![]() ![]() Notwithstanding these pardonable oversights, “Music Is History” is an entertaining, informative and far-reaching work, meticulously excavating American culture and history with the eye of a seasoned cratedigger. In his American soundtrack, Questlove includes Bill Withers’s 1972 Carnegie Hall performance of the brilliant and understated anti-Vietnam War song, “I Can’t Write Left-Handed,” and A Tribe Called Quest’s 2017 Grammy performance of its anti-Trump single, “We the People …” which he praises as not only “a searing reflection of what we were seeing in the headlines,” but a throwback to when musical artists of the ‘70s took a public stance on social and political issues. “It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that I think of the America we live in as a series of songs,” he writes. By examining individual songs for their impact on American culture - and vice versa - Questlove argues that the nation itself comes with its own soundtrack. Whether discussing the prolific blaxploitation era, Sun Ra’s apocalyptic opus “Nuclear War,” or making a convincing argument for the musical virtuosity of the Police and Tears for Fears, “Music Is History” covers a lot of ground between its covers. Beginning in 1971 - the year of his birth - Questlove selects and examines one or more pivotal songs from each of the 50 years that followed, creating a sort of hybrid of American history, musicology and memoir. With his sixth book, “ Music Is History,” Questlove aims to place music in its historical context. He is on the road three weeks out of each month touring with Public Enemy and his supergroup Prophets of Rage or speaking at tech and music conferences and colleges, and splits his days off between Long Island, Atlanta, and Southern California.DJ, producer, author, film director, podcast host and, of course, drummer and bandleader for seminal hip-hop crew the Roots, Questlove has beyond a doubt proved his credentials as one of today’s foremost music experts. helped lead the file sharing movement, launched one of the first online entertainment websites,, and digital-only record labels, the SpitSlam Record Label Group and Public Enemy were the second act to ever release an album in MP3 format. A visionary in digital entertainment, Chuck D. Public Enemy’s albums remain among the most critically acclaimed works in the genre, including It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet. Both as a solo artist and as the leader of the groundbreaking hip-hop group Public Enemy (which was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013), he helped pave the way for political, social, and culturally conscious hip-hop. is considered one of the most influential lyricists in contemporary music. Chuck D made the lane for people like me to walk.”Ĭhuck D. He represented for all of us putting his life on the line and making the right music fighting for hip hop, the youth, truth, and justice. He attacked wickedness head-on being the rappin’ rhino terror that he is. I knew he would righteously and boldly die so that a little young boy he didn’t even know from Queensbridge could live. Power, awareness, strength, and militancy is his stance in a world obsessed with punishing poor people. ![]() But the very first minute he sonically appeared to us, I knew rap was changed forever. He created the greatest hip-hop album in my opinion to date, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. ![]() “Chuck D wasn’t put here to play any games. Illustrating the pages are more than 100 portraits from the talented artists specializing in hip hop. Throughout, Chuck offers his insider's perspective on the chart toppers and show stoppers as he lived it. Based on Chuck's long-running show on, this massive compendium details the most iconic moments and influential songs in the genre's recorded history, from Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rappin'" to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill to Kendrick Lamar's ground-breaking verse on "Control." Also included are key events in hip hop history, from Grandmaster Flash's first scratch through Tupac's holographic appearance at Coachella. Yet there is no definitive history of the genre-until now. In the more than 40 years since the days of DJ Kool Herc and "Rapper's Delight," hip hop and rap have become a billion-dollar worldwide phenomenon. A one-of-a kind survey of rap and hip hop history from 1973 to today by Chuck D, arguably the most influential rapper in the world. ![]()
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