On this four-decade-long journey from the studios where the first rap records were made to the boardrooms where the big deals were inked, The Big Payback tallies the list of who lost and who won. Read the secret histories of the early long-shot successes of Sugar Hill Records and Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC's crossover breakthrough on MTV, the marketing of gangsta rap, and the rise of artist/ entrepreneurs like Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs. 300 industry veterans-well-known giants like Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, the founders of Def Jam, and key insiders like Gerald Levin, the embattled former Time Warner chief-gave their stories to renowned hip-hop journalist Dan Charnas, who provides a compelling, never-before seen, myth-debunking view into the victories, defeats, corporate clashes, and street battles along the 40-year road to hip-hop's dominance.

    Five days in, he receives an anonymous letter telling him that his days are numbered. But before he can find out who’s behind the threats, Jake is stabbed and ends up in a coma.When he wakes in a hospital bed two years later, things have changed: His prison sentence has been commuted, his girlfriend is fiercely independent, and his side piece has gotten out of the street life altogether. But one thing remains: Jake’s enemy still wants him dead and is powerful enough to track him down no matter where he hides.On the run, and with rumors circulating about a powerful, phantomlike gang called the 300 Crew, Jake will need to rely on his mantra: Trust no one—not the law, not his girl, not the street cats he helped out years ago, not even his own blood.

    In The Anthology of Rap, editors Adam Bradley and Andrew DuBois explore rap as a literary form, demonstrating that rap is also a wide-reaching and vital poetic tradition born of beats and rhymes.This pioneering anthology brings together more than three hundred rap and hip-hop lyrics written over thirty years, from the “old school” to the “golden age” to the present day. Rather than aim for encyclopedic coverage, Bradley and DuBois render through examples the richness and diversity of rap’s poetic tradition. They feature both classic lyrics that helped define the genre, including Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five’s “The Message” and Eric B. & Rakim’s “Microphone Fiend,” as well as lesser-known gems like Blackalicious’s “Alphabet Aerobics” and Jean Grae’s “Hater’s Anthem.”Both a fan’s guide and a resource for the uninitiated, The Anthology of Rap showcases the inventiveness and vitality of rap’s lyrical art. The volume also features an overview of rap poetics and the forces that shaped each period in rap’s historical development, as well as a foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and afterwords by Chuck D and Common. Enter the Anthology to experience the full range of rap’s artistry and discover a rich poetic tradition hiding in plain sight.

    Diverse in scope and wickedly satirical, Goodwin's poetic essays sample race, class, and culture, transcending the page with hip-hop musicality. A rhythmic blend of biting wit and break-beat poetry, Goodwin's prose pulses with purpose. Remixing broken dreams and distorted legacies, Goodwin cross-fades past and present, personal and political: Motown's last vinyl factory juxtaposes against Bronx rap legends battling in open-air arenas; Chicago's Public School system contrasts against Santa Fe's tourism industry; an Egyptian child drowns in the Dead Sea as Nat Turner sprints across Death Valley. These Are The Breaks is the literary mixtape of our cacophonous times.

    The Boombox Project features contemporary fine art portraits of an array of vintage boomboxes, as well as scores of documentary photographs of the people who brought the boombox movement to life back in the day.   The book is more than just a collection of images, though; it’s also an oral history of the early days of hip-hop, featuring memories from Fab 5 Freddy, Bob Gruen, Rosie Perez, Kool Moe Dee, LL Cool J, Lisa Lisa, DJ Spooky, and Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, among others, on the role this once ubiquitous machine played. Part pop cultural history and part “gadget porn,” this lively and highly stylish volume is one of the cool books of the season.Praise for The Boombox Project:"Photographer Lyle Owerko tells the whole story with crisp still lifes and an oral history of an era when graffiti and antigentrification ruled." --Playboy, October 2010

    A first part of the research analyzes how graffiti in media such as movies, videos, magazines, and books from New York influenced the first European scene, which only took a few years to build up its own connections and styles from Scandinavia to the Southern Countries. International crews, fanzine networks, inter-rail travels are, among others, key-chapters in which writers have become protagonists. The whole project came out from the consideration that many stories lived by writers are just lost in time. Beside pictures of pieces, the adventures and sensations a writer lives through often just disappear, like many other types of oral culture. For that reason, theres the widest text contribution ever published in this field. All City Writers tries to document the evolution and the consequences of a countercultural phenomenon, which in the last few decades has provoked a change in the rules regarding aesthetics and communication in a modern day society. All City Writers for the first time reassumes the main facts / actors of the International Writing scene, offering an overview of the main European cities, directly compared with New York City. Main cities involved: New York City, US London, UK Bristol, UK Stockholm, Sweden Helsinki, Finland, Copenhagen, Denmark Amsterdam, Holland Rotterdam, Holland Hamburg, Germany Berlin, Germany Dortmund, Germany Munich, Germany Paris, France Zurich, Switzerland Basel, Switzerland Madrid, Spain Barcelona, Spain Milan, Italy Rome, Italy

    The destructive components of juxtaposing cultures, the birth of immigrant internationality and the resilient art that comes out of struggle and oppression.It is the story of four young Arab men who joined forces to create their own representative governing meeting. Excentrik, Ragtop, Omar Offendum & the Narcicyst spent two weeks in California and endless hours on a computer crafting the Fear of an Arab Planet; an examination of the heightened anxiety towards Islam, the Oriental gaze towards the Arab face and the ever-growing paranoia of the ‘other’, all over some bangin’ beats to rock to. As a post-analytical view of the making of an album, this book serves as a document on the burgeoning Arab poetry scene, and how the two mother cultures of a migrant society coalesced through a modern hyper-culture called Hip-Hop. From TSA agents to ABC rappers, The Arab Summit were on a mission to be heard… and that is exactly what happened.With writing by Suheir Hammad, Omar Offendum, Ragtop & ExcentrikExclusive Interviews with Cilvaringz, Malikah, Eslaam Jawaad, Members of AK, DAM and Soul Purpose.