Introduction: "street lit[erature] in America past and present" / by Keenan Norris -- Street literature in America past and present. "What is African-American literature?"/ by Gerald Early -- Gang wars: the academy vs. the streets / by Kemeshia Randle -- Early street lit: 1950s-1970s. Whose mean streets?: Donald Goines, Iceberg Slim, and the black noir aesthetic / by Bonnie Rhee Andreyeyev -- (Re)writing the "bad nigger" hero in Robert Beck's Pimp / by Dennis L. Winston -- Philadelphia negroes, pseudo-sociology, South Street and the life narrative of Malcolm X / interview with David Bradley -- Contemporary street lit: 1990s and 2000s. Saratoga Avenue / by Arisa White -- The history, power and graffiti art of Brazilian hip-hop / by Jaqueline Lima Santos and Ana Lúcia Silva Souza -- Ggun(n) / by Arisa White -- Comparing the available female roles and the social contexts of Sula and The coldest winter ever / by Keenan Norris -- In their own words: street lit, code-meshing, and linguistic diversity / by Nikia Chaney -- Crucial churches / by Tristan Acker -- The art of storytellin : hip hop music and its cousin, street lit / by Khalid White -- Street literature: a contextualization, historiography and personal narrative / by Gerald Early -- Enigmas / by Sterling Warner -- Colson Whitehead's Zone one: post-apocalyptic zombies take over Manhattan in the age of nostalgia, despair, and consumption / by Kimberly Fain -- The method, madness and marketing of street lit / by Latoya Peterson -- A point west of Mount San Bernardino / by Juan Delgado -- Stories we might as well tell / interview with Lynel Gardner.