Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (2005) by Jeff Chang

A history of hip-hop cites its origins in the post-civil rights Bronx and Jamaica, drawing on interviews with performers, activists, gang members, DJs, and others to document how the movement has influenced politics and culture.

Chuck D Presents This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History (2017) by Chuck D

A comprehensive, chronological survey of rap and hip-hop from 1973 to the present is based on the author's long-running show on Rapstation.com and details the most iconic moments and relevant songs from the genre's recorded history.

God Save the Queens: The Essential History of Women in Hip-Hop (2019) by Kathy Iandoli

For far too long, the history of hip-hop has revolved around the men: the male DJs, MCs, producers, moneymakers, and creative minds who built in the parks and rec rooms of New York City an art form that has become the dominating cultural force all over the world. But is this singular narrative the complete history of hip-hop? Not if you take into account the incredible importance of women, who from rap's earliest moments were right out in front, keeping pace with the men and possessing equal or more strength, agility, and style. The true history of hip-hop is one that also pays homage to the women, the queens, who built rap from the ground up and paved the way for the chart-topping successes of Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and every superstar who will come after them. God Save the Queens offers a thorough examination of the important contributions of the genre's female artists, like Roxanne Shanté's epic rap battles in the 1980s that upped the stakes of hip-hop feuds for decades to come. Or Cindy C's decision, in 1973, to host the infamous South Bronx party, after which her brother DJ Kool Herc became 'the Founding Father of Hip-Hop.' Or Missy Elliott's move to launch her solo career in 1997, producing experimental rhyming patterns that revolutionized the genre. Acclaimed music journalist Kathy Iandoli delivers a fast-paced, transgressive, and deeply researched history full of as much ambition, spirit, and attitude as the artists themselves. Chock-full of words from the masters themselves — including Monie Love, Yo-Yo, Rah Digga, Remy Ma, Lil' Kim, Nicki Minaj, and the upstarts of today like Megan Thee Stallion — God Save the Queens pulls from Iandoli's storied twenty years of journalism as well as from current conversations with the greats to weave together a comprehensive history of the most underappreciated torchbearers of hip-hop. Tackling issues of gender, sexuality, violence, body image, objectification, and so much more, God Save the Queens is an important and monumental book of music journalism and the first, and only, definitive feminist history of hip-hop.

The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop (2010) by Dan Charnas

The perfect read for music lovers and business aficionados alike, The Big Payback reveals the secret histories of the early long-shot successes of Sugar Hill Records and Grandmaster Flash, Run-D.M.C.’s crossover breakthrough on MTV, the marketing of gangsta rap, and the rise of artist/entrepreneurs like Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Original Gangstas: Tupak Shakur, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and the Birth of West Coast Rap (2017) by Ben Westhoff

In the late 1980s, the emergence of gangsta rap shifted the epicenter of hip-hop from New York to Los Angeles. N.W.A.'s shocking success led to rivalries between members, backlash from the FBI, politicians, and police, and eventually an all-out war between East and West Coast rappers. In the process, hip-hop burst into mainstream America at a time of immense social change.

Lessons Learned: Critical Conversations in Hip-Hop & Social Justice (2020) by Sunni Ali

Lessons Learned: Critical Conversations in Hip Hop and Social Justice looks at the popularity and impact hip hop has on social movements. Historically, movements are spearheaded by youth. Their values are best portrayed in their music. The book provides numerous examples of how hip hop has impacted social movements. They include police brutality, incarceration, miseducation, voting, wages, guns, abortion, and much more. This is an excellent book for lovers of rap and hip hop. It is ideal for those who love history and social movements.

Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement (2005) by Craig S. Watkins

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 academia to assert control over the movement. At stake, Watkins argues, is the impact hip hop has on the lives of the young people who live and breathe the culture. He presents an incisive analysis of the corporate takeover of hip hop and the rampant misogyny that undermines the movement's progressive claims. Ultimately, we see how hip hop struggles reverberate in the larger world: global media consolidation; racial and demographic flux; generational cleavages; the reinvention of the pop music industry; and the ongoing struggle to enrich the lives of ordinary youth.

The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop (2022) by Jonathan P.D. Abrams

The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop is the essential oral history of hip-hop, from its origins on the playgrounds of the Bronx to its reign as the most powerful force in pop culture — from the award-winning journalist behind All the Pieces Matter, the New York Times bestselling oral history of The Wire. The music that we would later know as hip-hop was born at a party in the Bronx in the summer of 1973. Now, fifty years later, it's the most popular genre in America, and its electric impact on contemporary music is likened to that of jazz in the first half of the twentieth century. And yet, despite its tremendous influence, the voices of many of hip-hop's pioneers have never been thoroughly cataloged — and some are at risk of being lost forever. Now, in The Come Up, Jonathan Abrams offers the most comprehensive account so far of hip-hop's rise, told in the voices of the people who made it happen. Abrams traces how the genre grew out of the resourcefulness of an overlooked population amid the decay of the South Bronx, and from there how it overflowed into the other boroughs and then across the nation — from parks onto vinyl, below to the Mason-Dixon line, to the West Coast through gangster rap and G-funk, and then across generations. In more than 300 interviews conducted over three years, Abrams has captured the stories of the DJs, label executives, producers, and artists who both witnessed and made the history of hip-hop. He has on record Grandmaster Caz detailing hip-hop's infancy, Edward "Duke Bootee" Fletcher describing the origins of "The Message," D.M.C. narrating his introduction of hip-hop to the mainstream, Ice Cube recounting N.W.A.'s breakthrough and breakup, Kool Moe Dee elaborating on his Grammys boycott, and many more key players. And he has conveyed with singular vividness the drive, the stakes, and the relentless creativity that ignited one of the greatest revolutions in modern music. The Come Up is an important contribution to the historical record and an exhilarating behind-the-scenes account of how hip-hop came to rule the world.

Somebody Scream! Rap Music’s Rise to Prominence in the Aftershock of Black Power (2009) by Marcus Reeves

For many African Americans of a certain demographic, the 60s and 70s were the golden age of political movements. The Civil Rights movement segued into the Black Power movement, which begat the Black Arts movement. Fast forward to 1979 and the release of Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight." With the onset of the Reagan years, we begin to see the unraveling of many of the advances fought for in the previous decades. Much of this occurred in the absence of credible, long-term leadership in the Black community. Young Black people disillusioned with politics and feeling society no longer cared or looked out for their concerns started rapping with each other about their plight, becoming their own leaders on the battlefield of culture and birthing hip-hop in the process. In Somebody Scream, Marcus Reeves explores hip-hop music and its politics, looking at ten artists that have impacted rap ― from Run-D.M.C. (Black Pop in a B-Boy Stance) to Eminem (Vanilla Nice) ― and putting their music and celebrity in a larger socio-political context. In doing so, he tells the story of hip hop's rise from New York-based musical form to commercial music revolution to unifying expression for a post-Black Power generation.

Yo! The Early Days of Hip Hop 1982-84 (2021) by Sophie Bramly

This book features more than 150 rarely-seen images documenting the rise of hip hop in the early 1980s, taken by French photographer Sophie Bramly. Bramly lived in New York during this period and became firmly embedded in the emergent scene. The book features many stunning, intimate images of a star-studded roll call of legendary hip hop figures, all of whom were only just getting known or in their ascendency. These include Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmixer DST, Jazzy Jay, Red Alert, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow, Lisa Lee, The Fat Boys, Run-D.M.C., Beastie Boys, and many more. Bramly knew that hip hop was becoming a cultural force rather than just a musical fashion, and spent many hours photographing the four essential elements of this new world: the emcees, the deejays, the graffiti artists and the break dancers. Here you will see legendary graffiti artists captured at work and play, such as Keith Haring, Dondi, Futura, Phase One, Zephyr, and Lady Pink, and break dancers including members of Magnificent Force, Dynamic Breakers, and The Rock Steady Crew.

Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (2007) by Jeffrey Ogbonna Green Ogbar

In the world of hip-hop, "keeping it real" has always been a primary goal — and realness takes on special meaning as rappers mold their images for street cred and increasingly measure authenticity by notions of "Who's badder?" In this groundbreaking book, Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar celebrates hip-hop and confronts the cult of authenticity that defines its essential character — that dictates how performers walk, talk, and express themselves artistically and also influences the consumer market. Hip-Hop Revolution is a balanced cultural history that looks past negative stereotypes of hip-hop as a monolith of hedonistic, unthinking noise to reveal its evolving positive role within American society. A writer who's personally encountered many of hip-hop's icons, Ogbar traces hip-hop's rise as a cultural juggernaut, focusing on how it negotiates its own sense of identity. He especially explores the lyrical world of rap as artists struggle to define what realness means in an art where class, race, and gender are central to expressions of authenticity — and how this realness is articulated in a society dominated by gendered and racialized stereotypes. Ogbar also explores problematic Black images, including minstrelsy, hip-hop's social milieu, and the artists' own historical and political awareness. Ranging across the rap spectrum from the conscious hip-hop of Mos Def to the gangsta rap of 50 Cent to the "underground" sounds of Jurassic 5 and The Roots, he tracks the ongoing quest for a unique and credible voice to show how complex, contested, and malleable these codes of authenticity are. Most important, Ogbar persuasively challenges widely held notions that hip-hop is socially dangerous — to Black youths in particular — by addressing the ways in which rappers critically view the popularity of crime-focused lyrics, the antisocial messages of their peers, and the volatile politics of repurposing words with historical baggage. Hip-Hop Revolution deftly balances an insider's love of the culture with a scholar's detached critique, exploring popular myths about Black educational attainment, civic engagement, crime, and sexuality. By cutting to the bone of a lifestyle that many outsiders find threatening, Ogbar makes hip-hop realer than it's ever been before.

Rap and Hip Hop Culture (2022) by Fernando Orejuela

Rap and Hip Hop Culture traces the ideological, social, historical, and cultural influences on a musical genre that first came to prominence in the mid-1970s in one of New York's toughest neighborhoods, the South Bronx. Orejuela describes how the arts of DJing, MCing, breakin' [b-boying], and graffiti developed as a way for this community's struggle to find its own voice. He addresses rap's early successes on the pop charts; its spread to mainstream culture; the growth of "gangsta rap" and mainstream society's reaction to it; and the commercial success of rap music from the '90s through today. Throughout, this enlightening text highlights key performers, producers, and voices in the rap and hip hop movements, using their stories to illuminate the underlying issues of racism, poverty, prejudice, and artistic freedom that are part of rap and hip hop's ongoing legacy.

Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop (2017) by Adam Bradley

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 hip hop's revolution of poetic craft and experience: Only in rap music can the beat of a song render poetic meter audible, allowing an MC's wordplay to move a club full of eager listeners. Examining rap history's most memorable lyricists and their inimitable techniques, literary scholar Adam Bradley argues that we must understand rap as poetry or miss the vanguard of poetry today. Book of Rhymes explores America's least understood poets, unpacking their surprisingly complex craft, and according rap poetry the respect it deserves.

From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism (2006) by Patricia Hill Collins

From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism is a provocative analysis of the new contours of Black nationalism and feminism in the context of the changing politics of race in America.

Freedom Moves: Hip Hop Knowledges, Pedagogies, and Futures (2023)

Moving through over a dozen cities across four continents, Freedom Moves: Hip Hop Knowledges, Pedagogies, and Futures represents a cutting-edge, field-defining moment in Hip Hop Studies. As we approach 50 years of hip hop cultural history, and 30 years of hip hop scholarship, hip hop continues to be one of the most profound and transformative social, cultural, and political movements of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In this book, H. Samy Alim, Jeff Chang, and Casey Philip Wong invite us to engage dialogically with some of the world's most innovative and provocative hip hop artists and intellectuals as they collectively rethink the relationships between hip hop knowledges, pedagogies, and futures. 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 who view hip hop as a means to move freedom forward for all of us. Contributors do so by taking stock of the politics of hip hop culture at this critical juncture of renewed racial justice movements in the US and globally (Chuck D, Rakim, and Talib Kweli); resisting oppressive policing and reimagining community safety, healing, and growth in US urban centers like New York (Bryonn Bain), Pittsburgh (Jasiri X), Chicago (Kuumba Lynx), Atlanta and "the New South" (Bettina Love, Regina Bradley, and Mark Anthony Neal), and the San Francisco Bay Area (Mark Gonzales, A-lan Holt, Michelle Lee, and The Mural Music and Arts Project); and recovering traditional, Indigenous knowledges and ways of being in the world at the same time that they create new ones (Dream Warriors). Leading thinkers take seriously the act of forging new languages for new articulations of Black/feminist/queer/disabled futures within and beyond Hip Hop (Joan Morgan, Brittney Cooper, Treva Lindsey, Kaila Aida Story, Esther Armah, Leroy F. Moore, Jr., and Stephanie Keeney Parks); theorizing pedagogies that sustain the voices and visions of our youth in our collective movements towards freedom (Marc Lamont Hill, Christopher Emdin, and the GZA, Gloria Ladson-Billings, Django Paris, and Maisha Winn); creating independent institutions within the white settler capitalist context of a "post"-apartheid South Africa (Prophets of da City's Shaheen Ariefdien and Black Noise's Emile YX?); envisioning life beyond "occupation" and the crushing (neo)colonial geopolitics of Palestine (DAM) and Syria (Omar Offendum); and organizing against suffocating, neoliberal austerity measures while fighting for a world free of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and political repression (La Llama Rap Colectivo in Spain). This volume is a testament to hip hop's power in that it functions as an art "form/forum," as James G. Spady wrote thirty years ago, and as such, it stands positioned to offer us new futures and new ways to imagine freedoms. This book, this forum, was birthed within the broader context of nearly a decade of interaction with some of the world's leading thinkers on freedom.