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To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic
2007 Arts Club of Washington's National Award for Arts Writing - Finalist
With roots that stretch from West Africa through the black pulpit, hip-hop emerged in the streets of the South Bronx in the 1970s and has spread to the farthest corners of the earth. To the Break of Dawn uniquely examines this freestyle verbal artistry on its own terms. A kid from Queens who spent his youth at the epicenter of this new art form, music critic William Jelani Cobb takes readers inside the beats, the lyrics, and the flow of hip-hop, separating mere corporate rappers from the creative MCs that forged the art in the crucible of the street jam.
The four pillars of hip hop--break dancing, graffiti art, deejaying, and rapping--find their origins in traditions as diverse as the Afro-Brazilian martial art Capoeira and Caribbean immigrants' turnstile artistry. Tracing hip-hop's relationship to ancestral forms of expression, Cobb explores the cultural and literary elements that are at its core. From KRS-One and Notorious B.I.G. to Tupac Shakur and Lauryn Hill, he profiles MCs who were pivotal to the rise of the genre, verbal artists whose lineage runs back to the black preacher and the bluesman.
Unlike books that focus on hip-hop as a social movement or a commercial phenomenon, To the Break of Dawn tracks the music's aesthetic, stylistic, and thematic evolution from its inception to today's distinctly regional sub-divisions and styles. Written with an insider's ear, the book illuminates hip-hop's innovations in a freestyle form that speaks to both aficionados and newcomers to the art.
With roots that stretch from West Africa through the black pulpit, hip-hop emerged in the streets of the South Bronx in the 1970s and has spread to the farthest corners of the earth. To the Break of Dawn uniquely examines this freestyle verbal artistry on its own terms. A kid from Queens who spent his youth at the epicenter of this new art form, music critic William Jelani Cobb takes readers inside the beats, the lyrics, and the flow of hip-hop, separating mere corporate rappers from the creative MCs that forged the art in the crucible of the street jam.
The four pillars of hip hop--break dancing, graffiti art, deejaying, and rapping--find their origins in traditions as diverse as the Afro-Brazilian martial art Capoeira and Caribbean immigrants' turnstile artistry. Tracing hip-hop's relationship to ancestral forms of expression, Cobb explores the cultural and literary elements that are at its core. From KRS-One and Notorious B.I.G. to Tupac Shakur and Lauryn Hill, he profiles MCs who were pivotal to the rise of the genre, verbal artists whose lineage runs back to the black preacher and the bluesman.
Unlike books that focus on hip-hop as a social movement or a commercial phenomenon, To the Break of Dawn tracks the music's aesthetic, stylistic, and thematic evolution from its inception to today's distinctly regional sub-divisions and styles. Written with an insider's ear, the book illuminates hip-hop's innovations in a freestyle form that speaks to both aficionados and newcomers to the art.
200 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 3, 2008
cobb does a great job of placing hip hop within the larger african american music continuum but does little in the way of discussing sampling or giving musical analysis of of the rhymes he extols the virtues of. the exclusion of these topics makes it impossible to fully explore the aesthetics of hip hop - which he purports this book to be about. i wrote a 2200 word review of this book for a grad course in fall 07. feel free to contact me for a copy.
January 11, 2023
Clearly the passion project of an oldhead, this book is a great compendium of pre-2000s hip-hop. Cobb gave me a lot to think about and reinvigorated my love for the genre. He makes some interesting points on hip-hop's function and ties them into historical forms of black expression. I nearly cried at the last paragraph.
December 22, 2020
A great option if we see Hs students curious about the hip-hop aspect of musical history. Language is pretty clean, which can be hard when studying this particular genre.
January 27, 2016
A strong primer on hip hop's history and its roots in African American cultural history. Cobb's voice veers between academic and colloquial and he's very clear about his interests (East Coast over West Coast, rappers over djs and b-boys) - and he focuses his book accordingly - so the reader's mileage is going to vary depending on how much he or she enjoys Cobb's writing and agrees with his tastes. I enjoyed it, and thought it provided some nice connective tissue and cultural context for hip hop's role in black American life (although for me, he greatly overrates Biggie and underrates the West Coast, but I laughed out loud at Cobb's resigned "...before we arrive at the mandatory Fanon quote ...").
October 7, 2010
A great read for any Hip-Hop head, new or old. This book went deep into the roots of Hip-Hop, from how it started to what's it becoming now. Glad this book didn't talk about the business side of Hip-Hop but it's true form: art/a way of life. I liked how the author analyzed lyrics of emcees why he quoted them, and how they relate. The author clearly wrote from the heart.
September 25, 2007
A bit too academic to be casual reading, Cobb does make a valid case for "REAL" hip-hop. An homage more than history lesson, he does spit true knowlege of the genre.
February 26, 2024
he left off Pac on his 7!
i'll never forgive him for that.
i'll never forgive him for that.
December 18, 2009
A great analysis of the origins of hip-hop music the path it took to the present day.
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December 14, 2016I used this for a paper I wrote about Russian rap. I chose to reference Cobb to give some background information on American hip hop's history and aesthetics.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews