Rap category: 259 books

Byron Crawford is the founder and editor of the pioneering hip-hop blog ByronCrawford.com: The Mindset of a Champion, and the author of the books The Mindset of a Champion: Your Favorite Rapper's Least Favorite Book, Infinite Crab Meats, and Nas Lost: A Tribute to the Little Homey.Writin'...

In The Healing Power of Hip Hop, Raphael Travis Jr. offers a passionate look into existing tensions aligned with Hip Hop and demonstrates the beneficial quality it can have empowering its audience. His unique perspective takes Hip Hop out of the negative light and shows readers how Hip Hop has benefited...

The world of online music journalism seems like it would consist primarily of nerdy guys and homely women sitting behind laptop computers all day, purposely spreading misinformation in order to advance their own questionable political beliefs, but it's actually way more exciting than you'd think....

In the late summer of 2014, black communities across the country exploded in anger over the deaths of black men at the hands of the police, including Eric Garner in Staten Island, NY, and Mike Brown in Ferguson, MO. But of course they weren't just upset with police brutality. No Country for...

The ultimate love letter to the world's most magical plant: Weed. Best-selling author, rapper, chef, and television star Action Bronson is a marijuana superhero, and Stoned Beyond Belief is his masterpiece. This is an exploration of every corner of the pot galaxy, from highly scientific botanical...

Rhyme's Challenge offers a concise, pithy primer to hip-hop poetics while presenting a spirited defense of rhyme in contemporary American poetry. David Caplan's stylish study examines hip-hop's central but supposedly outmoded verbal technique: rhyme. At a time when print-based poets generally dismiss...

Bobby, Bruce & the Bronx: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess is a history book about hip-hop, chess, and martial arts in America in the 1970s. As someone who worked with hip-hop musicians in Compton and established the Hip-Hop Chess Federation, Adisa (The Bishop) is an expert who presents stories and draws...

This new kind of dictionary reflects the use of “rhythm rhymes” by rappers, poets, and songwriters of today. Users can look up words to find collections of words that have the same rhythm as the original and are useable in ways that are familiar to us in everything from vers libre poetry to the lyrics and music of Bob Dylan and hip hop groups.

In this collection of essays, interviews, and profiles, William Banfield reflects on his life as a musician and educator, as he weaves together pieces of cultural criticism and artistry, all the while paying homage to Black music of the last 40 years and beyond. In Representing Black Music Culture:...

The “Essential Guide to Hip-Hop Publicity” is written specifically for indie and upcoming DIY hip-hop artists. This book will show you how to get your music on hip-hop blogs without hiring a publicist if you don’t quite have the budget for it, how to submit your music to BET Jams, REVOLT TV...

In the preface of The Vinyl Ain’t Final, Robin Kelley exclaims ‘Hip Hop is Dead! Long Live Hip Hop’, and the rest of the contributors in this edited volume respond by providing critical perspectives that bridge the gap between American-orientated hip hop and its global reach.From the front lines...

Hip Hop Desis explores the aesthetics and politics of South Asian American (desi) hip hop artists. Nitasha Tamar Sharma argues that through their lives and lyrics, young “hip hop desis” express a global race consciousness that reflects both their sense of connection with Blacks as racialized minorities...

On the heels of the graffiti renaissance comes a vibrant look at an old-school icon that figured prominently in the hip-hop, rock & roll, and punk movements of the 1970s and 80s. The Boombox Project features contemporary fine art portraits of an array of vintage boomboxes, as well as scores of...

It has been more than thirty-five years since the first commercial recordings of hip-hop music were made. This Companion, written by renowned scholars and industry professionals reflects the passion and scholarly activity occurring in the new generation of hip-hop studies. It covers a diverse range...