Product Details

The New York Times - Alan Light

The Anthology serves several functions: it's a repository of significant lyrics…a history of the music by eras; and an encyclopedia of performers, with a brief, well-written biography for each…this landmark work chronicles an earth-shattering movement with deep roots.

Creative Loafing

"A great, necessary addition to the book collection of any contemporary music aficionado."—Creative Loafing

PopMatters

"[The] editors of The Anthology of Rap supply a much needed injection of energy and enthusiasm into our analysis of hip-hop''s lyricism."—Quentin B. Huff, PopMatters

— Quentin B. Huff

Los Angeles Times

"A complete encyclopedia of the history, personalities, beats, rhythm and rhymes of the musical genre from the old school of Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five to hip-hop and Kanye West."—Los Angeles Times

Mother Jones

"An awesome compilation: 920 pages of some of the baddest, phattest, flyist tracks ever dropped."—Mother Jones

The New York Times Book Review

"This landmark work chronicles an earth-shattering movement with deep roots."—The New York Times Book Review

Boston Music Spotlight

"An exquisite display of the artistic talent seen with rap music."—Boston Music Spotlight

Slate

"The eye-opening essay by [Henry Louis] Gates. . . provides deep historical context for rap; it alone makes the book worth owning."—Slate

Touré

"This monumental encyclopedia of rhymes is great for hip-hop newbies or longtime fans, lyric lovers and poetry devotees. It''s an invaluable reference on hip-hop history spanning from Afrika Bambaataa to Kanye West."—Touré

The New York Review of Books

"The Anthology of Rap is among the best books of its kind ever published."—Dan Chiasson, The New York Review of Books

— Dan Chiasson

Touré

"This monumental encyclopedia of rhymes is great for hip-hop newbies or longtime fans, lyric lovers and poetry devotees. It's an invaluable reference on hip-hop history spanning from Afrika Bambaataa to Kanye West."—Touré

Minneapolis Star Tribune

"[The] anthology offers the good, the bad, and the offensive--and plenty of food for intelligent discussion."—Minneapolis Star Tribune

Idris Goodwin - The Boston Globe

"The authors have built a poignant collection of rhythm and rhyme. . . . For hard-core hip-hop heads, this book confirms what we have always known: that some of the most innovative writing hails from the imagination of the rapper."—Idris Goodwin, The Boston Globe

The Village Voice

"What could have been an insufferable rap-snob collectible ended up being one of the first truly encyclopedic, essential anthologies on the form. . . . It''s an Ivy League master class in the language of hip-hop. Register today."—Foster Kamer, The Village Voice (Best Books of 2010)

— Foster Kamer

James Johnson - Philadelphia Inquirer

"Intelligent and authentic. . . written for both the hip-hop head and the uninitiated."—James Johnson, Philadelphia Inquirer

Common

"What you hold in your hands is more than a book. This is a culture. This is hip-hop. . . . This book offers a view of rap in full, from the root to the fruit."—from the Afterword by Common

LA Weekly

"The Anthology of Rap reaffirms the enduring force of the written word—or at least the immaculately constructed freestyle."—LA Weekly

The Globe and Mail

"Reading The Anthology of Rap, which covers everything from Afrika Bambaataa to Young Jeezy, it''s hard not to appreciate rap''s astounding love of words, of the way they fit together and play off each other, and of how meaning can be layered upon meaning to get at a deeper truth. Which sounds an awful lot like poetry."—Joshua Ostroff, The Globe and Mail

— Joshua Ostroff

Toure

This monumental encyclopedia of rhymes is great for hip-hop newbies or longtime fans, lyric lovers and poetry devotees. It's an invaluable reference on hip-hop history spanning from Afrika Bambaataa to Kanye West.(Touré)

New York Magazine

"This thrilling (but controversial) textual monument to a thrilling (but controversial) oral tradition wrestles the genre''s greatest lyrics out of the airwaves and into cold print. . . . [It] enables something wonderful: the ability to sit in perfect silence and roll around in, for example, the lust Keatsian soundplay of Jay-Z."—Sam Anderson, New York Magazine

— Sam Anderson

Bookforum

"As ambitious and intelligent as anyone might want, and more enjoyable than anyone might think. . . . If you want to hear how the latter part of the twentieth century sounded, you can''t do better than this book."—Kevin Young, Bookforum

— Kevin Young

Library Journal

The importance of virtuosity at wordplay becomes abundantly clear in the rich vocabulary of rap lyrics. In Bradley's previous Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop, he dissects the poetic structures in rap music, contextualizing the genre within the large canon of poetry. Here, Bradley and DuBois (English, Univ. of Toronto at Scarborough) expand upon this effort by reflecting on the history of rap music and its growing canon of lyrics. The anthology is organized around four eras of rap: old-school, the golden age, mainstream, and the new millennium. Within each of these sections, individual artists are identified for both their artistic influence and cultural impact. VERDICT Functioning as a rap reader, the anthology is largely a collection of lyrics. However, those uninterested in poetical analysis may read it as a chronology of rap that highlights significant figures in its short history and offers a window into how rappers harmonize the world through a distinct form of self-expression. [Previewed in "25 Reasons Why Academic Publishing Is Sexier Than You Think," BookSmack!7/15/10.]—Joshua Finnell, Denison Univ. Lib., Granville, OH

What People Are Saying

Every great literature deserves a great anthology. Rap finally has its own.(from the Afterword by Chuck D)

What People Are Saying

The Anthology of Rap is an instant classic. It brings together the lyric poetry of some of the greatest artists of our time. Hip Hop is here to stay and rap lives forever—on the stage and now on the page!(Cornel West)

What People Are Saying

Some readers of poetry still wonder where the rhymes went. One answer is they left the ends of the lines and went inside the poem. But rhyme also strongly re-emerges in rap. Whatever the stakes or the messages contained in this monumental volume, the like-sounds that used to be the engine of English poetry drive and power these energetic lyrics.(Billy Collins)

What People Are Saying

From the Sing Song cadence of the slave preachers to the emotional bravery of Tupac Shakur to the clarity of Queen Latifah…for all the hearts and heads and voices who have still to be heard: We Now Have an Encyclopedia. Good for us. Much needed. Much needed.(Nikki Giovanni)

What People Are Saying

These Rappers’ lyrics love. Cut. Curse. Fight. Teach. Play. Pray. Testify. They bring us the pace of sound. The swiftness of sound. The discordant way of looking at the world of sound. The Blackness of sound. The new bebopic beat of sound. These are word sorcerers who love language and hablar sin bastón (speak without a crutch).(Sonia Sanchez)