EBOOK
About
In 1984, Steven Hager published Hip Hop, the first history of the culture. He had been working the story since 1980, when he started out as a reporter at the New York Daily News, tracking graffiti writers, deejays, MCs and b-boys across the South Bronx and downtown Manhattan, long before the rest of the media caught on.
Hip Hop: The Complete Archives restores that book and opens the files behind it. Here are Hager's original interviews with the first generation, transcribed in full: Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Caz and the Cold Crush Brothers, Melle Mel, the Treacherous Three, Phase 2, Futura 2000, Lee Quiñones, Crazy Legs, Fab 5 Freddy, Grand Mixer DST, Tom Silverman, Arthur Baker, Bobby Robinson and many more. These are the voices of the people who built hip hop, in their own words.
The book traces the culture from the gang wars of the South Bronx to the parties at the Bronx River Community Center and the Hevalo, the birth of rap on record, the rise of breaking and the explosion of subway graffiti, and on into the downtown clubs and galleries. It collects Hager's articles from the Village Voice, the SoHo News, the East Village Eye and the Daily News, and it includes "Looking for the Perfect Beat," the original screenplay that became the 1984 film Beat Street, along with the author's account of what happened to it.
Illustrated with photographs, drawings by Phase 2 and Richard Sisco, and original flyers from the era, the edition also has source notes, a bibliography, a dictionary of hip hop slang, a selected discography and a full name index.
This is the record of the first generation, as it happened.
Hip Hop: The Complete Archives restores that book and opens the files behind it. Here are Hager's original interviews with the first generation, transcribed in full: Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Caz and the Cold Crush Brothers, Melle Mel, the Treacherous Three, Phase 2, Futura 2000, Lee Quiñones, Crazy Legs, Fab 5 Freddy, Grand Mixer DST, Tom Silverman, Arthur Baker, Bobby Robinson and many more. These are the voices of the people who built hip hop, in their own words.
The book traces the culture from the gang wars of the South Bronx to the parties at the Bronx River Community Center and the Hevalo, the birth of rap on record, the rise of breaking and the explosion of subway graffiti, and on into the downtown clubs and galleries. It collects Hager's articles from the Village Voice, the SoHo News, the East Village Eye and the Daily News, and it includes "Looking for the Perfect Beat," the original screenplay that became the 1984 film Beat Street, along with the author's account of what happened to it.
Illustrated with photographs, drawings by Phase 2 and Richard Sisco, and original flyers from the era, the edition also has source notes, a bibliography, a dictionary of hip hop slang, a selected discography and a full name index.
This is the record of the first generation, as it happened.