An explosive insider account of grime, from subculture to international phenomenon.*****A group of kids in the 2000s had a dream to make their voice heard - and this book documents their seminal impact on today's pop culture.DJ Target grew up in Bow under the shadow of Canary Wharf, with money looming close on the skyline. The 'Godfather of Grime' Wiley and Dizzee Rascal first met each other in his bedroom. They were all just grime kids on the blo...

NOW A MAJOR BBC DRAMA, AVAILABLE TO WATCH ON BBC THREE NOW'An essential read for anyone with the slightest interest in the birth of Grime' The Wire'Sharp and nostalgic' The ObserverA group of kids in the 90s had a dream to make their voice heard - and this book documents their seminal impact on today's pop culture.DJ Target grew up in Bow under the shadow of Canary Wharf, with money looming...

A pitch-perfect account of how hip-hop culture drew in the author and how his father drew him out again-with love, perseverance, and fifteen thousand books.Into Williams's childhood home-a one-story ranch house-his father crammed more books than the local library could hold. "Pappy" used some of these volumes to run an academic prep service; the rest he used in his unending pursuit of wisdom. His son's pursuits were quite different-"money, hoes, and clothes." The t...

A book of treasure, a book of discovery, a book to open your ears to new worlds of pleasure. Doing for music what Patricia Schultz—author of the phenomenal one,zero Places to See Before You Die —does for travel, Tom Moon recommends one,zero recordings guaranteed to give listeners the joy, the mystery, the revelation, and the sheer fun of great music.This is a book both broad and deep, drawing from the diverse worlds of cl...

The first reference book all about the business side of gospel and urban music. Hip-hop and R&B hold 25 percent of the consumer music market. Another 20 percent is held by religious (gospel and Christian) music, soul, disco, dance, and jazz. Here’s the first reference book to offer sound business and legal advice specifically tailored to these areas of the music industry. Securing a record deal, starting a label, publishing music, marketing and promoting—this is the information that today’...

Fully revised and edited edition.Shortlisted for Penderyn Music Prize.Detroit 67 is the story of Motor City in the year that changed everything. Twelve chapters take you on a turbulent year-long journey through the drama and chaos that ripped through the city in 1967 and tore it apart in personal, political and interracial disputes. It is the story of Motown, the break-up of The Supremes and the damaging disputes at the heart o...

From a Los Angeles hospital bed, equipped with little more than a laptop and a stack of records, James “J Dilla” Yancey crafted a set of tracks that would forever change the way beatmakers viewed their artform. The songs on Donuts are not hip hop music as “hip hop music” is typically defined; they careen and crash into each other, in one moment noisy and abrasive, gorgeous and heartbreaking the next. The samples and melodies tell the story of a man coming to terms with his declini...

Poor Superstar. All the money and fame in the world won't prevent him from having a bad hair day. Or stepping in gum. Or not being able to fit into skinny jeans, or watching helplessly as a scoop of ice cream falls from its cone.Or so an unnamed Superstar's life is ingeniously imagined in this very funny book. Inspired by but not based on Jay Z's monster hit "99 Problems," illustrator Ali Graham riffs on what might be the real problems afflicting a world-famous music mogul who also ...

How do four instrumentalists with strong individual tastes and temperaments manage to forge a distinctive approach to the music they play? This extraordinary book ushers readers into the workshop of one of the world's most accomplished string quartets. In rich and probing conversations with their longtime friend and musicologist and conductor David Blum, the members of the Guarneri String Quartet, both individually as a group, tell what it is like to play together.

A one-of-a kind survey of rap and hip hop history from 1973 to today by Chuck D, arguably the most influential rapper in the world.In the more than 40 years since the days of DJ Kool Herc and "Rapper's Delight," hip hop and rap have become a billion-dollar worldwide phenomenon. Yet there is no definitive history of the genre-until now.Based on Chuck's long-running show on Rapstation.com, this massive compendium details the most iconic moments and influential ...

Behind the Music Tales is a series which captures the mood and feel of the energy that surged through music and pop culture in the 90s and 2000s. It presents exclusive original interviews as an honest record directly from authentic creative sources, and is an accurate historical document.The Real Diddy, the 12th book in the series, captures the ambitious Sean Combs TWICE in the summer of 1999. It is THE crucial period in his life, fundamental to un...

Singers are faced with a unique challenge among musicians: they must express not just the music, but the lyrics too. To effectively communicate the meaning behind these words, singers must understand the many references embedded in the vast international repertoire of great art songs. They must deal with the meaning of the lyrics, frequently in a language not their own and of a culture unfamiliar to them. From Zelter and Schubert to Rorem and Musto, Researching the Song serves as ...