& Rakim • The Fugees • KRS-One • Pete Rock & CL Smooth • Public Enemy • The Roots • Run-DMC • Wu-Tang Clan • and twenty-five more hip-hop immortalsIt’s a sad fact: hip-hop album liners have always been reduced to a list of producer and sample credits, a publicity photo or two, and some hastily composed shout-outs. That’s a damn shame, because few outside the game know about the true creative forces behind influential masterpieces like PE’s It Takes a Nation of Millions. . ., De La’s 3 Feet High and Rising, and Wu-Tang’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). A longtime scribe for the hip-hop nation, Brian Coleman fills this void, and delivers a thrilling, knockout oral history of the albums that define this dynamic and iconoclastic art form. The format: One chapter, one artist, one album, blow-by-blow and track-by-track, delivered straight from the original sources. Performers, producers, DJs, and b-boys–including Big Daddy Kane, Muggs and B-Real, Biz Markie, RZA, Ice-T, and Wyclef–step to the mic to talk about the influences, environment, equipment, samples, beats, beefs, and surprises that went into making each classic record. Studio craft and street smarts, sonic inspiration and skate ramps, triumph, tragedy, and take-out food–all played their part in creating these essential albums of the hip-hop canon.Insightful, raucous, and addictive, Check the Technique transports you back to hip-hop’s golden age with the greatest artists of the ’80s and ’90s. This is the book that belongs on the stacks next to your wax.“Brian Coleman’s writing is a lot like the albums he covers: direct, uproarious, and more than six-fifths genius.” –Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop “All producers and hip-hop fans must read this book. It really shows how these albums were made and touches the music fiend in everyone.” –DJ Evil Dee of Black Moon and Da Beatminerz “A rarity in mainstream publishing: a truly essential rap history.” –Ronin Ro, author of Have Gun Will Travel

    He knew what he wanted to do with his life, and it was never too early to start on his path to becoming a hip-hop legend. What made him so determined to become a success? Lil Wayne tells the story of his determination-how he bothered record executives until they gave him a deal, his first successes as part of Hot Boys, and how he almost single-handedly put Dirty South rap on the music map. It hasn't been all smooth sailing for the music star, and Lil Wayne tells that story too. Readers will also learn how he and other hip-hop stars came to the aid of the City of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

    A large part of Anthology’s draw, as with Wax Poetics the magazine, is how gorgeous it looks: Many pieces come with lovingly reproduced album covers and 45 labels, arrayed neatly like so much recordcollector porn.” —The Onion A.V. Club Wax Poetics Anthology, Volume 1 , the first book from the esteemed music journal showcasing everyone from jazz and Hip Hop heavyweights to soul and funk musicians, gathers articles from their first five issues into an attractive hardbound edition filled with vintage photos and album art. Including profiles of the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, funk drummers Clyde Stubblefield and John “Jab’O” Starks, Wild Style director Charlie Ahearn, the late jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus, and many more, this first installment of the Wax Poetics Anthology is a must-have for record collectors and music connoisseurs alike. First published in December 2001, Brooklyn-born Wax Poetics hit newsstands with a new vision for music journalism, creating a bridge between the past and present of Hip Hop, jazz, funk, soul, reggae, disco, and Latin music. Although originally created for a concentrated market of music aficionados, the magazine’s audience has grown exponentially, making musical anthropologists out of average music listeners and spawning a soul renaissance, complete with comeback tours and sophomore efforts. Wax Poetics illuminates the dark corners of our sonic past, while also striving to give new and innovative artists the credit they truly deserve.

    Thousands of young Blacks and Latinos have pledged allegiance to the philosophy of the Five Percenters. Their influence has permeated throughout the streets of urban America, the school system, rap music and the penal institutions. The origins of the Five Percenters can be traced to its founder the late Clarence 13X Smith a.k.a. "Allah." A former member of Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam, he studied under Minister Malcolm X at the Harlem Mosque in the early 60's. He left the organization and subsequently founded a youth movement based on the core doctrine of the NOI and his own lessons referred to as "Supreme Mathematics" and "Supreme Alphabets." The name and ideology of the Five Percenters are derived from NOI teachings that describe the population into three categories. The 85% are misled to believe in a "mystery god," the 10% teach lies to master the poor and superstitious, and alas the 5% are the "poor righteous teachers" of "freedom, justice and equality" who teach that the true and living God is the "Black Man of Asia." During his short reign as leader of the Five Percenters, Clarence 13X (Allah) faced many challenges but accomplished many objectives. Unfortunately in June of 1969, he was gunned down by unknown assassins. He left a legacy of countless youth who embraced the concepts of the Five Percenters which are evident in the conscious youth of today that identify with his teachings. Until now, there has yet to be a comprehensive history written in regard to the man called Allah and the Five Percenters. This information has now been compiled and presented as an anthology by a member of the movement over the past 25 years. "In The Name of Allah: A History of Clarence 13X and the Five Percenters" is a must have for anyone who desires to know more about the controversial movement.

    The anthology explores Hip-Hop as a worldview, as an epistemology grounded in the experiences of communities of color under advanced capitalism, as a cultural site for rearticulating identity and sexual politics. With critical essays, cultural critiques, interviews, personal narratives, fiction, poetry, and artwork. The contributors are varied, from women working within the Hip-Hop sphere, Hip-Hop feminists and activists "on the ground," as well as scholars, writers, and journalists.

    A pensive, artistic youth, Tupac burst onto the hip-hop scene in the 1990s and became one of rap music's most popular and volatile figures. This book examines the life, legacy, and impact of this best-selling rapper.

    But the true origins of one of the most powerful pop-cultural influences in the world are in the spontaneous, progressive musical culture that grew out of tough Bronx neighborhoods of the 1970s and led to a renaissance of poetry, music, and fashion.Through years of research, writer and curator Johan Kugelberg has pulled together the scattered remains of a movement that never had its eye on posterity. The book includes the improvisational artwork of previously unpublished street flyers of the era, Polaroids buried for decades in basements across the Bronx, and testimonials from influential figures such as Tony Tone, LA Sunshine, and Charlie Chase. Through the work of pioneering hip-hop photographer Jow Conzo–the man The New York Times calls “the chronicler who took hip hop’s baby pictures”–Born in the Bronx presents a unique introduction to an explosive and experimental period in music history.

    The Faith of Graffiti, the first and most celebrated book about this controversial new art form, reproduced just over forty selections from the hundreds of photographs he took. Now more than one hundred thirty never-before-published pictures from that landmark body of work, together with a selection of key photographs from The Faith of Graffiti, are brought together in a book destined to become a classic in its own right. Presented full-frame, at high resolution, and with meticulous attention to the original color, this book brings to life the gritty, exciting Germany of the early 1970s and the raw visual power of early graffiti. These photographs recall a time when subway cars and tenement walls seemed to explode overnight into bursts of color and energy. Today these ephemeral works survive only in Naar's masterful photographs. Sacha Jenkins, an authority on graffiti's history, places these pictures within an emerging youth culture that now reaches into every corner of art, fashion, and entertainment.

     Through candid, raw personal essays and rare family photos, this compelling book tells the story of a man who rose from a life of hardcore hustling to one of unrivaled success not just in the music industry, but in the entertainment and commercial world beyond. Inside this full-color, illustrated autobiography, you'll find pieces of memorabilia from 50 Cent's life - handwritten song lyrics, mixtape covers, stage passes, and more - making 50 x 50 a powerful interactive experience. From the first written word to the final hook, 50 x 50 delivers all the honesty and flow you'd expect from hip-hop's most intriguing star. Exclusive CD with never-before-released music track inside.

    Hip-hop has transformed theater, dance, performance, poetry, literature, fashion, design, photography, painting, and film, to become one of the most far-reaching and transformative arts movements of the past two decades.American Book Award-winning journalist Jeff Chang, author of the acclaimed Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, assembles some of the most innovative and provocative voices in hip-hop to assess the most important cultural movement of our time. It's an incisive look at hip-hop arts in the voices of the pioneers, innovators, and mavericks.With an introductory survey essay by Chang, the anthology includes: Greg Tate, Mark Anthony Neal, Brian “B+” Cross, and Vijay Prashad examining hip-hop aesthetics in the wake of multiculturalism. Joan Morgan and Mark Anthony Neal discussing gender relations in hip-hop. Hip-hop novelists Danyel Smith and Adam Mansbach on "street lit" and "lit hop". Actor, playwright, and performance artist Danny Hoch on how hip-hop defined the aesthetics of a generation. Rock Steady Crew b-boy-turned-celebrated visual artist DOZE on the uses and limits of a "hip-hop" identity. Award-winning writer Raquel Cepeda on West African cosmology and "the flash of the spirit" in hip-hop arts. Pioneer dancer POPMASTER FABEL's history of hip-hop dance, and acclaimed choreographer Rennie Harris on hip-hop's transformation of global dance theatre. Bill Adler's history of hip-hop photography, including photos by Glen E. Friedman, Janette Beckman, and Joe Conzo. Poetry and prose from Watts Prophet Father Amde Hamilton and Def Poetry Jam veterans Staceyann Chin, Suheir Hammad, Marc Bamuthi Joseph and Kevin Coval. Roundtable discussions and essays presenting hip-hop in theatre, graphic design, documentary film and video, photography, and the visual arts. “Total Chaos is Jeff Chang at his best: fierce and unwavering in his commitment to document the hip-hop explosion. In beginning to define a hip-hop aesthetic, this gathering of artists, pioneers, and thinkers illuminates the special truth that hip-hop speaks to youth around the globe.” (Bakari Kitwana, author of The Hip-Hop Generation)

    In The Ghosts of Songs, acclaimed artists, filmmakers, and scholars examine the legacy of the collective’s innovative and wide-ranging work in film, video, and installations as well as their provocative essays and manifestos. Packed with rare photographs and previously unseen film stills, The Ghosts of Songs is a thorough assessment of the group’s entire career.

    In lyrics, rappers continue to debate the definition of hip hop and question where the line between underground artist and mainstream crossover is drawn, who owns the culture and who runs the industry, and most importantly, how to remain true to the culture's roots while also seeking fame and fortune. The tension between the desires to preserve hip hop's original culture and to create commercially successful music promotes a lyrical war of words between mainstream and underground artists that keeps hip hop very much alive today. In response to criticisms that hip hop has suffered or died in its transition to the mainstream, this book seeks to highlight and examine the ongoing dialogue among rap artists whose work describes their own careers.Proclamations of hip hop's death have flooded the airwaves. The issue may have reached its boiling point in Nas's 2006 album Hip Hop is Dead. Nas's album is driven by nostalgia for a mythically pure moment in hip hop's history, when the music was motivated by artistic passion, instead of base commercialism. In the course of this same album, however, Nas himself brags about making money for his particular record label. These and similar contradictions are emblematic of the complex forces underlying the dialogue that keeps hip hop a vital element of our culture. Is Hip Hop Dead? seeks to illuminate the origins of hip hop nostalgia and examine how artists maintain control of their music and culture in the face of corporate record companies, government censorship, and the standardization of the rap image.Many hip hop artists, both mainstream and underground, use their lyrics to engage in a complex dialogue about rhyme skills versus record sales, and commercialism versus culture. This ongoing dialogue invigorates hip hop and provides a common ground upon which we can reconsider many of the developments in the industry over the past 20 years. Building from black traditions that value knowledge gained from personal experience, rappers emphasize the importance of street knowledge and its role in forging a career in the music business. Lyrics adopt models of the self-made man narrative, yet reject the trajectories of white Americans like Benjamin Franklin who espoused values of prudence, diligence, and delayed gratification. Hip hop's narratives instead promote a more immediately viable gratification through crime and extend this criminal mentality to their work in the music business. Through the lens of hip hop, and the threats to hip hop culture, author Mickey Hess is able to confront a range of important issues, including race, class, criminality, authenticity, the media, and personal identity.