Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip Hop Culture

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Whilst it is an ambitous and commendable idea to make a Hip Hop encyclopedia, new readers of the subject matter would be advised to find other books until this work has a second edition.

The problem is that it has much more information on Vanilla Ice than James Brown, nothing on Jazzy Jay, nothing on Rass Kass,and has nothing on Hip Hop outside the USA.
That said, it does go into detail on many well known and some obscure Hip Hop artists and subjects, which is useful for research purposes.

It bills itself as the first Hip Hop encyclopedia but is not substantially different from the Guiness guides, the Rap "Whoz Who", The All Music Guide to Hip Hop or Michael Small's "Break It Down", all of which have alphabetic entries on various artists like this book.

I can only hope that any future editions are more extensive in their entries.

This book seems to be a compilation of internet searches that were copied, pasted, and transposed for the sake of making it the author's own, without a lot of fact-checking through other sources. (Strangely similar text to some of the blurbs here can be found on Web sites.) The byline should read "compiler," not author. This is not a creative, genuine project that was thoughtfully and painstakingly put together, it is a mishmash of random facts found online. The author does not seem at all in touch with the Hip Hop community but was more likely interested in publishing something for the sake of calling herself a published author. This is not reference material at all.

This is an excellent book for those who want to better understand the full history of rap and Hip Hop! It discusses the various elements that make-up Hip Hop and not just rap music. It also gives readers an inside look at many of the rap artists and explains the events that have made the news over the years. Many outside of the U.S. may complain that their Hip Hop history is not included, but the focus of the book is the United States, not the entire world. We also have to be real...everyone can't be included in one book...let's hope she does additional volumes.

Yvonne Bynoe's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RAP AND HIP HOP CULTURE blends music history with an overall survey of hip hop culture, considering over thirty years of a genre which began back in the 1960s with black DJs talking over music and today has spread around the world. Over a hundred photos pepper references which cover music groups, genres, attitude, style, ethics and more.

Who is this person who feels qualified to write an Encyclopedia of Hip Hop? First of all, she is not qualified. Second of all, who has ever heard of this broad? Her writing is sub-standard at best--a wanna-be intellectual pretending to be smart. Skip this book and save your $6. It's not even worth that. Hold out for a real historian to come through and write a definitive tome. This is a piece of garbage by a wanna-be writer with NO credentials in Hip Hop. Tell this loser to get a job and leave the writing to those with knowledge, talent, and experience.