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jashanac's review against another edition
I've had a used physical copy of this on my shelves forever, and I guess I just never looked into what exactly the book was about. I thought it was all about the history & development & changing trends of the hip-hop music genre. I assumed there would be some discussion of cultural shifts leading to different trends and sounds in hip-hop, but this was more or less ONLY about the politics of the early hip-hop generation.
Looking at some reviews it seems the book was pretty well-received overall, but I do see a lot of comments that it isn't so much about the music itself, and that several major hip-hop artists are left out entirely. Also that KRS-One was unhappy with how his Stop the Violence movement was portrayed.
Essentially it doesn't seem like a bad book and I'm sure it has some interesting discussions or information, but it simply isn't what I was looking for or what I thought it was.
Looking at some reviews it seems the book was pretty well-received overall, but I do see a lot of comments that it isn't so much about the music itself, and that several major hip-hop artists are left out entirely. Also that KRS-One was unhappy with how his Stop the Violence movement was portrayed.
Essentially it doesn't seem like a bad book and I'm sure it has some interesting discussions or information, but it simply isn't what I was looking for or what I thought it was.
bexrecca's review against another edition
5.0
How hip hop came to be and why it is what it is. A good look at the sociological/racial history of hip hop and the hip hop generation. I loved this book.
canuckwombat's review against another edition
4.0
Incredibly in-depth account of what feels like almost the entire pre-2005 history of Hip-Hop. Dense, but well worth the read
nuhafariha's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I think I did. It's a great contextualization for hip hop, because music rarely exists without being impacted and impacting the society it's created in and Chang draws really interesting, thoughtful links between anti-apartheid movements, globalization, anti communism interference by the US government and student activism and relates it all to hip hop. I just wish that he had taken time to talk more about feminism in hip hop (how can Lauryn Hill or Missy Elliot only get a sentence or two???) and about Southern hip hop instead of focusing solely on the East/West divide.