Good Books on Hip-Hop?

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I picked up two in a bookstore yesterday, and put each down after about a chapter.

The first was Patrick Neate's "Where You're At." I couldn't read any further after the author made some cornball joke about being "Straight outta Chestershire" or something like that (sorry for the made up British name, but I can't remember what it actually was. My general sense was also that I could expect a lot of excited hyperbole and little rigorous analysis -- a fatal flaw of many current music books, it seems.

The second was Eithne Quinn's "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang". This one looked more promising -- an essay on the intersection between rap and commerce. The first chapter took St. Ides malt liquor as its starting point, and the hip-hop-oriented marketing campaign it undertook to boost its image. This was somewhat interesting, but it went on for way too long after the point had already become clear, and then I started to get especially turned off when I felt that the author was apologizing/over-explaining the fact that he is white and went to an expensive private college.

Are there any books out there that take a smart, incisive, kid-gloves-off approach to hip-hop, books that respect hip-hop without fawning over it or adding hot air to already over-inflated myths?

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 16:36 (twenty years ago)

the new jeff chang book is pretty great so far...

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

"The Wu-Tang Manual" by RZA

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

then there's ego trip's rap lists.

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

I just read a pretty favorable review of the Jeff Chang book "Can't Stop Won't Stop," which sounds like something of a social and political history of the music, though the reviewer sort of implied that Chang was relatively uncritical of the music itself.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

What they said; search Chang's "Can't Stop Won't Stop". As socio-politico-what-have-you musicological history goes, the shit is definitive: http://www.cantstopwontstop.com/

― asl, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 16:41 (twenty years ago)

yeah, that jeff chang book is pretty great too.

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 16:41 (twenty years ago)

though the reviewer sort of implied that Chang was relatively uncritical of the music itself.

What on earth does this mean?

Anyway Rap Attack is yr best shit on the origins of hip-hop, it's by david toop.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 16:43 (twenty years ago)

I can't for the life remember me anything about the George Nelson book Hip Hop America. :-(

Ditto on Toop's book.

― nathalie doing a soft foot shuffle (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 16:44 (twenty years ago)

I don't mean uncritical, so much as unable to be critical in any way. But that's just something I sort-of guessed from something the review said. It seems like a general problem with hip-hop writing, that it's all at one pole or the other -- either "Hip-hop is the authentic expression of troubled people in the ghetto," or "Hip-hop is evil and corrupting to our youth." I'd like to read a more complex take on it than that.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

Toop's book is great, but he kind of loses interest by Rap Attack 3 which has like two new pages or something. I'm halfway through chapter two of Chang's book which to quote Mark P is "pretty great so far." Yes Yes Y'All is great for the early history.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 16:46 (twenty years ago)

hurting, you think maybe its possible that he's going for something more than his subjective take on "the music" specifically?

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

Anybody read Kool Mo(e) Dee's book on the greatest MCs of all time? I'm not saying it's a great book, but definitely entertaining. He puts himself 4th, by the way, and dissects his own strengths and weaknesses, writing in the third-person (his weakness being it's hard for him to admit he has a weakness, or something to that effect).

― dave heaton, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

I'll fourth the recommendation for Toop's book. It's a great historical overview of the '70s through the '80s including a pretty comprehensive look at the prehistory and origins of hip-hop. But I have no idea what you're talking about with the fawning and the myths so it might be too positive for you as well.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 24 February 2005 02:07 (twenty years ago)

FWIW, I thought Ice-T's autobiography was pretty interesting.

― subgenius (subgenius), Thursday, 24 February 2005 02:13 (twenty years ago)

Toop's Rap Attack is the shit.
There's some good writing on the old school in the later chapters of Nelson George's The Death of Rhythm & Blues. Hip-Hop America seems kinda lazy in comparison.
Steven Hager wrote probably the first, but it's long out of print.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Thursday, 24 February 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

I hear 'Hip Hop: The Message: The Stories behind Rap's Biggest Songs' is half-decent. The writer's a knobend though.

― Neil Kulkarni, Thursday, 24 February 2005 10:14 (twenty years ago)

Is anyone familiar with this one?

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0880642637.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

I believe it was a tie-in with a TV series that I never watched; and I've never read the book either - but am sort-of acquainted with the author, so I'd be interested to know what the cognoscenti make of it....

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 24 February 2005 11:10 (twenty years ago)

Mark Anthony Neal's "That's the Joint! The Hip-Hop Studies Reader" is a great place to start.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415969190/qid=1109255543/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-7495833-6828909

Also, I highly recommend Michael Eric Dyson's "Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur".

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465017568/qid=1109255584/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-7495833-6828909?v=glance&s=books

― Sarah Zupko (PopSarah), Thursday, 24 February 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

Forgot about Yes Yes Y'all: The Da Capo Oral History of Hip Hop (sic).(Thanks Alex). I found the first half or so riveting, and then it goes almost TOO deep (unless you're a Funky Four Plus One fanatic). But it's worth the price for the illustrations alone, and all the major players are represented. Great pix of graffitti on the trains.

And check the photos of my namesake getting busy on the turntables!

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Thursday, 24 February 2005 16:02 (twenty years ago)

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