Hip-Hop Is History

A must-read for old-school hip-hop heads and burgeoning fans alike

Time

'Hip Hip is not History, it's Our story. Brilliant book'

Craig Charles

'Hip-Hop Is History melds a detailed chronological retelling of the genre's story with occasionally hair-raising memoir '

Guardian

'Sharp and lyrical analyses of hip-hop's evolution with fascinating, up-close recollections of the genre's turning point... an exuberant account of a dynamic musical genre and the cultural climate in which it evolved

Publishers Weekly

When hip-hop first emerged in the 1970s, it wasn't expected to become the cultural force it is today. But for a young Black kid growing up in a musical family in Philadelphia, it was everything. He stayed up late to hear the newest songs on the radio. He saved his money to buy vinyl as soon as it landed. He even started to try to make his own songs. That kid was Questlove, and decades later, he is a six-time Grammy Award-winning musician, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, a New York Times bestselling author, a producer, an entrepreneur, a cofounder of one of hip-hop's defining acts (the Roots), and the genre's unofficial in-house historian.

In this landmark book, Hip-Hop Is History, Questlove skilfully traces the creative and cultural forces that made and shaped hip-hop, highlighting both the forgotten but influential gems and the undeniable chart-topping hits-and weaves it all together with the stories no one else knows. It is at once an intimate, sharply observed story of a cultural revolution and a sweeping, grand theory of the evolution of the great artistic movement of our time. And Questlove, of course, approaches it with not only the encyclopaedic fluency and passion of an obsessive fan but also the expertise and originality of an innovative participant.

Hip-hop is history, and also his history.

'A must-read for music lovers, cultural history buffs, and hip-hop fans... Questlove's illuminating and insightful survey is as personal as it is expert'

Booklist

'A memorable, masterful history of the first 50 years of an indelible American art form'

Kirkus Reviews

The musician and Oscar-winning director traces the first 50 years of hip-hop... Questlove pairs the history of hip-hop with a personal reflection on how the genre shaped his identity during his childhood in Philadelphia

The Week

Hip-Hop Is History melds a detailed chronological retelling of the genre's story with occasionally hair-raising memoir Guardian
A must-read for old-school hip-hop heads and burgeoning fans alike Time
Nobody knows more about hip-hop, and perhaps popular music in general, than Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson...a wonderful ride, coloured by personal digressions and crisp observations Observer
Sharp insights...[an] engaging chronology...entertaining Financial Times
Questlove interweaves sharp and lyrical analyses of hip-hop's evolution with fascinating, up-close recollections of the genre's turning point...It's an exuberant account of a dynamic musical genre and the cultural climate in which it evolved Publishers Weekly
A memorable, masterful history of the first 50 years of an indelible American art form...[Questlove's] observations spanning the entirety of hip-hop's history are consistently illuminating... [His] instincts as a superfan and artist take this history beyond the hype to something very special Kirkus Reviews
Hip Hip is not History, it's Our story. Brilliant book. Craig Charles
Engaging and deeply knowledgeable Buzz Magazine
This is a must-read for music lovers, cultural history buffs, and hip-hop fans... Questlove's illuminating and insightful survey is as personal as it is expert Booklist
The musician and Oscar-winning director traces the first 50 years of hip-hop... Questlove pairs the history of hip-hop with a personal reflection on how the genre shaped his identity during his childhood in Philadelphia The Week
Hugely readable...an encyclopaedic and idiosyncratic personal history of rap music now that it is more than 50 years old...[Questlove is] great at catching the sonic thrill and originality of the music. Nearly every page will have you jumping onto YouTube just to listen to the tunes he's talking about Herald
With Questlove, his world is wrapped up in that history. So you get the story mixed with his personal experience. It's also beautifully written Moonbuilding
Questlove radiates passion, knowledge, wit and profundity as he reflects on this ever-evolving art form Guardian

Questlove is a six-time Grammy Award-winning musician, Academy Award-winning filmmaker, drummer, DJ, producer, director, culinary entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, cofounder of the Roots, and the musical director for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where the Roots serves as the house band. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Mo' Meta Blues, Creative Quest, Music Is History, and his first children's book series, The Rhythm of Time, as well as the James Beard Award-nominated somethingtofoodabout, Mixtape Potluck, and the Grammy-nominated audiobook Creative Quest. Questlove made his directorial debut with the Academy Award-, Grammy Award-, and BAFTA Award-winning documentary film Summer of Soul, which broke the record for the highest-selling documentary to come out of the Sundance Film Festival. Questlove is a cofounder of Two One Five Entertainment. He is the publisher of AUWA Books, an imprint of MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Ben Greenman is a New York Times bestselling author and New Yorker contributor who has written both fiction and nonfiction. His novels and short-story collections include The Slippage and Superbad. He has been Questlove's collaborator on a series of books, including Mo' Meta Blues, Creative Quest, and Music Is History, and he has written memoirs with Sly Stone, George Clinton, and Brian Wilson. His writing has appeared in numerous publications.

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