Flyboy in the Buttermilk: Essays on Contemporary America

By Greg Tate

Book Overview

"Greg Tate was my first, and in some ways truest, North Star . . . Greg was the first person who validated the art that I loved and made it intellectually viable." --Questlove, from the foreword

"The velocity and volume of his exuberance, his demands, his curiosities, and, yes, his vibrant dissatisfactions pulled me to the edge of my chair." --Hanif Absurraqib, from the introduction

A reissue of Pulitzer Prize winner Greg Tate's classic, out-of-print collection of essays, with a new introduction by Hanif Abdurraqib and a new foreword by Questlove.

From one of the most original, creative, and provocative culture critics comes an eye-opening collection of essays and tales about American music and culture.

Under the guise of writing about a single subject, Greg Tate's essays in Flyboy in the Buttermilk branch out from his usual and explore social, pop cultural, political, and economic subjects. Taking on a wide diversity of topics--from the rise of hip-hop; the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat; the music of Miles Davis, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Bad Brains, and many others; to the crisis of the Black intellectual and the irony of the GOP recruiting Black Americans-- Tate writes in a brave and distinctive voice that is angry, joyous, anxious, and funny.

In every piece of this collection, Tate offers informed insight into where America is going and why.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374394601
• ISBN13: 9780374394608
• Release Date: June 2026
• Publisher: Auwa
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A dazzling intellectual analysis of the African-American avant-garde

FLYBOY IN THE BUTTERMILK is a major work within the too-often overlooked world of African-American cultural theory and writing. Tate, first famous as a contributor to 'Village Voice' and 'Vibe' magazines, emerges here with a complex aesthetic sensibility that very much pushes the limits of African-American pop culture, and traditional culture, in the interest of advancing a new urban avant-garde. In this Tate's goals are perhaps narrow and not as proletarian as some would like (he narrows the focus to music and literature), but his ideas are challenging in constructive fashion and his extremely rigorous blend of wide-ranging erudition (everything from Public Enemy, Miles Davis, William Gibson's cyberpunk and the sonic tapestries of My Bloody Valentine are all part of a seamless cultural landscape, as seen through Tate's eyes) and street-culture interests will keep any reader engaged and thinking in critical (in the best sense of the term) fashion. This book's publication in 1992 is in some senses unfortunate - one would wonder what Tate thinks of the subsequent dope-and-guns fixations of hip-hop, or the glittery party vibe that emerged afterwards, all the intellectual antithesis of everything posited in this book; the cultural and political challenges thrown down in hip-hop 1988-92 (roughly) would seem to be long-dead. Tate's style is an urban reworking of what used to be called gonzo journalism - the variety of wildly personal, slangy, intellectually dense but stylishly raw writing initially associated with the likes of Lester Bangs and Hunter Thompson, it works very, very well here, and Tate (as probably the foremost African-American writer working within a similar style) has breathed new life into the previously moribund style. I doubt we'll be seeing his writing in the staid likes of 'Ebony' anytime soon, but such is life. -David Alston

GREG TATE IS A BRILLIANT THINKER AND WRITER

I first heard of Greg Tate back when he was writing for VIBE Magazine. I was impressed with his surreal and at the same time politically urban views. Greg Tate is a voice for the so-called "BOHO" or Black Bohemian Arts Movement, an underground urban culture which includes Black intellectuals who push the envolope of what traditional Black customes should be. Greg Tate interviews the musical genius George Clinton of Parliment/Funkadelic, science fiction, jazz innovators, unknown but gifted Black filmmakers, an essay about the legendary Rastafarian/Hardcore band Bad Brains, Amiri Baraka, and much more.Greg Tate's writing style is like a cross between Amiri Baraka and Tim Leary. He has been a major influence on my writing. His ideas are so far out there that the mainstream Black intellectual community (who most still have the negroe mentality) won't accept them. Me personally, I have the same dilemma, because the mainsteam says a Black man should only write about Hip-Hop, 'hood stories, the "Negroe" Rights Movement, and slavery instead of science fiction, classical music, and a variety of other subjects. To the average Black mind; Black culture is confined to UPN/WB zitcoms, SoulTrain, goin' to church on Sunday, sittin' in the beauty shop, basketball, and eatin' grits. But Greg Tate says we are a colorful people who have a lot of potential and have no limitations. Only through art can we fully grow. Greg Tate is a gifted writer who deserves credit.