The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of HipHop

The essential oral history of hiphop, from its origins on the playgrounds of the Bronx to its reign as the most powerful force in pop culturefrom the awardwinning journalist behind All the Pieces Matter, the New York Times bestselling oral history of The WireThe Come Up is Abrams at his sharpest, at his most observant, at his most insightful.Shea Serrano, #1 New York Times bestselling author of HipHop (And Other Things)ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Boston Globe, The Guardian, SpinThe music that would come to be known as hiphop was born at a party in the Bronx in the summer of 1973. Now, fifty years later, its the most popular music genre in America. Just as jazz did in the first half of the twentieth century, hiphop and its groundbreaking DJs and artistsnearly all of them people of color from some of Americas most overlooked communitiespushed the boundaries of music to new frontiers, while transfixing the countrys youth and reshaping fashion, art, and even language.And yet, the stories of many hiphop pioneers and their individual contributions in the preInternet days of mixtapes and word of mouth are rarely heardand some are at risk of being lost forever. Now, in The Come Up, the New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Abrams offers the most comprehensive account so far of hiphops rise, a multidecade chronicle told in the voices of the people who made it happen.In more than three hundred interviews conducted over three years, Abrams has captured the stories of the DJs, executives, producers, and artists who both witnessed and themselves forged the history of hiphop. Masterfully combining these voices into a seamless symphonic narrative, Abrams traces how the genre grew out of the resourcefulness of a neglected population in the South Bronx, and from there how it flowed into New York Citys other boroughs, and beyondfrom electrifying live gatherings, then on to radio and vinyl, below to the MasonDixon Line, west to Los Angeles through gangster rap and Gfunk, and then across generations.Abrams has on record Grandmaster Caz detailing hiphops infancy, Edward Duke Bootee Fletcher describing the origins of The Message, DMC narrating his role in introducing hiphop to the mainstream, Ice Cube recounting N.W.As breakthrough and breakup, Kool Moe Dee recalling his Grammys boycott, and countless more key players. Throughout, Abrams conveys with singular vividness the drive, the stakes, and the relentless creativity that ignited one of the greatest revolutions in modern music.The Come Up is an exhilarating behindthescenes account of how hiphop came to rule the worldand an essential contribution to music history.