Baz Dreisinger

Baz Dreisinger, the author of Near Black, is an associate professor in the English Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. A journalist and critic, Baz has written for the New York Times, Village Voice, Vibe, Los Angeles Times, and other publications. Together with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Peter Spirer, she produced and wrote the documentaries Black and Blue, which investigates the New York Police Department's monitoring of the hip-hop industry, and Rhyme and Punishment, about hip-hop and the prison industrial complex.