(Abdurraqib, Hanif) Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism has been published in the FADER, Pitchfork, the New York Times, and MTV News, where he is a columnist. His first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain’t Worth Much, was published in 2016 by Button Poetry. They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us (Two Dollar Radio) is a collection of his essays. In an age of confusion, fear, and loss, Hanif Abdurraqib’s is a voice that matters. In the wake of the nightclub attacks in Paris, he recalls how he sought refuge as a teenager in music, at shows, and wonders whether the next generation of young Muslims will not be afforded that opportunity now. While discussing the everyday threat to the lives of black Americans, Abdurraqib recounts the first time he was ordered to the ground by police officers: for attempting to enter his own car. Abdurraqib uses music and culture as a lens through which to view our world, so that we might better understand ourselves, and in so doing proves himself a bellwether for our times.
