saul Williams.

Library Journal

In this well-intentioned but flawed debut, former Vibe editor Lewis ruminates on hip-hop culture past, present, and future. He nostalgically recalls his coming of age in the South Bronx, NY, during the 1970s and 1980s through the prism of this global phenomenon-or is it the other way around? Sometimes, it's hard to tell. The book's major flaw is its inability to decide whether it's a memoir or a serious cultural study of hip-hop figures like Afrika Bambaataa and KRS-One. The author's past personal experience and his current position as contemporary chronicler and critic are not melded together in any meaningful way. As a result, the book lacks a sustained and satisfying narrative. One hopes that Lewis, who is clearly a writer of real insight and talent, will delve deeper into both genres in the future. Not recommended.-David Valencia, King Cty. Lib. Syst., Issaquah, WA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Miles Marshall Lewis was born in the Bronx in 1970 and currently splits his time between New York City and Paris, France. He is the author of "Scars of the Soul" (Akashic, 2004), and is a former editor of Vibe and XXL. His work has been published in The Nation, The Source, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Essence, and other Saul Williams is an interationally acclaimed poet and actor. He co-wrote and starred in the film Slam, was featured in the documentaries Slam Nation and I'll Make Me a World, and rapped to Rick Rubin-produced tracks on his hybrid album Amethyst Rock Star. Following The Seventh Octave.