Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation

This is a well written book, and mostly well researched, but I feel like the author leans left and doesn't mind being transparent about it. I feel that journalists and historians should let the facts speak for themselves and abstain from any indication of a political bias.

There are some interesting nuggets about hip-hop history in this book, but you must sift through literally hundreds of pages of extraneous information. It is a difficult read; if you are able to get through it without looking up any words then congratulations, but it takes a lot of reading to get into pockets of good information about actual hip-hop. Most of the book is about the social aspects of hip-hop as opposed to, say, how Death Row was formed, or how Run-DMC met, or anything along those lines. It is a great crash course in post-civil rights era black America, but if you're purely interested in hip-hop history than it can be a pretty brutal read at times.

This book is amazing, I love it. It's almost like a textbook, because it has SO much information in it. But it doesn't read like a textbook. It's almost as if you're just listening to someone telling you the story of hip hop.I am a true underground hip hop lover, so it's really cool to be reading this book and getting such an in-depth perspective on it's history. I don't know of any other current genre of music with so much history. It's impeccable.If you love hip-hop (whether you listen to De La Soul or A Tribe Called Quest, Lil Wayne or Drake, Blue Scholars or Eyedea & Abilities) or you're just truly interested in music, PLEASE buy this book. You will gain a better appreciation and understanding for not just hip hop, but music and pop culture in general. Please take the time to read this incredible book, you'll be amazed by the amount of information inside of it.

Great book

I'm reading several things on hip hop lately for a class. This book is well written, but I'm not convinced of some of his premises--for instance, I have trouble seeing the connection between reggae and hip hop. It is a very good review of early hip hop and the conditions that promoted the development of South Bronx and local hip hop culture

Wonderfully written, Can't Stop Won't Stop is the all world guide to the movement of Hip Hop and what it truly means. With the changes in the industry through the last decade, the average person has a misconstrued image of what hip hop is. Chang takes the reader back to the roots of it's beginning and the raw essence of what hip hop really is. This book should be a prerequisite for any upcoming artist wanting to participate in the movement. For those of us who know, admire & live real hip hop, this book gives us everything we want: The Dj, The Emcee, The B-Boy, The Graffiti & all the great pioneers who made this thing we love.

Beyond my wildest expectations, J.Chang gives a profound account of USAs reality in the mixed cities, in its dealing with race and justice using Hip Hop as a turning point in the debate towards understanding this incredible divide. Well written. A cross between journalism and political science with a touch of conspiracy and tenacious mentalities. A must for inner city studies and understandings of mixed living in a complicated country where race is still an issue. Blacks, whites, orientals, arabs, persians, indus... a true melting pot of ideas and the religions behind their behaviors. Very interesting and well developed ... Rap as Peace: Rapeace ...

don't be fooled, this isn't a book about hip-hop music. rather, it's a book about racial, political, and gang warfare in the "post-civil rights" era as well as a biased diatribe of cliche left-wing "activist" rhetoric.chang covers the first decade of hip-hop as a musical and cultural movement well enough, but then misses the next 20 years: run dmc and beastie boys bringing hip-hop to a larger and whiter audience (beastie boys' "license to ill" was the first #1 rap record but chang fails to mention this), the native tongues movement, the rise of "backbacker" hip-hop, the return of east coast hip-hop with biggie, wu-tang, mobb deep, the whole east vs. west beef, tupac and biggie's murder, "rap metal," trip-hop and grime in the UK and other rap movements around europe and africa, the rise of southern hip-hop, lauren hill and outkast winning "best album of the year" grammy awards etc. etc. etc. very significant stuff that chang completely misses.chang really drops the ball in so many ways, and misses a great opportunity to cover the history of one of the most complex and colorful music and cultural movements of the last century. while reading this i kept having to check to see when this book was published, as that might forgive chang's gross omissions, but by 2005 chang had absolutely no excuse.

This is a really good historical text. The hip-hop community doesn't have very many of those, so if you're interested in the music or the culture in anything more than a passing way - you NEED to read this. The comprehensive run-down of the entire history of the movement starts in the South Bronx WAY before DJ Kool Herc, and gives us a little background information on just HOW neglected this part of New York had become under Reagan. This was a place where your landlords might cut off your water and a electric to force you to move out, so that they could burn the empty building down for the insurance money. People got hurt by the greed of some, and the "benign neglect" of others. Chang proceeds to outline the development of the culture and the music we all know, using key events like the LA riots, and key figures like Afrika Bambaabata & Grandmaster Flash, to draw a straight line between the 1970s South Bronx and the whole wide world in the now. It's very readable, and really illustrates just how much it's evolved (and even changed) over the years. He doesn't attempt to "cordon-off" whole areas of hip-hop like a lot of people do when trying to give it some academic credibility, and he illustrates very clearly how the existing musical heritage of hip-hop was arrived at.On a side note, some commentators have been guilty of sidelining the Puerto-Rican origins of certain aspects, and the multitude of cultures that have helped to form the music and aesthetics of hip-hop, but Chang is objective and presents a reasonably balanced view as far as I can tell. This can only be a good thing for the continued growth and evolution of the style.

An awesome work, the only work worth reading on the subject!

If you would like an in depth review, see the others. They are pretty accurate and sum up the book well.If you would like a short review, this is it.Buy it. Its great. So good I read it twice.

Good book

A wealth of information and history.