Hardworking Kansas City rapper Mac Lethal has a problem, and his name is Bennett. Mac"s wannabe gangsta cousin is seventeen, uses drugs and foul language, claims to be 13 percent black, and swears he speaks "da female language." (Strangely that last one sort of seems true.) But as different as they are, when Bennett and his mom lose their home, Mac"s got their backs. They"re family after all. Sure, it takes patience to live with the eternally smoked-out Bennett and the pill-popped Aunt Lily, but he can handle it. You know who can"t? Mac"s very pretty, very WASPy, very uptight girlfriend. So as his once-peaceful household gets completely crazy, Mac learns that wanna-be-Crips are thicker than water, that his little cousin--flawed, irreverent, and basically a Saturday morning cartoon gone horribly wrong--has become his mentor, and that he really has no idea what"s up with girls. Advance praise for Texts from Bennett "In Texts from Bennett, rapper Mac Lethal shows his storytelling chops through the voice of his (imaginary?) cousin Bennett. The author"s portrayal of poverty, drug use, and the working poor white folks" struggle to get by has serious street cred." -- Rollie Welch, Library Journal "This is a necessary novel that follows the phenomenon of poor white teens diving into black cultural stereotypes. The language is rough but true, and tough issues are addressed with care and understanding." -- Marl Eleveld, Booklist "It will be the best $9 you"ll ever spend, partly for the hilarious and at times strikingly graphic story, and the fact that you get Mac Lethal"s new album for free when you order the book." -- Gavin Muirhead, HefferBrew