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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
And It Goes a Lil Something Like This, February 17, 2008
This review is from: Rap-Up: The Ultimate Guide to Hip-Hop and R&B (Paperback)
Do you know why Nas and Jay-Z had beef? Or the meaning of A Tribe Called Quest's rule number 4080? How about taking it back to the basics by learning what is meant by the terms cutting and scratching? Well, Rap-Up by Cameron and Devin Lazerine can tell you all of that and more. Rap-Up discusses various elements that created what we call hip-hop and R&B. It examines artists, including their rise to fame, break dancers, disc jockeys (d.j.'s), territories, etc., that have been instrumental in shaping what appeared to be just music into a lifestyle. From graffiti artists tagging subway trains to heavy, west coast bass lines, the manual looks at these genres from all angles. It also includes passages about movies, i.e. Breakin and Beat Street, and tragedies, i.e. death of rapper Easy E and unauthorized sampling, that show how circumstances continually change the direction of hip-hop and R&B.
Rap-Up was a great read. Although I knew all of the artists described in the manual, I was intrigued with their success stories and the impact they made in a genre that was looked at as a passing fad. I found the articles witty, engaging, and thorough. I expected to read biased accounts but was pleasantly surprised when there were none. Rap-Up is a useful guide for people of all ages, with all levels of hip-hop and R&B knowledge.
Reviewed by Darnetta Frazier
APOOO BookClub
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hip Hop for Dummies, February 25, 2008
This review is from: Rap-Up: The Ultimate Guide to Hip-Hop and R&B (Paperback)
This book is laid out like a "Dummies Guide". It uses well written grammar, and is broken down into clear logical chapters. It provides a brief History of Hip Hop's origins, plus sub chapters focussing on main Hip Hop acts, a bit of RnB and Neo-Soul, plus Hip Hop on TV and in the movies.
It is all the stronger for this, as it avoids the over complex dense text associated with so many sociological Hip Hop books that try to be too clever by half. There is decent analysis in this book, and it makes salient points about MCs such as Tupac and Nas, rather than pop culture miscellany. One knows that the authors know what they are writing about.
The only criticisms I have are that for a book that bills itself as an "Ultimate Guide", it does not cover much about Beatboxing or Graffiti, instead it concentrates on Hip Hop as a music and film media. There is also scant mention of the wealth of Hip Hop outside of the USA, which is a sadly common yet glaring ommission from many books. Other than that I think it would be a good read for the 12 upwards age group who want to study Hip Hop, or adults who want an up to date introduction.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
(RAW Rating: 2.5) Rap-up, November 12, 2008
This review is from: Rap-Up: The Ultimate Guide to Hip-Hop and R&B (Paperback)
RAP UP: The Ultimate Guide to Hip-Hop and R & B is full of quick facts stemming from most artists from the 80's to present day. It gives accurate, but brief information about each artist including their hits on the charts, albums, personal lives, and trouble with the law in an entertaining fashion. Rapper T.I. opens the guide with a foreword of how he fell in love with hip-hop and his role in the industry.
The cool thing I enjoyed the most was the pop quiz given at the end of each section with answers in the back and a fun chart that connects each artist in that corresponding section. Also, I liked how each section had a cool title, for example, Divalicious: 90's Female R & B.
Overall, the authors formed their own opinions and stated them without regard to how the artist would feel if they read it. The R & B section was thrown together with tiny paragraphs, whereas the Hip-Hop section carried more information on each artist. They could've left it as the ultimate Hip-Hop guide and that would've been sufficient, only I found myself getting upset with the authors for their loose references. I found it troubling that an ultimate guide would leave me feeling as if they didn't really care for any artist outside of New York.
The authors refer to Eminem as "Hip-Hop's most beloved Honky" and Bubba Sparxx as "whitey" and "the other white meat". Even though they showed little love for 3rd Bass and Beastie Boys, I don't remember Hip-Hop being racist or based on color. I didn't like how they referred to the Bay area as "strange foreign regions", considering I'm from the Bay area myself and I took offense when they called E-40's name wacky. They showed very little to no love for Southern rappers. They referred to Lil' Jon as the "Animal from the Muppets look-alike" and said, "Gee thanks," for bringing crunk music to life. I didn't care for the part when they called Notorious B.I.G too ugly and about Big Pun's death, "going down in a hail of White Castle Burgers and frosty chocolate shakes."
If this is the ultimate guide to Hip-Hop, why isn't the love shown for all parts of it? Just because it stemmed from New York, which we all love its founders, it has transformed and migrated into a wonderful culture regardless of skin color and appearance. I wasn't impressed with their bias opinions and it was clear which artists they adored the most.
Reviewed by S. Richards
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
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