Examines how slavery and the civil rights movement helped lead to the birth of hip-hop and how the genre extends far beyond the music.

"From underground roots to mainstream popularity, hip-hop's influence on music and entertainment around the world has been nothing short of extraordinary. Ode to Hip-Hop chronicles the journey with profiles of fifty albums that have defined, expanded, and ultimately transformed the genre into what it is today. From 2 Live Crew's groundbreaking As Nasty As They Wanna Be in 1989 to Cardi B's similarly provocative Invasion of Privacy almost thirty years...

"With A Child's Introduction to Hip Hop, parents can teach their kids about their favorite musical genre through this beautifully illustrated exploration of the history and origins of hip hop, beginning with the "Holy Trinity" of DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash, to today's Kanye West, Cardi B, and more, all leading up to the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip hop in August 2023"--

A New York Times—bestselling, in-depth exploration of the most pivotal moments in rap music from 1979 to 2014. Here's what The Rap Year Book does: It takes readers from 1979, widely regarded as the moment rap became recognized as part of the cultural and musical landscape, and comes right up to the present, with Shea Serrano hilariously discussing, debating, and deconstructing the most important rap song year by year. Serrano also examines the...

"Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella caused a seismic shift in hip-hop when they decided to form N.W.A in 1986. Suddenly rap became gangsta and relevant on the West Coast. With their hard-core image, bombastic sound, and lyrics that were by turns poetic, lascivious, socially conscious, and downright in-your-face, N.W.A spoke the truth about life on the streets of Compton, California--at the time a hotbed of poverty, drugs, gangs, and unemployment....