Check the Technique Volume 2

The in-depth stories behind 25 classic hip-hop albums from the 1980s and ‘90s, straight from the original artists. With a Foreword by Adam Mansbach (“Go The F*ck To Sleep,” “Rage Is Back”).


Featuring: Ice Cube, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Naughty By Nature, Mos Def & Talib Kweli, 3rd Bass, Raekwon, Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, Mantronix, Black Sheep, Smif-N-Wessun, Dr. Octagon, Stetsasonic, Gravediggaz, Company Flow and 11 more!


Why the hell didn’t hip-hop albums have liner notes????!!!!


It’s a sad fact, but it can’t be denied: since the genre’s earliest platters on wax, hip-hop album notes have been reduced to a list of producer and sample credits, a publicity photo or two, and some hastily composed shout-outs (if we were lucky). This lack of information has robbed fans of a deeper context that would help them enjoy their favorite classics even more.


Since the publication of his first book – Rakim Told Me: Hip-Hop Wax Facts, Straight from the Original Artists – journalist Brian Coleman has given hip-hop fans around the world the opportunity to be a fly-on-the-wall in conversations he has had with some of the artform’s most talented and colorful subjects. His latest installment, the follow-up to the acclaimed book Check the Technique, continues this path, with 25 new albums discussed in-depth, ranging from Ice Cube’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted and Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx to DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince’s He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper, Mos Def’s & Talib Kweli’s Are Black Star, and Company Flow’s indie rap classic Funcrusher Plus.


The format is simple: One chapter, one artist, one album, blow-by-blow and track-by-track, delivered straight from the artists who produced these classics. And whether you peruse the chapters in chunks over time or devour the book all at once, fans are guaranteed to revel in these conversations, reliving their favorite albums from hip-hop’s “Golden Age.”


Featuring over 80 interviews and 325 songs discussed and dissected, this is a book that will give years of enjoyment to any music fan.


“My circle of liner notes junkies runs deep, and we spend many hours dissecting the chapters in Brian Coleman’s Check the Technique series. FINALLY someone has put in perspective the stuff I have been DYING to know about!!!! I can’t get enough.”

— AHMIR “QUESTLOVE” THOMPSON


“It’s good to see somebody going in-depth in hip-hop, not just surface sh*t. I really do feel that this book is good for the history of hip-hop.”

— ICE CUBE


“I thank The Gods for Brian Coleman who, more than anyone, has reported, recorded and preserved the stories behind some of the greatest creative moments in American culture. Wu-Tang may have been for the children, but Brian Coleman’s work is for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren, so that our descendants may know how majestic hip-hop’s Golden Age truly was, in the same way we now revere blues and jazz.”

— DAN CHARNAS, author of The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop and Def Jam: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label


“Check the Technique Volume 2 is a wild and brilliant hip-hop history, told in the first-person by some of the music’s most important architects. A lot of folks have written good books about hip-hop, but few have given as much back to the culture as Brian Coleman.”

— ADAM BRADLEY, author of Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop and co-editor of The Anthology of Rap