Close to the Edge author and subjects featured in the New York Daily News

The New York Daily News profiles Sujatha Fernandes, Queens College sociology professor, former hip hop MC, and author of Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation. The Daily News article focuses on members of the global hip hop generation immigrating to New York:

As an “Indian-Australian-Portuguese gringa,” Fernandes said settling down here felt natural. “In some ways, I was really looking for home.”

Also profiled are two Cuban-born artists featured in the book, Ariel Fernández Díaz and Julio Cardenas, both of whom now live in New York:

Fernández Díaz says he was captivated by American hip hop and helped bring it to life in Havana, where he ran a festival and a magazine tied to the movement. But he felt like his voice wasn’t being heard in Cuba and grew frustrated, he said.

“I always felt connected with the hip-hop culture of New York,” he said of his decision to leave his country in 2005. He now lives in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Visit the New York Daily News to read the article in full.