[.ca] The Vibe History of Hip Hop (ISBN 0609805037)

From Amazon.com:
In his introduction, founding Vibe editor Alan Light justifies the magazine's 300-page hip-hop chronicle in historical terms, noting that while less than 15 years passed between Elvis's first single and Woodstock, it's been two full decades since rap busted out of New York City street parties via the Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight." It's a righteous point, and the multi-author Vibe History indeed deserves to be filed next to The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll. Like that book, Vibe's serves both as a fact-heavy primer and a passionate critical missive aimed straight for fans' hearts. Here we find all the contradictions of a pop-culture phenomenon: art and a hope for immortality rolled into a brightly colored form whose practitioners, even the most politically driven, demand to get paid. Or, as Charles Aaron writes in his essay on KRS-One, the rapper "has never failed to passionately contradict himself--footnotes, bibliography, and dope beats included." Those contradictions may not make the culture go, but as with rock's, they help make it both more frustrating and more fascinating. Whether reminiscing about the future shock of first hearing Run-D.M.C.'s "Sucker M.C.'s," gnawing at the tragic knots at the heart of Tupac Shakur's story, or celebrating women rappers, hip-hop movies, and dancehall reggae, these chapters do what the best music writing should--educate, excite, and lead the reader to the record racks. --Rickey Wright

VIBE has done it again:
I think you would have to have been brain dead or asleep for the past decade or so to not have noticed that hip-hop has become the single most important form of art or even communication in the world. Surpassing even the internet, I think history will remember hip-hop as the most important development made by civilization in the last half of the twentieth century. There is little doubt in my mind at least that figures like Dr Dre, 2 Pac, and Snoop Doggy Dogg will, in due course, blot out such lesser figures as (in politics) JFK, (in music) Bernstein, and (in philosophy) Derrida and Foucault who some backward-thinking people still regard as more important than the fathers of hip-hop in our culture. This book does not make my claims, which is why I give it three stars rather than five, but it is certainly an emotional and compelling history of a movement more important than civil rights, the space program, social security, and the first amendment all rolled into one.

Fine overview of hip-hop culture:
Fine and well-informed history of hip-hop, the music and the culture arranged chronologically and by topic/theme. Comes with a CD (fairly inconsequential).

Comercial style, stunning images:
A large glossy book that outstands for its pictures. Written in a cronological manner, covers from the beginnings of the rap scene until nowadays. Very attractive to look at, but composed from a media point of view.

An excellent overview and critical history of Hip Hop:
This book was my introduction to Hip Hop and I recommend it both to people who want to rip their hands into the music and for those that been around it for years. I would rate this 4 1/2 stars if that was possible... The book covers Hip Hop from every possible angle, charting the cultural as well as political significance of the misunderstood and under appreciated genre. The writers assembled for the book put down literate, well thought out prose that gives Hip Hop its perspective for just about anyone who wants it, whatever their cultural background. I found The Vibe History of Hip Hop one of the best books I've read on music. I also used the editors' recommendations for CDs when I went shopping to flesh out my music collection. If you are seriously interested in Hip Hop, in critical music writing, want to look at glossy black and white pictures of Hip Hop performers, or listen to the 4 song cd included with the book, then this is a good buy and an even better read.

A comprehensive history:
This is the first book that tells the complete history of Hip-hop. From its South Bronx roots to today's status. Recommended for everyone who want to know more about hip-hop.