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Hip Hop Resource Guide: Where to Begin

Books

Specialized Encyclopedias are good places to begin

  • The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 3: The United States and Canada
    REF 780.9 G233 v.3
    • HIP-HOP and RAP
    • Early History
    • 1970s: The Era of the Hip-Hop DJs
    • 1979-1985: Rap Music Enters the Mainstream
    • Rap Music and Major Labels
    • Stylistic Features
    • Cultural Areas
       
  • Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture (2 volumes)
    REF 782.421 H586i 2007
     
  • St. James Encyclopedia of Hip Hop Culture -- Online access
    • Summary: This encyclopedia examines the history and contribution of hip hop to American and global culture, including the music, dance, and visual arts that are its artistic expressions. Entries also examine hip hop's influence in other arenas such as fashion, film, and poetry; its impact on education, politics, social activism, racial and ethnic identity, and globalization; Also its many contributions to American, urban black, and Latino cultures.
       
  • Contemporary Musicians: Provides biographical information on important figures in today's musical arena, covering artists working in all genres of modern music, including rock, jazz, pop, rap, rhythm and blues, folk, New Age, country, gospel and reggae.  -- Online Access


Hip Hop History

  • Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation
    306.484 C456c 2005
  • Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere
    305.4889 P872c 2004
  • Darkest America
    791.12 T247d 2012
  • Hip Hop America
    784.54 G348h
  • Hip Hop's Inheritance: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Hip Hop Feminist Movement
    781.421 R112h 2011
  • Yes Yes Y'all
    782.421 F897y


A Selection of Hip Hop Books in Addition to Those on Reserve for this Class

  • Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip Hop in the United States
    305.896 K45m 2016
  • The Hood Comes First: Race, Space and Place in Rap and Hip Hop
    782.421 F724h 2002
  • The Hip Hop Generation Fights Back: Youth, Activism, and Post Civil Rights Politics
    305.235 C619h 2012
  • The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture
    305.235 K62h 2002
  • From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism
    305.896 C712f 2006
  • I Am Hip Hop: Conversations on the Music and Culture
    782.421 R248i  2011
  • That's the Joint: The Hip Hop Studies Reader
    782.421 N342t  2004
  • Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip Hop
    306.4842 J47t 2011
  • Why White Kids Love Hip Hop
    306.484 K62w 2005


Electronic Books

 

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