NEW YORK – October 16, 2012 – Celebrating the 30^th anniversary of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s iconic song, “The Message,” and in anticipation of the 40^th anniversary of Hip-Hop in 2013, NBC Publishing announces the re-release of Felicia Pride’s, The Message: Life Lessons from Hip-Hop’s Greatest Songs as an eBook available today. Featuring a foreword written by Chuck D, iconic member of Public Enemy, The Message is a literary mixtape of wisdom and insight culled from hip-hop’s all-time greatest songs. Pride examines a wide range of hip-hop interpreting life through the music’s lens and brings her own insights and experiences to the page. By incorporating her reflections on the rappers’ messages, Pride shares the wisdom she has gained from hip-hop and focuses on the valuable influence the music has on its audience. With each life lesson aptly titled after a hip-hop song—such as Kanye West’s “Welcome to Heartbreak,” EPMD’s “Please Listen to My Demo,” Nneka’s “Heartbeat,” or Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power”—The Message explores, success, love, business, politics and more through the language of hip-hop culture.

Used in classrooms from the middle school to the university level, The Message has also become an invaluable text for educators who praise it as…

• “An instrumental text in showing an entire 9^th grade how to write personal essays” - Jeannie Reynolds, Education Consultant, Teachers College Columbia University
• "A great catalyst for writing…which in turn makes [students] better, more thoughtful writers” - Nancy Ferrone Teacher, FLAGS High School
• “A must read for teachers and other professionals who work with youth,” - David Miller, Urban Leadership Institute
• "Inspiring, funny, practical, and spiritual [that] will be long put to use in my Hip-Hop class at NYU.” - David E. Kirkland, Associate Professor of English and Urban Education, New York University

Because of this increasing popularity among educators, NBC Publishing has also released, The Educators’ Guide to The Message, as a free companion eBook today. Featuring discussion prompts, standards-based lesson plans, and extension activities, the companion Educators’ Guide provides a resource to accompany Felicia Pride’s original text in the classroom. As an added bonus, an accompanying playlist is also available online to complement these texts at www.nbcpublishing.com/message.

Felicia Pride is the author of seven books and a successful entrepreneur and educator whose work focuses on using media and pop culture as tools of engagement. She’s also the founder of The Message Project, an initiative that encourages young people to amplify their messages. Currently a Hip-Hop Education Fellow at New York University, her work has been featured by USA Today and NPR and she’s riffed on media, entrepreneurship, youth development, hip-hop, and writing at schools, institutions, and events around the country. Pride holds an M.A. in writing and publishing from Emerson College. Visit her online at www.feliciapride.com.

ABOUT NBC PUBLISHING
NBC Publishing is a division of NBCUniversal Media, LLC that focuses on developing digital publishing projects from content created within the NBCUniversal and Comcast family of properties, as well as publishing original works with outside authors and publishing partners. www.nbcpublishing.com