Hip-Hop Book List
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| Title | Author | ||
| A Brief History of Rhyme and Bass: Growing Up with Hip-Hop | Shawn Livernoche, Daniel Corvino | Buy | |
| A Century of Jazz: From Blues to Bop, Swing to Hiphop - A Hundred Years of Music, Musicians, Singers and Styles | Roy Carr | Buy | |
| A Taste of Power | Elaine Brown | Buy | |
| Aerosol Kingdom: Subway Painters of New York City | Ivor L. Miller; Foreword by Robert Farris Thompson | Buy | |
| All Music Guide to Hip-Hop: The Definitive Guide to Rap and Hip-Hop | Various Editors | Buy | |
| All You Need to Know About Rappin | Gandmaster Blaster | Buy | |
| Am I Black Enough for You | Todd Boyd | Buy | |
| Art of Emcee-ing | stic.man | Buy | |
| Art of Getting Over | Steven Powers | Buy | |
| Back in the Day : My Life and Times with Tupac Shakur | Darrin Keith Bastfield | Buy | |
| Back in the Days | Jamel Shabazz | Buy | |
| Backjumps Sketch Book | Adrian Nabi | ||
| Bad Boy: The Influence of Sean Puffy Combs on the Music Industry | Ronin Ro | Buy | |
| Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall: Social Commentary via Graffiti | Robin Banksy | Buy | |
| Beastie Boys Companion : 2 Decades of Commentary | John Rocco | Buy | |
| Beastie Boys: In Their Own Words | Michael Heatley | Buy | |
| Beastie Boys: Rhyming and Stealing | Angus Batey | Buy | |
| Beat: Go-Gos Fusion of Funk and Hip Hop | Kip Lornell, Charles C. Stephenson Jr. | ||
| Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture | Michael Eric Dyson | Buy | |
| Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America | Tricia Rose | Buy | |
| Black Popular Music in America: From the Spirituals, Minstrels, and Ragtime | Arnold Shaw | Buy | |
| Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy (Black Literature and Culture) | Houston A., Jr. Baker | Buy | |
| Black, Blanc, Beur: Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture in the Francophone World | Alain-Phillippe Durand (Editor) | ||
| Bleep! Censoring Rock and Rap Music (Contributions to the study of Popular Cultre) | Betty Houchin Winfield and Sandra Davidson (editors) | Buy | |
| Bomb The Suburbs | William Upski Wimsatt | Buy | |
| Boogaloo: The Quintessence of American Popular Music | Arthur Kempton | Buy | |
| Break It Down: The Inside Story From the New Leaders of Rap | Michael Small, Al Pereira (photographer) | Buy | |
| Bring the Noise: A Guide to Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture | H. Nelson and M.A. Gonzales | ||
| Broken Windows-Burning New York | James T. Murray and Karla L. Murry | Buy | |
| Bulletproof Diva | Lisa Jones | Buy | |
| Can't Stop, Won't Stop | Jeff Chang | ||
| Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge | Cheech Marin | Buy | |
| Chosen By Fate: My Life Inside Death Row Records | McKinley | Buy | |
| Classic Material: The Hip Hop Album Guide | Oliver Wang | ||
| Country Fried Soul: Adventures in Dirty South Hip-Hop | Tamara Palmer | Buy | |
| Dangerous Times. The | Mike Berry | Buy | |
| Dead Emcee Scrolls, The | Saul Williams | Buy | |
| Dear 2 Pac | Josh Sims | Buy | |
| Dondi White Style Master General: The Life of Graffiti Artist Dondi White | Andrew Witten & Michael White | ||
| Drive-By | Gary Rivlin | Buy | |
| Droppin' Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture | William Eric Perkins | ||
| Droppin' Science: Straight-Up Talk From Hip Hop's Greatest Voices | Denise L. McIver (editor) | ||
| Dying Ground, The: A Hip Hop Noir Novel | Nichelle Tramble | Buy | |
| E.A.R.L.: The Autobiography of DMX | Earl Simmons and Smokey D. Fontaine | ||
| Ego Trip's Big Book of Racism! | Sacha Jenkins, Elliot Wilson, Chairman Jefferson Mao, Gabriel Alvarez | ||
| Ego Trip's Book of Hip Hop Lists | Sacha Jenkins, Elliott Wilson, Chairman Mao, Gabriel Alvarez, Theodore Alos | ||
| Eminem: Angry Blonde | Marshall Mathers III | Buy | |
| Eminem: Crossing the Line | Martin Huxley | Buy | |
| Faith of Graffiti, The | Norman Mailer, Mervyn Kurlansky, John Narr | ||
| Fast Forward: Hip Hop Drum Patterns | Unknown | Buy | |
| Fight the Power: Rap, Race, and Reality | Chuck D | ||
| Five Percenter Rap: God Hop's Music, Message, And Black Muslim Mission | Felicia M. Miyakawa | Buy | |
| Fresh Fly Flavor: Words & Phrases of the Hip-Hop Generation | Fab Five Freddy | ||
| From Bomba to Hip Hop | Juan Flores | ||
| From Hucklebuck to Hip-Hop: Social Dance in the African-American Community | John W. Roberts | ||
| From the Underground: Hip-Hop Culture as an Agent of Social Change | Hashim A. Shomari | ||
| From Totems to Hip Hop: Poetry Across the Americas, 1900-2002 | Ishamel Reed (Editor) | Buy | |
| Funk: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One | Rickey Vincent | Buy | |
| Futura | Futura 2000 | Buy | |
| Gangsta Rap Coloring Book | Aye Jay | Buy | |
| Gangsta: Merchandising Rhymes of Violence | Ronin Ro | ||
| Global Noise: Rap and Hip Hop Outside the USA | Tony Mitchell (Editor) | ||
| Got Your Back: My Life in Tupac's Last Year | Frank Alexander | Buy | |
| Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York | Nancy Macdonald | Buy | |
| Graffito | Michael Walsh | Buy | |
| Gunshots in My Cookup: Bits and Bites from a Hip-Hop Caribbean Life | Selywn Seyfu Hinds | ||
| Haunting of Hip Hop, The | Bertice Berry | Buy | |
| Have Gun Will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records | Ronin Ro | Buy | |
| Hip Hop 86-89 | Nick Smash | ||
| Hip Hop America | Nelson George | Buy | |
| Hip Hop and Rap | NA | ||
| Hip Hop Divas | Various | Buy | |
| Hip Hop Entrepreneur Promotion Lists of Exposure, The | Walt Goodridge | ||
| Hip Hop Entrepreneur Promotion Lists of Exposure, The | Walt Goodridge | Buy | |
| Hip Hop Generation: The Crisis in African American Culture, The | Bakari Kitwana | ||
| Hip Hop High School | Alan Sitomer | Buy | |
| Hip Hop Immortals Volume One | Bonz Malone | ||
| Hip Hop Story | Heru Ptah | Buy | |
| Hip Hop Till You Drop | Devra Speregen | ||
| Hip Hop Years: A History of Rap, The | Denise L. McIver (Editor) | Buy | |
| Hip Hop: Bring the Noise: The Stories Behind the Biggest Songs | Neil Kulkarni | Buy | |
| Hip Hoptionary | Alonzo Westbrook | ||
| Hip-Hop Bass: 101 Grooves, Riffs, Loops, & Beats | Josquin Des Pris | Buy | |
| Hip-Hop Poetry and the Classics for the Classroom | Alan Sitomer & Michael Cirelli | Buy | |
| Hip-Hop vs MAAT: A Psycho/Social Analysis of Values | Jawanza Kunjufu | Buy | |
| Hip-Hop-Perations: Surgical Essays and Poems for the Ghetto Mind | Khalil Amani | ||
| His Name Is | Scott Gigney | Buy | |
| History of Rap Music (African American Achievers), The | Cookie Lommel | ||
| Holler if You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac | Michael Eric Dyson | Buy | |
| Hood: Race, Space and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop, The | Murray Forman | ||
| Hoopster, The | Alan Lawrence Sitomer | Buy | |
| I Got Thunder: Black Woman Songwriters and Their Craft | LaShonda Barnett | Buy | |
| I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. | Michael Eric Dyson | Buy | |
| Ice Cube: Attitude | Joel McIver | Buy | |
| Inner City Miracle | Greg Mathis and Blair S. Walker | Buy | |
| It's Not About a Salary...Rap, Race + Resistance in Los Angeles | Brian Cross | Buy | |
| Jails, Hospitals, & Hip-Hop and Some People | Danny Hoch | Buy | |
| Journal of Hip Hop | Andrew Ryan & Akil Smith (editors) | Buy | |
| Killing of Tupac Shakur, The | Cathy Scott | ||
| King of Rock: Respect, Responsibility and My Life With Run DMC | Darryl McDaniels with Bruce Haring | ||
| La Maravilla | Alfredo Vea | Buy | |
| LAbryinth: A Dective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls... | Randall Sullivan | Buy | |
| Ladies First: Revelations From a Strong Black Woman | Queen Latifah | Buy | |
| Last Black Mecca: Hip Hop A black Cultural Awareness Phenomena... | Robert Scoop Jackson | ||
| Last King, The | Nichelle Tramble | Buy | |
| Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey | Frank Broughton, Bill Brewster | Buy | |
| Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money and God | Russell Simmons w/ Nelson George | ||
| Locke 128 | Shawna Yang Ryan | Buy | |
| Looking for the Perfect Beat: The Art and Culture of the DJ | Kurt B. Reighley | ||
| Lyrical Swords Volume I: Hip Hop and Politics in the Mix | Adisa Banjoko | Buy | |
| Lyrical Swords Volume II: Westside Rebellion | Adisa Banjoko | Buy | |
| Makin' It: The Hip-Hop Guide to True Survival | Edward Dejesus | Buy | |
| Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X | Michael Eric Dyson | Buy | |
| Men Behind Def Jam: The Radical Rise of Russell Simmons And Rick Rubin, The | Alex Ogg | Buy | |
| Move the Crowd:Voices and Faces of the Hip Hop Nation | Gregor & Dimitri Ehrlich | Buy | |
| Murder of Biggie Smalls | Cathy Scott | Buy | |
| Muslim Networks from Hajj to Hip Hop (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks) | Miriam Cooke and Bruce B. Lawrence (editors) | Buy | |
| Naked Under Our Clothes | Ed Lover, Doctor Dre | Buy | |
| Nation Conscious Rap | James G. Spady and Joseph D. Eure | Buy | |
| Negroes With Guns | Robert Franklin Williams | Buy | |
| New Beats: Exploring the Music Culture and Attitudes of Hip-hop, The | S.H. Fernando | Buy | |
| New H.N.I.C: The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip Hop, The | Todd Boyd | Buy | |
| New York Ricans From the Hip Hop Zone | Raquel Z. Rivera | Buy | |
| No Disrespect | Sister Souljah | Buy | |
| No More Prisons : Urban Life, Homeschooling, Hip-Hop Leadership... | William U. Wimsatt | Buy | |
| No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley | Rita Marley, Hettie Jones | Buy | |
| Oh Snap! The Rap Photography of Ricky Powell | Ricky Powell | Buy | |
| On Top! Your Spot in The Multi-billion Dollar Music Industry | Underwood Street Productions | ||
| One Love, One Heart | James Haskins | Buy | |
| One Nation Under a Groove : Rap Music and Its Roots | James Haskins | Buy | |
| Ordinary Me: From Survival to Success | Taneshia Marshall | Buy | |
| Painting Without Permission: Hip-Hop Graffiti Subculture | Janice Rahn | Buy | |
| Pass the Mic : Beastie Boys 1991-1996 | Carlo McCormick, Paul D. Miller | Buy | |
| Performing Identity/Performing Culture: Hip Hop As Text, Pedagogy... | Greg Dimitriadis | Buy | |
| Phat Beats, Dope Rhymes: Hip Hop Down Under Comin' Upper | Ian Maxwell | Buy | |
| Post-bop Hip-hop: A Tribe Called Quest | John Sansevere, Erica Farber | Buy | |
| Post-Soul Nation | Nelson George | Buy | |
| Public Enemy #1 | David L. Shabazz | Buy | |
| Punany: The Hip Hop Psalms | Anthology | Buy | |
| Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones | Quincy Jones | ||
| Race Music: Black Cultures From Bebop to Hip-Hop | Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. | Buy | |
| Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class | Robin D.G. Kelley | Buy | |
| Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line | Michael Eric Dyson | ||
| Raising Cain: Blackface Performance from Jim Crow to Hip Hop | W.T. Lhamon | Buy | |
| Rap and Hip Hop:The Voice of a Generation (African Diaspora) | Sherry Ayazi-Hashjin | Buy | |
| Rap Attack 2: African Rap to Global Hip Hop | David Toop | Buy | |
| Rap Attack 3 | David Toop | Buy | |
| Rap Attack: African Jive to New York Hip Hop | David Toop | Buy | |
| Rap Music | Jennifer Keeley | Buy | |
| Rap Music and Street Consciousness (Music in American Life) | Cheryl Lynette Keyes | Buy | |
| Rap Music and the Poetics of Identity | Adam Krims | Buy | |
| Rap on Gangsta Rap: Who Run It?: Gangsta Rap and Visions of Black Violence | Bakari Kitwana | Buy | |
| Rap on Rap: Straight-Up Talk on Hiphop Culture | Adam Sexton (Editor) | Buy | |
| Rap, Ritual and Reality | John A., Jr. Logan | Buy | |
| Rap: The Lyrics/the Words to Rap's Greatest Hits | Lawrence A. Stanley (Editor) | Buy | |
| Rap: This Game of Exposure | Walt F.J. Goodridge | Buy | |
| Rebel for the Hell of It : The Life of Tupac Shakur | Armond White | Buy | |
| Reflecting Black | Michael Eric Dyson | Buy | |
| Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema | S. Craig Watkins | Buy | |
| Revelations: There is Light After the Lime | Mase (Mason Betha) & Karen Hunter (contributor) | Buy | |
| Revolution by the Book: The Rap Is Live | Jamil Al-Amin | Buy | |
| Rhythm and Business: The Political Economy of Black Music | Norman Kelley (Editor) | Buy | |
| Rickford Files: Classic New York Photographs, The | Ricky Powell | Buy | |
| Rose That Grew from Concrete, The | Tupac Shakur | Buy | |
| Rough Guide to Hip Hop | Peter Shapiro | Buy | |
| Rough Mix | Jimmy Bowen | Buy | |
| Ruminations | Kris Parker | Buy | |
| Shady Bizzness : Life as Marshall Mathers Body guard... | Unknown | Buy | |
| Sicher in Kreuzberg : Constructing Diasporas: Turkish Hip-Hop Youth in Berlin | Ayhan Kaya | Buy | |
| Signifying Rappers: Rap and Race in the Urban Present | Mark Costello, David Foster Wallace (Contributor) | Buy | |
| Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip-Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism | Russell A. Potter | Buy | |
| Spook Who Sat By the Door, The | Sam Greenlee | Buy | |
| Spraycan Art | Henry Chalfonte | Buy | |
| Start and Run Your Own Record Label | Daylle Deanna Schwartz | Buy | |
| Static : My Tupac Shakur Story | Jimi Dright | Buy | |
| Story of Hip Hop: From Afrika to America From Sugerhill to Eminem, The | James Haskins | ||
| Street Conscious Rap | James G. Spady & Charles G. Lee | Buy | |
| Street Kingdom: Five Years Inside the Franklin Avenue Posse | Douglas Century | Buy | |
| Street Soldier | Joseph Marshall, Jr. | Buy | |
| Street Talk: Da Official Guide to Hip Hop & Urban Slanguage | Randy "Moe Deezy" Kearse | Buy | |
| Style Writing From The Underground | Phase 2 and Schmdlapp | Buy | |
| Subway Art | Henry Chalfont and Martha Cooper | Buy | |
| Subway Graffiti: An aesthetic study of graffiti on the subway system of NY | Jack Stewart Ph. D. | ||
| Taking the Train | Joe Austin | Buy | |
| Tha Doggfather: The Times, Trials & Hardcore Truths of Snoop Dogg | Davin Seay, Snoop Doggy Dog | Buy | |
| That's the Joint! The Hip-Hop Studies Reader | Murray Forman, Mark Anthony Neal | Buy | |
| There's a God on the Mic: The True 50 Greatest MCs | Kool Moe Dee, Chuck D, Ernie Paniccioli | Buy | |
| Tough Love : Cultural Criticism & Familial Observations on...Tupac Shakur | Michael Datcher (Editor) | Buy | |
| Tougher Than Leather | Bill Adler | Buy | |
| Tupac Shakur | Quincy Jones, the Editors of Vibe Magazine (Editor) | Buy | |
| Turntable Technique: The Art of the D. J. | Stephen Webber | Buy | |
| Ultimate Survival Guide for the New Music Industry: A Handbook for Hell | Justin Goldberg | Buy | |
| Understanding the Connections Between Black and Aboriginal Peoples | Raging BlakkIndian Dub | Buy | |
| United States Vs Hip Hop the Historical and Political Significance of Rap | Julian Dillard, Julian L. D. Shabazz | Buy | |
| Vibe History of Hip Hop | Allen Light (editor) | Buy | |
| Voices in the Mirror : An Autobiography | Gordon Parks | Buy | |
| Westside: The Coast-To-Coast Explosion of American Hip Hop | William Shaw | Buy | |
| Westside: Young Men & Hip Hop in L.A. | William Shaw | Buy | |
| When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost | Joan Morgan | Buy | |
| When Gods Go Begging | Alfredo Vea | Buy | |
| White Boy Shuffle, The | Paul Beatty | Buy | |
| Who Shot Ya? Three Decades of Hip Hop Photography | Ernie Paniccioloi, forward by Kevin Powell | Buy | |
| Who's Who in Christian Hip-Hop Resource Directory | Lady J | Buy | |
| Why I Love Black Women | Michael Eric Dyson | Buy | |
| Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, And the New Reality of Race in America | Bakari Kitwana | Buy | |
| Yes Yes Y'all | Jim Fricke, Charlie Ahearn, Nelson George | Buy | |
| Yo' Mama's Disfunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America | Robin D.G. Kelley | Buy | |
| You Forgot about Dre! : The Unauthorized Biography of Dr. Dre & Eminem... | Kelly Kenyatta | Buy |