I usually prefer magazines
While reading Decoded, I was often thinking, ‘Hold-up a minute – if Jay-Z doesn’t even write down his rhymes on paper, how has he got time to write a cot damn BOOK?’ Then on page 309, after it’s all said and done, he reveals the plot twist – ‘First and foremost I’d like to acknowledge…
The year? 2002. The Internets was still but a niche amusement for those with the patience to wait five minutes for their dial-up modem to connect through their phone line to spend another fifteen minutes to load a nude. But then the publishing world was blessed with a shining beacon of light to guide us…
Returning with his forth book (fifth if count the Writin’ Dirty anthology, which was just a collection of Bol’s XXL posts so I don’t), Byron Crawford blesses us with another highly entertaining and surprisingly informative summary of Kanye West, the artist and fairly fucked-up human. What’s great about Kanye West: Superstar is the attention to…
During my road trip to Boston in June to visit the Get On Down HQ, I happened apon an incredible collection of drum machines, which I filmed for my nausea-inducing video set to MCA & Burtoozie’s “Drum Machine”. The reason that this world-beating collection of rhythm machines were on display was for a book titled…
As the CRC empire expands, it’s only right that a literary publishing arm of the organization is established. The following is a list of our first twenty re-boots of some timeless examples of the written word.
America’s leading black intellectual returns with his third book, which also makes him the leading rap book author in the U.S.A by default. This time around, Bol unleashes the fury of the Mindset Army on one target in particular, while still making time to discuss The Gin Blossoms, Jay-Z, Nas’ daughter and her enormous box…
Remember when that Stuff White People Like blog got turned into a very popular book? Me neither, but apparently it did. My long-time internets associate Byron Crawford released his first tome, Mindset of a Champion, last year, and it turned out to be a great read. The sequel manages to improve on his print debut…
Somehow or other, I recently found myself at the local library, where I stumbled across a book titled Def Jam, Inc. The author, Stacy Guerseva, did a great job of recalling the history from the early days of the label based in Rick Rubin‘s dorm through to the powerhouse that it would eventually become. Of…
In a bizarre twist of fate, I was recently sent a couple of books to check out from an indy publisher, and the first one I tackled appeared to be one of those corny “rap business guides” at first glance, but actually turned out to have a major connection to my on-going series looking at…
Considering my obsession with rap trivia, it’s amazing that I never got around to grabbing a copy of Rakim Told Me, but since Brian Coleman just threw me a copy of his expanded edition, I’ve finally been able to absorb this shit. Anything involving Schoolly-D is essential as far as I’m concerned, and best believe…
Not so long ago, the only books on hip-hop I had bothered to read were David Toop‘s Rap Attack 2 and the Book of Rap Lists. This can primarily be attributed to the fact that many tomes covering rap don’t amount to much more than a chapter on Public Enemy, a chapter on NWA, the…