Hip-Hop Is History
by Questlove
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Pub Date Jun 11 2024 | Archive Date Jul 11 2024
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 try to make his own songs. That kid was Questlove, and decades later, he is a six-time Grammy Award–winning musician, an Academy Award–winning filmmaker, a New York Times bestselling author, a producer, an entrepreneur, a cofounder of one of hip-hop’s defining acts (the Roots), and the genre’s unofficial in-house historian.
In this landmark book, Hip-Hop Is History, Questlove skillfully 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 of a cultural revolution and a sweeping, grand theory of the evolution of the great artistic movement of our time. And Questlove, of course, approaches it with not only the encyclopedic fluency and passion of an obsessive fan but also the expertise and originality of an innovative participant.
Hip-hop is history, and also his history.
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
★ "A memorable, masterful history of the first 50 years of an indelible American art form. . . Questlove’s instincts as a superfan and artist take this history beyond the hype to something very special." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
★ “Questlove lays down a kaleidoscopic chronicle of hip-hop’s 50-year history . . . Throughout, Questlove interweaves sharp and lyrical analyses of hip-hop’s evolution with fascinating, up-close recollections of the genre’s turning points . . . It’s an exuberant account of a dynamic musical genre and the cultural climate in which it evolved.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780374614072 |
| PRICE | $30.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 352 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Ink R, Reviewer
Hip-Hop Is History by Questlove is hands down one of the best books on contemporary music history I have ever read. The title may be slightly miscontrued, but it is all about perception and after you read the book, you will likely change it in your mind ot "Hip Hop IS History"
Questlove outlines the book in the introduction and this in itself gave a wonderful taster of this incredibly talented musicians highly knowledgable and personable narrative which immediately hooked me in, detailing the accepted beginnings of HipHop at a party in 1973 but expanding on this and why it could be seen as a springboard for a movement as opposed ot a definitive start date.
The book then goes on to explore the evolution of Hip Hop through the years, from a personal perspective as well as a social one, and on to advancements in technology and culminating in an absolutely blinding playlist that is organised by years in the same way the chapters are (this has my sensibilities firing on all of their happy cylinders!)
If you like music, history, and a really, really good read, then this is for you
Thank you to Netgalley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux | AUWA and the author Questlove for this stunning ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own
Reviewer 317847
Fantastic overview of the history of hip hop from someone who's studied it religiously since near-birth. Always insightful, honest, and open. Amazing book. As good as "Go Ahead in the Rain" but less from a fan's POV. Need to go back and read his earlier works after reading this one.
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