They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

Hanif Abdurraqib uses the framework of American pop culture to examine how Black identity survives under the weight of state violence and social exclusion. The essays analyze specific cultural moments, ranging from the performance energy of Bruce Springsteen and Carly Rae Jepsen to the public mourning of Prince and the legacy of Nina Simone. Abdurraqib connects these musical observations to historical realities, such as the 1965 Watts riots and the contemporary police killings of Black citizens, arguing that music serves as both a tool for endurance and a target for surveillance.

This collection is for readers who study the intersection of musicology and sociology. It attracts those who want to understand how aesthetic enjoyment functions alongside racial grief. Readers gain a technical appreciation for how artists craft sound to reflect their environments, while also developing a sharper perspective on how minority communities claim space within a hostile landscape. The text provides a lens for viewing the charts and the concert stage as battlegrounds for visibility and political expression.