B-boying is a form of Afro-diasporic competitive dance that developed in the Bronx, NY in the early 1970s. Widely - though incorrectly - known as "breakdancing," it is often dismissed as a form of urban acrobatics set to music. In reality, however, b-boying is a deeply traditional and profoundly expressive art form that has been passed down from teacher to student for almost four decades. Foundation: B-boys, B-girls and Hip-Hop Culture in New York offers the first serious study of b-boying as both unique dance form and a manifestation of the most fundamental principles of hip-hop culture. Drawing on anthropological and historical research, interviews and personal experience as a student of the dance, Joseph Schloss presents a nuanced picture of b-boying and its social context. From the dance's distinctive musical repertoire and traditional educational approaches to its complex stylistic principles and secret battle strategies, Foundation illuminates a previously unexamined thread in the complex tapestry that is contemporary hip-hop.

Machine Gun Kelly revisit his 2019 album Hotel Diablo as he makes his debut in the world of comics! Between Heaven and Hell lies a waystation for the soul--a place where your deeds in life are the keys to your eternity in the afterlife--at the Hotel Diablo. And it's Lydia Lopez's first night behind the front desk. Every guest's got a story to tell and a lesson to learn... Co-written by film and music superstar Machine Gun Kelly with Eliot Rahal (Archie Comics) and Ryan Cady (DC Comics). Art by Martin Morazzo (Ice Cream Man) and a host of talented illustrators. Full Creator List: ILLUSTRATORS: Martin Morazzo; Victor Ibanez; Nelson Blake II; Amilcar Pinna; Rachel Smartt; Roberta Ingranata WRITERS: Machine Gun Kelly, Eliot Rahal & Ryan Cady EDITOR: Chris Robinson COVER ARTISTS: Martin Morazzo & Aladdin Collar PRINT ARTISTS: Jenna Cha; Trevor Henderson; Leslie Hung

A close look at how Taiwanese musicians are using rap music as a creative way to explore and reconcile Taiwanese identity and history. Like many states emerging from oppressive political rule, Taiwan saw a cultural explosion in the late 1980s, when nearly four decades of martial law under the Chinese Nationalist Party ended. As members of a multicultural, multilingual society with a complex history of migration and colonization, Taiwanese people entered this moment of political transformation eager to tell their stories and grapple with their identities. In Renegade Rhymes, ethnomusicologist Meredith Schweig shows how rap music has become a powerful tool in the post-authoritarian period for both exploring and producing new knowledge about the ethnic, cultural, and political history of Taiwan. Schweig draws on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, taking readers to concert venues, music video sets, scenes of protest, and more to show how early MCs from marginalized ethnic groups infused rap with important aspects of their own local languages, music, and narrative traditions. Aiming their critiques at the educational system and a neoliberal economy, new generations of rappers have used the art form to nurture associational bonds and rehearse rituals of democratic citizenship, making a new kind of sense out of their complicated present.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Prologue.

aSharpley-Whiting's book does not suffer from the sort of cowardice one too often hears from black academics who genuflect to hip hop in order to stay current with the tastes of the students who provide them with whatever power they have on college campuses. Sharpley-Whiting calls them as she sees them and wisely quotes the offensive material when necessary. Her book is high level in its research and its thought, and those looking for adult ideas about the subject should look it up.a
--Stanley Crouch, "New York Daily News"

aSharpley-Whiting gets at the heart of the paradox . . . and puts the discussion on the turntable.a
--"Washington Post"

aSharpley-Whiting unmasks thought provoking socio-political commentaries concerning sexual obsession in rap music and its affects on the black female sense of self.a--"Allhiphop.com"

aOffers an insightful look into the strip clubs, groupie culture, and other aspects of hip hop that have given a voice to the disenfranchised while raising troubling questions about what those voices are saying and doing.a--"Vanderbilt Magazine"

aOffers damning evidence about hip hopas underlying racial and social prejudices, examining the politics of gender and providing a feministas perspective and insights into black music;s underlying message.a--"The Midwest Book Review"

aSharpley-Whittingas uncommon perspective is one that deserves to be examined more often.a
--"Bitch"

aFor B-girls who embrace both the brashness of Lila Kim and the pro-feminism of Lauryn Hill, Pimps Up, Hoas Down is an intellectual look at the intricate, diverse attitudes of young black women within the hip hop community.Sharpley-Whiting combines thought-provoking text with interviews that range from the aricha (see Trina) to the aregulara (everyday women), giving a voice to todayas complex and contradictory females within hip hop.a
--"The Source Magazine"

aThrough provocatively titled chapters such as aSex, Power, and Punannya and aStrip Tails: Booty Clappina, P-poppina, Shake Dancing, a Sharpley-Whiting provides a sobering analysis of womenas participation in the hyper-sexualized black American, urban youth culture known as hip hop. . . . This book delivers a riveting portrayal of hip hop, from the thumping rap music that serves as a soundtrack for Americaas strip clubs to the predatory groupies who relentlessly pursue rap stars.a
--"Ms. Magazine"

aProbing. . . . A canny study. . . . Sharpley-Whiting brings both street smarts and sophisticated cultural analysis to her subject.a
--"Philadelphia Inquirer"

aClear and well written. . . . It serves as a decent jumping-off point to discussions of young black women in our current society. . . . Sharpley-Whiting has opened up the dialog, offering a source for research in a burgeoning area of study.a
--"Library Journal"

aSharpley-Whiting provides interesting anecdotes about the ways in which women are portrayed (and often used) within hip hop. . . . [Her] insightful analyses [include] a particularly interesting discussion of the intersections of race, class, and capitalism in strip clubs.a
--"Bust Magazine"

Pimps Up, Hoas Down is an in-depth look at hip hopas effect on young black women. Sharpley-Whiting discusses topics such as light-skinned black (or ethnically ambiguous) females getting more love in hip hop videos, unreportedsexual abuse within black communities -- even the fact that most hip hop groupies do not consider themselves groupies. She successfully ties these trends into the mainstream hip hop culture of today. Pimps Up, Hoas Down provides an intellectual look at how hip hop views and affects the young black women of this generation, most who are oblivious to what is actually going on. Sharpley-Whitingas uncommon perspective is one that deserves to be examined more often.a
--"URB"

aOffers a bracing, brilliant, and provocative take on how hip hop has affected young black women. Sharpley-Whiting manages the difficult task of being critical of destructive elements of hip hop culture without being dismissive of its edifying dimensions. This lucidly penned manifesto in defense of the intellectual spaces between hip hop and feminism will undoubtedly inspire heated debate and fruitful conversation about gender, black identity, and conflict between the generations."
--Michael Eric Dyson, author of "Know What I Mean?"

aIn Pimps Up, Hoas Down, Sharpley-Whitingas razor-sharp analysis turns an illuminating spotlight on the dark, complicated intersection where feminism and hip hop meet.a
--Joan Morgan, author of "When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost"

"Pimps Up, Ho's Down provides a vital critical assessment of the sexual exploitation of women and girls all too prevalent in hip hop culture and in our larger society. This intelligent and sensitively written study is mandatory reading for those of us who must stop the violence."
--Darlene Clark Hine, co-author of "A Shining Thread of Hope: The History of Black Women in America"

aIn this bold critique of popular cultureas stereotypicalrepresentations of hip hop, Tracy Sharpley-Whiting never wavers from her end goal of empowering the hip hop generation. Pimps Up, Hoas Down takes this discussion beyond the ivory tower and into the lives of everyday people.a
--Bakari Kitwana, author of "The Hip-Hop Generation"

"This compelling, well-researched-and alarming-account of how hip hop culture has impacted the lives and shaped the identities of young black women should be read by women and men of every generation."
--Paula Giddings, author of "When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America"

aTracy Sharpley-Whitingas groundbreaking book makes central the harsh sexist and racist realities that hip hop generation Black women face on a daily basis.a
--Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Producer/Director of "NO! (The Rape Documentary)"

Pimps Up, Ho's Down pulls at the threads of the intricately knotted issues surrounding young black women and hip hop culture. What unravels for Tracy D. Sharpley-Whiting is a new, and problematic, politics of gender. In this fascinating and forceful book, Sharpley-Whiting, a feminist writer who is a member of the hip hop generation, interrogates the complexities of young black women's engagement with a culture that is masculinist, misogynistic, and frequently mystifying.

Beyond their portrayal in rap lyrics, the display of black women in music videos, television, film, fashion, and on the Internet is indispensable to the mass media engineered appeal of hip hop culture, the author argues. And the commercial trafficking in the images and behaviors associated with hip hop has made them appear normal, acceptable, and entertaining-both in the U.S. and around the world.

Sharpley-Whiting questions the impacts of hip hop's increasing alliance with the sex industry, the rise of groupie culture in the hip hop world, the impact of hip hop's compulsory heterosexual culture on young black women, and the permeation of the hip hop ethos into young black women's conceptions of love and romance.

The author knows her subject from the inside. Coming of age in the midst of hip hop's evolution in the late 1980s, she mixed her graduate studies with work as a runway and print model in the 1990s. Her book features interviews with exotic dancers, black hip hop groupies, and hip hop generation members Jacklyn "Diva" Bush, rapper Trina, and filmmaker Aishah Simmons, along with the voices of many "everyday" young women.

Pimps Up, Ho's Down turns down the volume and amplifies the substance of discussions about hip hop culture and to provide a space for young black women to be heard.

Engaging with a broad range of research and performance genres, The Oxford Handbook of Hip Hop Dance Studies offers the most comprehensive research on Hip Hop dance to date. Filling a lacuna in both Hip Hop and dance studies, the Handbook places practitioners' voices at the forefront and in dialogue with theoretical insights, rooted in critical race theory, anticolonialism, intersectional feminism, and more. Volume editors Mary Fogarty and Imani Kai Johnson have included influential dancers and scholars from around the world: from B-Boys Ken Swift, YNOT, and Storm, to practitioners of locking, waacking and House dance styles such as E. Moncell Durden, Terry Bright Kweku Ofosu, Fly Lady Di, and Leah McFly, and innovative academic work on Hip Hop dance by the most prominent researchers in the field. Throughout the Handbook contributors address individual and social histories of dance, Afrodiasporic and global lineages, the contribution of B-Girls from Honey Rockwell to Rokafella, the "studio-fication" of Hip Hop styles, and moves into theatre, TV, and the digital/social media space.

This volume contains interviews with Hip Hop legends Kurtis Blow, Dana Dane, Rockmaster Scott and the Dynamic 3, Kokane the Hook Master, Grandmaster Mele Mel, Queen Pen, Arrested Development, and the Fat Boys.

THE #MERKY STORY SO FAR

Edited and Co-written by Jude Yawson

Contributions by Team #Merky

Images by Kaylum Dennis

‘It’s been a long time coming, I swear...’

In four years Stormzy has risen from one of the most promising musicians of his generation to a spokesperson for a generation. Rise Up is the story of how he got there. It’s a story about faith and the ideas worth fighting for. It’s about knowing where you’re from, and where you’re going. It’s about following your dreams without compromising who you are.

Featuring never-before-seen photographs, annotated lyrics and contributions from those closest to him, Rise Up is the #Merky story, and the record of a journey unlike any other.

'A very important book. The voices we hear from - young, gifted and largely black - are all too rarely heard. These are people who typically have to listen to a daily diet of media negativity about their communities without the opportunities to respond. ... It is truly inspiring to read about the accomplishments of Team Stormzy, realised largely without money or expertise, but with bucketloads of intelligence and hard work.' BBC (WILL GOMPERTZ)

Take control of your narrative and become the best version of yourself with 50 Hip-Hop inspired lessons that will motivate a new generation. Grant Brydon has interviewed some of the biggest names in hip-hop. Here he shares the creative directions and tips derived from one-on-one conversations with Pharrell Williams, J Cole, Big Sean, Nipsey Hussle, and many more. With chapters covering motivation, creativity, authenticity, mental wellbeing, resilience, and more, the advice gleaned from these important artists' life experiences will help you to face up to your own challenges and inspire you to make simple changes that have major positive consequences. Lessons include: - Award-winning rapper, singer, songwriter and producer J Cole on how to Define Success - Grammy award-winning hip-hop- legend Nas on Maintaining Focus on What's Important - A lesson in Committing to Inspiration from Flo Milli, viral TikTok sensation and Best New Artist nominee at the 2020 BET Hip Hop Awards - Big Sean on how to Take Time Off and Talk to Someone - Multiple BET Hip Hop Awards nominee Action Bronson on how not to be discouraged - Kenny Beats - producer of Vince Staples and Ed Sheeran - on the dangers of overthinking - Grammy nominated Freddie Gibbs on Integrity - Hip-hop royalty Pharrell Williams on the importance of always staying curious - Mac Miller on reinvention Adopt a hip-hop mindset to take control of your own narrative and become the best version of yourself with this book of 50 must-read lessons on creativity and self help that will inspire a new generation. Containing exclusive interviews with billion-streaming artists, including J Cole, Nas, Big Sean, Flo Milli, Action Bronson and many more, alongside contemporary illustrations by Ketu the Artist, which offer a fresh visual take on the self-help genre. This is a must-have volume for fans of hip-hop, alongside individuals with an interest in positive thinking, wellness and self-help. Quotes: "Grant Brydon compiles many of the major keys from some of the most prolific voices in hip-hop and draws a through-line to the hearts of their success stories... An entertaining and informative read." ? Kathy Iandoli, author of God Save The Queens: The Essential History of Women in Hip-Hop. "A thoughtful collection of essays on hard work and creativity that taps into generous anecdotal wisdom about music and life from an array of personalities in the industry, past and present." ? Lance Scott Walker, author of DJ Screw: A Life In Slow Revolution. "A brilliant tapestry of story and artistry by a seasoned journalist whose love for hip-hop flourishes here." ? Ciesay, co-founder of PLACES+FACES.

From a Los Angeles hospital bed, equipped with little more than a laptop and a stack of records, James "J Dilla" Yancey crafted a set of tracks that would forever change the way beatmakers viewed their artform. The songs on "Donuts "are not hip hop music as "hip hop music" is typically defined; they careen and crash into each other, in one moment noisy and abrasive, gorgeous and heartbreaking the next. The samples and melodies tell the story of a man coming to terms with his declining health, a final love letter to the family and friends he was leaving behind. As a prolific producer with a voracious appetite for the history and mechanics of the music he loved, J Dilla knew the records that went into constructing "Donuts "inside and out. He could have taken them all and made a much different, more accessible album. If the widely accepted view is that his final work is a record about dying, the question becomes why did he make this record about dying?Drawing from philosophy, critical theory and musicology, as well as Dilla's own musical catalogue, Jordan Ferguson shows that the contradictory, irascible and confrontational music found on "Donuts "is as much a result of an artist's declining health as it is an example of what scholars call "late style," placing the album in a musical tradition that stretches back centuries.

In Dead Precedents, Roy Christopher traces the story of how hip-hop invented the twenty-first century. Emerging alongside cyberpunk in the 1980s, the hallmarks of hip-hop - allusion, self-reference, the use of new technologies, sampling, the cutting and splicing of language and sound - would come to define the culture of the new millennium.Taking in the groundbreaking work of DJs and MCs, alongside writers like Dick and Gibson, as well as graffiti and DIY culture, Dead Precedents is a counter-culture history of the twentieth century, showcasing hip-hop's role in the creation of the world we now live in.

The enigmatic State Island hip-hop collective offers a definitive introduction to the mysteries and complexities of the Wu-Tang Universe, revealing the intricate web of personalities and alter egos, warrior codes, numerological systems, and Eastern spiritual and philosophical concepts that define th

"The Big Payback" takes readers from the first $15 made by a "rapping DJ" in 1970s New York to the multi-million-dollar sales of the Phat Farm and Roc-a-Wear clothing companies in 2004 and 2007. 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 giants like Def Jam founders Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons 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.

This expansive collection sets the stage for the next generation of Hip Hop scholarship as we approach the fiftieth anniversary of the movement's origins. Celebrating 50 years of Hip Hop cultural history, Freedom Moves travels across generations and beyond borders to understand Hip Hop's transformative power as one of the most important arts movements of our time. This book gathers critically acclaimed scholars, artists, activists, and youth organizers in a wide-ranging exploration of Hip Hop as a musical movement, a powerful catalyst for activism, and a culture that offers us new ways of thinking and doing freedom. Rooting Hip Hop in Black freedom culture, this state-of-the-art collection presents a globally diverse group of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American, Arab, European, North African, and South Asian artists, activists, and thinkers. The "knowledges" cultivated by Hip Hop and spoken word communities represent emerging ways of being in the world. Freedom Moves examines how educators, artists, and activists use these knowledges to inform and expand how we understand our communities, our histories, and our futures.

Welcome to The Periodic Table of Hip Hop. Instead of hydrogen to helium, here you'll find James Brown to Kanye West - 94 artists that have defined Hip Hop arranged following the logic of The Periodic Table of Elements. MCs, DJs, rappers and producers are the elements here, and this expert guide orders them to reveal their contrasts and connections, along with key movements and moments in the history of this music genre. Includes: James Brown, P-Funk, Kool Herc, Melle Mel, Sugarhill Records, Fab Five Freddy, Whodini, Run DMC, Rick Rubin, LL Cool J, Kanye West and Jay Z and many, many more...

On the heels of Kendrick Lamar's Pulitzer Prize, as the world begins to recognize the creative side of Hip-Hop, comes a writing guide from a musician and "The greatest MC of all time," Rakim. The musician and Hip Hop legend-hailed as "the greatest MC of all time" and compared to Thelonious Monk-reimagines the writing handbook in this memoir and guide that incorporates the soulful genius, confidence, and creativity of a master artist. When he exploded on the music scene, musical genius Rakim was hailed for his brilliant artistic style, adding layers, complexity, depth, musicality, and soul to rap. More than anyone, Rakim has changed the way MCs rhyme. Calm on the mic, his words combine in a frenzy of sound, using complicated patterns based on multisyllabic rhymes and internal rhythms. Rakim can tell a story about a down-on-his-luck man looking for a job and turn it into an epic tale and an unforgettable rhyme. He is not just a great songwriter-he's a great modern writer. Part memoir, part writing guide, Sweat the Technique offers insight into how Rakim thinks about words, music, writing, and rhyming as it teaches writers of all levels how to hone their craft. It is also a rare glimpse into Rakim's private life, full of entertaining personal stories from his youth on Long Island growing up in a home and community filled with musiciansto the clubs of New York and the studios of Los Angeles during his rise to the top of popular music. Rakim celebrates the influences that shaped his development, including the jazz music of John Coltrane and the spirituality of the streets, and shares anecdotes spotlighting personalities such as L. L. Cool J. and Dr. Dre, among others. Filled with valuable lessons for every writer, Sweat the Technique reveals the heart and mind of an artist and his love for great storytelling, and always, the words.

Rhyme Book is a durable cloth-covered notebook, silkscreened with the design of the iconic composition book favored by hip-hop lyricists. Whether you aspire to write rhymes or are just a fan of the craft, this is the notebook that you need when inspiration strikes. Throughout its ruled pages, it contains thirty pages of content, including playlists, hip-hop infographics, factoids, rhyming lists, and more. Conceived by Eric and Jeff Rosenthal (collectively known as ItsTheReal), Rhyme Book will help you gather your ideas for just about anything while also providing you with insight into what it takes to spit fire!

Should graffiti writers organize to tear up the cities, or should they really be bombing the burbs? That s the question posed by William Upski Wimsatt in his seminal foray into the world of hip-hop, rap, and street art, and the culture and politics that surround it. But to say that the book deals only with taggers and hip-hop is selling it short. Taking on a broad range of topics, including suburban sprawl, racial identity, and youth activism, Wimsatt (a graffiti artist himself) uses a kaleidoscopic approach that combines stories, cartoons, interviews, disses, parodies, and original research to challenge the suburban mindset wherever it s found: suburbs and corporate headquarters, inner cities and housing projects, even in hip-hop itself. Funny, provocative, and painfully honest, Bomb the Suburbs encourages readers to expand their social boundaries and explore the vibrant, chaotic world that exists beyond their comfort zones."