“Who We Be shows how the U.S., with its epic struggles over race and identity, moved more than halfway toward becoming a ‘majority-minority’ nation,” Chang said. “It’s about what unsung visionaries and broad-minded pragmatists did to make the seemingly intractable more fluid, and it explores the cultural implications of a new American majority.”

This followup to Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation and Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop, is slated for a 2010 release on St. Martin’s Press.

Jeff has also been contracted to pen Youth. This book of essays will appear as part of the Picador Books’ special Big Ideas/Small Books series. No date is currently scheduled for release.

CSWS Version 1.0 was a great way to introduce you to the book and we think Version 2.0 will serve as a better hub of information and discussion around the ideas the book has inspired.

We’ve kept the newspaper type of look to the website, but thanks to the hard work of Eugene Kuo of 226 Design and Shinji Kuwayama of Kuwayama Design, we’ve eliminated the dead spots and tried to make every spot on the pages informative and interesting.

You’ll also find lots of little and big new features.

We’re especially happy to be able to present The Reader, an archive of Jeff’s writings on politics, culture, and the hip-hop movement from the past two decades or so. Over time, this will become the online source to find Jeff’s award-winning work.

Take your time to explore the site. Tell us here what you think we’re missing, what you want to see more of, and just what you think.

Thanks as always for stopping by.