Rapilates: Body and Mind Conditioning in the Digital Age
LEGENDARY HIP-HOP ARTIST CHUCK D has been touring the world for four decades, since his band Public Enemy put out their first album in 1987. Now, at age sixty-three, Chuck is frequently asked how he still manages to put on such high-energy performances so many years later. His response is simple: he practices Pilates, a form of exercise and body conditioning that has become increasingly popular over the last decade.
Chuck's appreciation for Pilates took a major leap in 2016 when he was setting out on a rigorous tour schedule with a powerful and energetic new band called Prophets of Rage (a supergroup including members of Public Enemy and Rage Against the Machine). Over the next four years, the group would perform to more than two million people across the globe. As Chuck admits, he simply could not have delivered on such a massive level without his practice of Pilates.
In this volume, Chuck and his Pilates guru, Kathy Lopez, present the "RAPilates" program of more than thirty mat-based exercises for people of all ages and experiences. The exercises are beautifully illustrated in the inimitable style that Chuck has demonstrated in his previous books of visual art, including STEWdio and Summer of Hamn. Like those two books, RAPilates is published on Chuck's Enemy Books imprint, which is hosted by Akashic Books.
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Chuck D's excellent STEWdio (yes, Chuck D of Public Enemy) is a literal diary of stray thoughts, three books of them, in a box--and some of the most compelling reading I've done this year. In one-page panels recalling a meld of eighth grade homeroom sketches and the exuberantly unstable lines of Basquiat, Chuck offers portraits of collaborators, tales of loss and quarantine, nights huddled before cable news.-- "Chicago Tribune, on STEWdio"
The Public Enemy mastermind combines art and hip-hop rhymes to provide his compelling, personal views on the chaotic years between 2020 and 2022 . . . In an engaging, distinctly hip-hop style, Chuck D reveal important lessons from the early pandemic years.-- "Kirkus Reviews, starred review of STEWdio"
This box set of three full-color paperback bound books is an engaging time capsule capturing the thoughts and artwork Chuck D created from the start of COVID-19 through the first year of the Biden administration. The cofounder and front man of legendary hip hop group Public Enemy unleashes his commentary on contemporary events with the activist instinct that made the hip hop pioneers a social message phenomenon.-- "Ebony, on STEWdio"
With his latest work of graphic nonfiction, Chuck D uses his art and hip-hop rhymes to show how the US has been held hostage by gun violence and a growing sense of hopelessness . . . A focused, fresh, urgent text filled with pictures worth 1,000 words and rhymes worth thousands more.-- "Kirkus Reviews, starred review of Summer of Hamn"
Chuck D., the leader/cofounder of the hip-hop group Public Enemy, and Lopez, his Pilates instructor, show how people of all ages can benefit from the practice of this body-conditioning regime. Now 63 years old, Chuck D says that he wanted to make sure his book offered something that readers over 40 could do effectively and safely. Together, the authors provide a great introduction to Pilates with clear, encouraging, and easy-to-understand directions and mesmerizing illustrations, created by Chuck D., a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee who also has a degree in graphic design. The combination of the text and images help readers better grasp how to do each exercise. The book's breathing instructions are especially helpful and essential. Some exercises come with a warning for readers who have back or neck issues. Otherwise, they're designed to be safe for all to try at home with limited or no equipment. Most of the exercises have hip-hop adjacent names, which adds a humorous touch to the tone of the book. VERDICT A solid and fun introduction to Pilates for both beginners and readers with some knowledge of Pilates. Fans of hip-hop will appreciate this book too.-- "Library Journal Life+Style April 2024"
