From Semi-Obscure Gem to HBO Show: Rapper J-Zone Revisits Lisa Belkin’s “Show Me a Hero”

This article is based on an earlier interview I did with J. You can purchase a copy of his book Root for the Villain here.

Queens-based author, drummer, rapper, and producer J-Zone has long been a champion for underappreciated art. Whether it’s interviewing forgotten funk drummers or talking about his favorite Rap-A-Lot albums, he has a knack for giving exposure to forgotten gems that deserve our attention. “With music, film, and books, people will only consider something valid when it’s well known and when it has a machine behind it,” he explains. “Books that aren’t super-duper in the forefront don’t get discussed. I just think a lot of people might be embarrassed or feel like something isn’t relevant if it’s not well known.”

For this reason, J decided to discuss Lisa Belkin’s Show Me a Hero, a book that forces us to confront the racial tension that exists within our society and within ourselves. “I think people should read it just because…nobody likes to think of themselves as racist,” J tells me. “People think racist is the Klan. They don’t like to look at their own prejudices and deal with it. And we all have them.”

“People think racist is the Klan. They don’t like to look at their own prejudices and deal with it. And we all have them.”

Belkin’s book is an eye-opening account of a controversial housing initiative in Yonkers, New York during the late 80s that exposed deep-seated issues of class and race. The book shows how a federally-mandated public housing plan can expose prejudice in even the most progressive areas in the United States, especially when people are forced to live side by side. To J, the book serves as a sobering reminder that segregation exists everywhere. “When you’re in school growing up and you hear about integration, you think about the south, the 50s and 60s, getting hit with hoses, and Selma,” J says. “You think about the Mason-Dixon Line. You’re not thinking about Westchester County, one of most affluent counties in New York.” For J, his proximity to the story made it even more real. “It’s five miles away from where you live, right on top of the Bronx, New York City,” he says. “This was modern day New York.”

And although the events in the book happened almost 30 years ago, J believes Belkin’s book will never lose it’s relevance. “I just feel like the book is timeless in terms of what’s going on now,” he says. “People think New York is a melting pot. It doesn’t seem like it to me personally, but people say it seems that way. Now it’s getting gentrified and people are moving into neighborhoods that weren’t there before. People are being pushed out, people are forced to face each other, and they have to deal with each other. So it’s something that’s still happening.”

“It goes deeper than yelling epithets at somebody, throwing eggs, or saying you hate this, that, and the other.”

Despite the fact that modern-day gentrification continues to expose racial tensions in America, J-Zone believes Show Me a Hero can help all of us reflect on how to improve the situation in our own backyard, one small step at a time. “I just think Show Me A Hero makes people take a better look at everything,” he says. “It goes deeper than yelling epithets at somebody, throwing eggs, or saying you hate this, that, and the other. If you’re moving into a neighborhood that’s gentrifying, would you say hello to people who are of a different class bracket, different race, and different religion? They’re in your building, so do you say, ‘Hey, good morning’? Or is it just like, ‘You don’t fuck with me, I don’t fuck with you. No hard feelings, but I have nothing to say to you’?”

With the issues of race and segregation more topical than ever, J was happy to see HBO breathe new life into the book last summer with a mini-series executive-produced by David Simon, whose credits also include Generation Kill, Homicide, Treme, and The Wire. And yet, he still feels Show Me a Hero hasn’t been given it’s proper due. “If this book wasn’t getting a makeover for HBO, it would be even more obscure,” he says. As for other books in his collection? “A lot of other books that I like are more obscure than this,” he admits. “It’s like, how can I even get people to look it?” Hopefully J will answer his own question and continue to shine light on underappreciated art in the future.

To learn more about J-Zone, check out his Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, and website. You can follow him on Twitter @jzonedonttweet.

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