A Drop of Midnight cover art

A Drop of Midnight

A Memoir

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

A Drop of Midnight

By: Jason Diakité, Rachel Willson-Broyles - translator
Narrated by: Jason Diakité
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £22.99

Buy Now for £22.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

World-renowned hip-hop artist Jason “Timbuktu” Diakité’s vivid and intimate journey through his own and his family’s history - from South Carolina slavery to twenty-first-century Sweden.

Born to interracial American parents in Sweden, Jason Diakité grew up between worlds - part Swedish, American, black, white, Cherokee, Slovak, and German, riding a delicate cultural and racial divide. It was a no-man’s-land that left him in constant search of self. Even after his hip-hop career took off, Jason fought to unify a complex system of family roots that branched across continents, ethnicities, classes, colors, and eras to find a sense of belonging.

In A Drop of Midnight, Jason draws on conversations with his parents, personal experiences, long-lost letters, and pilgrimages to South Carolina and New York to paint a vivid picture of race, discrimination, family, and ambition. His ancestors’ origins as slaves in the antebellum South, his parents’ struggles as an interracial couple, and his own world-expanding connection to hip-hop helped him fashion a strong black identity in Sweden.

What unfolds in Jason’s remarkable voyage of discovery is a complex and unflinching look at not only his own history but also that of generations affected by the trauma of the African diaspora, then and now.

Paid In Full Words and Music by Eric Barrier and William Griffin © 1987 Universal - Songs of Polygram International, Inc. and Robert Hill Music. Peter Piper Words and Music by Darryl McDaniels and Joseph Simmons © 1986 Protoons, Inc. It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) Words and Music by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills © 1932 Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC and EMI Mills Music, Inc. in the U.S.A. I Know You Got Soul Words and Music by Bob Byrd, James Brown and Charles Bobbitt © 1971 (Renewed) Crited Music, Inc. Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud Words and Music by James Brown and Alfred James Ellis © 1968 (Renewed) Dynatone Publishing Company. Who’s That Knocking by The Genies © 1959 (Renewed) Time Music

©2016 Jason Timbuktu Diakité. Translation © 2020 by Rachel Willson-Broyles. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Entertainment & Celebrities Celebrity
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Tastes Like War cover art
Sigh, Gone cover art
We Share the Same Sky cover art
The Eternal Audience of One cover art
Lucky Girl cover art
The Town of Babylon cover art
Ma and Me cover art
The Wedding Party cover art
Alligator and Other Stories cover art
Obama Music cover art
Say I'm Dead cover art
A Parallel Life cover art
Disoriental cover art
Anywhere but Home cover art
Afropessimism cover art
What My Mother and I Don't Talk About cover art

Critic reviews

“His writing has an ethereal, questioning quality, in sync with his background...the author’s prose is often nimble and observant, sharply considering the burdens surrounding race and masculinity. A vibrant, thoughtful memoir reflecting contemporary black cultural concerns.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“This touching exploration of race and heritage is incisive, heartbreaking, and heartwarming.” (Library Journal)

“Diakité smooths out the conflicting complications of his heritage and upbringing to create a positive form of complexity.” (Booklist)

What listeners say about A Drop of Midnight

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

My biases have been shattered

As a white guy growing up in England and Sweden, I believed that all people were treated equally in society and that everyone can have good lives. this book, showing me the pain, shame and hopelessness carried in some of the African American communities in the United States, and the prejudice faced by black people in Europe has shattered my world view. This book is a pure masterpiece, as it serves as part social commentary, part autobiography, blending the two elements perfectly in one book. I will reccomend this to everyone.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!