Hip Hop Hits

Books about hip hop and by hip hop artists.
Updated September 19, 2022
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The hip hop wars : what we talk about when we talk about hip hop--and why it matters
Rose, Tricia
Paper Book
How hip hop shapes our conversations about race -- and how race influences our consideration of hip hop Hip hop is a distinctive form of black art in America-from Tupac to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Kendrick Lamar, hip hop has long given voice to the African American experience....
Decoded
Jay-Z
Paper Book
Decoded is a book like no other: a collection of lyrics and their meanings that together tell the story of a culture, an art form, a moment in history, and one of the most provocative and successful artists of our time. Praise for Decoded "Compelling . ....
Can't stop, won't stop : a history of the hip-hop generation
Chang, Jeff
Paper Book
Can't Stop Won't Stop is a powerful cultural and social history of the end of the American century, and a provocative look into the new world that the hip-hop generation created. Forged in the fires of the Bronx and Kingston, Jamaica, hip-hop became the Esperanto of...
The big payback : the history of the business of hip-hop
Charnas, Dan
Paper Book
The Big Payback takes us from the first $15 made by a "rapping DJ" in 1970s New York to the recent 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...
Book of rhymes : the poetics of hip hop
Bradley, Adam
Paper Book
If asked to list the greatest innovators of modern American poetry, few of us would think to include Jay-Z or Eminem in their number. And yet hip hop is the source of some of the most exciting developments in verse today. The media uproar in response to its controversial lyrical content has obscured...
Check the technique : liner notes for hip-hop junkies
Coleman, Brian
Paper Book
A Tribe Called Quest . Beastie Boys . De La Soul . Eric B. & Rakim . The Fugees . KRS-One . Pete Rock & CL Smooth . Public Enemy . The Roots . Run-DMC . Wu-Tang Clan . and twenty-five more hip-hop immortals It's a sad fact- hip-hop album liners have always been reduced to a list of...
How to rap : the art and science of the hip-hop MC
Edwards, Paul
Paper Book
Examining the dynamics of hip-hop from every region and in every form--mainstream and underground, current and classic--this compelling how-to discusses everything from content and flow to rhythm and delivery in relation to the art and craft of rap. Compiled from the most extensive...
My infamous life : the autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy
Prodigy (Musician)
Paper Book
From one of the greatest rappers of all time, the memoir of a life cut short, a revealing look at the dark side of hip hop's Golden Era... In this often violent but always introspective memoir, Mobb Deep's Prodigy tells his much anticipated story of struggle, survival, and hope...
The rap year book : the most important rap song from every year since 1979, discussed, debated, and deconstructed
Serrano, Shea
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller - Washington Post Bestseller - Pitchfork Book Club selectionThe Rap Year Book takes readers on a journey that begins in 1979, widely regarded as the moment rap became recognized as part of the cultural and musical landscape, and comes right up to the present. Shea Serrano...
When chickenheads come home to roost : my life as a hip-hop feminist
Morgan, Joan
Paper Book
In this fresh, funky, and irreverent book, a new voice of the post-Civil Rights, post-feminist, post-soul generation has emerged in Joan Morgan: a groundbreaking and unflinching author who probes the complex issues facing African-American women today. "When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost" is a...
Yes yes y'all : the Experience Music Project oral history of hip-hop's first decade
Fricke, Jim
Paper Book
Hip hop matters : politics, pop culture, and the struggle for the soul of a movement
Watkins, S. Craig
Paper Book
Avoiding the easy definitions and caricatures that tend to celebrate or condemn the "hip hop generation," Hip Hop Matters focuses on fierce and far-reaching battles being waged in politics, pop culture, and academe to assert control over the movement. At stake, Watkins argues, is the impact...
That's the joint! : the hip-hop studies reader
Forman, Murray
Paper Book
This newly expanded and revised second edition of That's the Joint! brings together the most important and up-to-date hip-hop scholarship in one comprehensive volume. Presented thematically, the selections address the history of hip-hop, identity politics of the "hip-hop nation," debates of...

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