"This landmark work chronicles an earth-shattering movement with deep roots."–
The New York Times Book Review "As ambitious and intelligent as anyone might want, and more enjoyable than anyone might think. . . . If you want to hear how the latter part of the twentieth century sounded, you can't do better than this book."–Kevin Young,
Bookforum "The authors have built a poignant collection of rhythm and rhyme. . . . For hard-core hip-hop heads, this book confirms what we have always known: that some of the most innovative writing hails from the imagination of the rapper."–Idris Goodwin,
The Boston Globe "Intelligent and authentic . . . written for both the hip-hop head and the uninitiated."–James Johnson,
Philadelphia Inquirer "For the reader who's really interested in modern poetics a profitable week or three could be spent sitting with The Anthology of Rap."–Will Self,
The Times ". . . an important contribution to this highly contested lyrical culture."–David Barnes,
Times Literary Supplement "The editors have been bold and often brilliant. . . .
The Anthology of Rap is as ambitious and intelligent as anyone might want, and more enjoyable than anyone might think. . . . If you want to hear how the latter part of the twentieth century sounded, you can't do better than this book."–Kevin Young,
Bookforum "A chronology of rap that highlights significant figures in its short history and offers a window into how rappers harmonize the world through a distinct form of self-expression."–
Library Journal "An English major's hip-hop bible, an impossible fusion of street cred and book learning . . . Reading
The Anthology of Rap was the most fun I've had with a book in many months: It just kept pouring out new waves of creativity, personality, and intelligence."–Sam Anderson,
New York Magazine "A complete encyclopedia of the history, personalities, beats, rhythm and rhymes of the musical genre from the old school of Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five to hip-hop and Kanye West."–
Los Angeles Times "
The Anthology of Rap is among the best books of its kind ever published."–Dan Chiasson,
The New York Review of Books "What could have been an insufferable rap-snob collectible ended up being one of the first truly encyclopedic, essential anthologies on the form . . . It's an Ivy League master class in the language of hip-hop. Register today."–Foster Kamer, The Village Voice (Best Books of 2010)
"An awesome compilation: 920 pages of some of the baddest, phattest, flyist tracks ever dropped."–
Mother Jones "Listen along on YouTube and it's a self-taught class on the genre's history."–
New York Magazine "This mega-anthology strips away rap's performance elements and allows the language itself to pulse, break, spin, and strut in poems of audacity, outrage, insight, sweetness, and nastiness. . . . Electrifying."–
Booklist "An English major's hip-hop bible, an impossible fusion of street cred and book learning. . . . Reading [it] was the most fun I've had with a book in many months."–Sam Anderson,
New York Magazine
"
The Anthology of Rap reaffirms the enduring force of the written word–or at least the immaculately constructed freestyle."–
LA Weekly "The eye-opening essay by [Henry Louis] Gates . . . provides deep historical context for rap; it alone makes the book worth owning."–
Slate "A great, necessary addition to the book collection of any contemporary music aficionado."–
Creative Loafing "Reading
The Anthology of Rap, which covers everything from Afrika Bambaataa to Young Jeezy, it's hard not to appreciate rap's astounding love of words, of the way they fit together and play off each other, and of how meaning can be layered upon meaning to get at a deeper truth. Which sounds an awful lot like poetry."–Joshua Ostroff,
The Globe and Mail "[
The Anthology of Rap] makes the case for the immediate and enduring relevance of [rap's] poetic tradition."–
Barnes and Noble Review "[The] editors of
The Anthology of Rap supply a much needed injection of energy and enthusiasm into our analysis of hip-hop's lyricism."–Quentin B. Huff,
PopMatters
"[The] anthology offers the good, the bad, and the offensive–and plenty of food for intelligent discussion."–Minneapolis
Star Tribune "This thrilling (but controversial) textual monument to a thrilling (but controversial) oral tradition wrestles the genre's greatest lyricists out of the airwaves and into cold print . . . [It] enables something wonderful: the ability to sit in perfect silence and roll around in, for example, the lust Keatsian soundplay of Jay-Z."–Sam Anderson,
New York Magazine, "The Year in Books"
"An exquisite display of the artistic talent seen with rap music."–
Boston Music Spotlight Honorable mention in the Compilations/Anthologies category of the 2010 New England Book Festival, given by the JM Northern Media family of festivals
"An essential contribution to our living literary tradition . . . This groundbreaking anthology masterfully assembles part of a new vanguard of American poetry."–from the Foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
"What you hold in your hands is more than a book. This is a culture. This is hip-hop . . . This book offers a view of rap in full, from the root to the fruit."–from the Afterword by Common
"Every great literature deserves a great anthology. Rap finally has its own."–from the Afterword by Chuck D
"From the Sing Song cadence of the slave preachers to the emotional bravery of Tupac Shakur to the clarity of Queen Latifah . . . for all the hearts and heads and voices who have still to be heard: We Now Have an Encyclopedia. Good for us. Much needed. Much needed."–Nikki Giovanni
"The Anthology of Rap is an instant classic. It brings together the lyric poetry of some of the greatest artists of our time. Hip Hop is here to stay and rap lives forever–on the stage and now on the page!"–Cornel West
