Hip-Hop Is History
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4.6 • 9 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
This is a book only Questlove could have written: a perceptive and personal reflection on the first half-century of hip-hop.
When hip-hop first emerged in the 1970s, it wasn't expected to become the cultural force it is today. But for a young Black kid growing up in a musical family in Philadelphia, it was everything. He stayed up late to hear the newest songs on the radio. He saved his money to buy vinyl as soon as it landed. He even started to make his own songs. That kid was Questlove.
Now, in this landmark book, Questlove traces the creative and cultural forces that made and shaped hip-hop, highlighting both the forgotten but influential gems and the undeniable chart-topping hits-and weaves it all together with the stories no one else knows. It is at once an intimate, sharply observed story and a sweeping theory of the evolution of the great artistic movement of our time. Questlove approaches it with both the encyclopedic fluency of an obsessive fan and the unique expertise of an innovative participant. Hip-hop is history, and also his history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Roots drummer Questlove (Music Is History) lays down a kaleidoscopic chronicle of hip-hop's 50-year history of "diversity and vision... flummery and flaws," beginning with the 1973 Bronx party during which DJ Kool Herc began isolating and repeating songs' beats on turntables. From there, Questlove recounts how the Sugarhill Gang differentiated their sound from disco music by telling "comic stories over the groove, at great length and with great enthusiasm"; documents how the rise of such star producers as Dr. Dre shifted hip hop's center of gravity from the East Coast to the West in the 1990s; and claims that the popularity of drug-related songs in the 2010s marked a cultural moment of "willful numbing" by hip-hop artists disillusioned with the lost promise of a "better future led by a Black president." Throughout, Questlove interweaves sharp and lyrical analyses of hip-hop's evolution with fascinating, up-close recollections of the genre's turning points, noting, for example, that Eminem's 1999 album The Slim Shady LP released on the same day as the Roots' Things Fall Apart, and provoked questions about what it meant for a "white rapper in a mostly Black genre" to "bea sales records left and right." It's an exuberant account of a dynamic musical genre and the cultural climate in which it evolved.
Customer Reviews
The Story Behind the Music
Hip-Hop or Rap music has been a part of collective consciousness for over 50 years now. Questlove of The Roots fame takes us through a chronological exploration of the story behind the music. As an audiophile and hip hop fan I desperately looked for ward to this one and it did not disappoint.
I bought the physical copy but recommend the audiobook as by Questlove himself. His style and references will have you flipping back and forth between your music collection and this book to refresh your palette on the songs and albums that comprise Hip-Hop’s lore. More importantly, you’ll learn that the music doubles as an oral history of a people finding voice through a new genre and taking America along for the ride.
This book is equal parts reminiscing and cultural education. Questlove says a lot about where we are today and will be tomorrow based on how the music reflects the cultural zeitgeist. It some ways Hip-Hop has been a first mover and how you follow along with it can indicate your progressivism or antiquated perspectives. Questlove steers the book into memoir when he is candid about his own struggles to keep up with Hip-Hop’s evolution.
A swift and entertaining read that will send you back and make you pause to listen to the music. If you are new to Rap, use it as a way finder to know the landmark moments and beats that shaped a culture. Don’t expect all your favorites to make the cut, it’s not a popularity contest but a conversation on themes as moments. Some which have not happened yet.