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

May 27, 2007 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So I'm biased 'cuz this was written by a friend of mine. But not so biased not to recognize when a seminal book on the historical and political context of hip-hop cultures and its generations since the late 1960s emerges that finds fans in academia, arts spaces, and all middle/high schools alike. The writing is accessible, with wily turns of phrases and references that embrace the high & low, the mass popular & artistic aesthetic, the mainstream & the undergroud alike. I'm a history...more

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Mar 13, 2007 teddy rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone remotely interested in hip-hop

Shelves: in-limbo

academic tomes on hip-hop have a sobering tendency to come from artifice, revisionist histories written by out-of-touch scholars eager to stamp their name on uncharted territory. they pick landmarks and artists who, perhaps, are emblematic of the genre, but do not come from the perspective of a fan that's where jeff chang's "can't stop won't stop" is so successful.

i'd say it's one of the first times i've read something scholarly about the genesis of -- arguably -- one of the world's most potent...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Ben Winch rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: music

For those popular music fans who still can't see the innovation in hip-hop, maybe this book will help. It's flawed - by the second half I mostly tuned out as Public Enemy and Ice Cube (not my favourites) took centre stage and the political thrust of Jeff Chang's argument grew strained - but for putting the birth of the movement in perspective musically and culturally it's hard to beat. Chang knows his stuff, and whether he's talking about gang wars in the Bronx, block parties and Jamaican sound...more

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Jun 05, 2011 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, politics, music

I've spent a long time craving the perfect history of hip-hop. Watched a few documentaries here, read a few books there... but never quite satisfied that desire to put it all in context as the sociopolitical movement it's always felt like to me. Until now, that is!

Can't Stop Won't Stop is a dense little volume, telling the story of hip-hop alongside the stories of polarizing housing and economic reforms, police brutality, drug trafficking, and the fight inner-city communities have put up to surv...more I've spent a long time craving the perfect history of hip-hop. Watched a few documentaries here, read a few books there... but never quite satisfied that desire to put it all in context as the sociopolitical movement it's always felt like to me. Until now, that is!

Can't Stop Won't Stop is a dense little volume, telling the story of hip-hop alongside the stories of polarizing housing and economic reforms, police brutality, drug trafficking, and the fight inner-city communities have put up to survive and create meaning via popular cultural movements: music, dance, the visual arts. It's not a quick or easy read, with Chang packing in as much history and context as each page can possibly hold. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the cultural and political events that birthed hip-hop, and in Can't Stop Won't Stop he gifts that knowledge to us, taking us from 1960s Jamaica to 1990s L.A., with a twenty-year stop in New York on the way.

Chang does skip major artists in his history, which might disappoint some hip-hop fans, but I thought it was a great move in the context of this book. LL Cool J, Biggie, Wu-Tang --they're not really represented here, Chang having opted instead to showcase key artists in depth to emphasize sociopolitical conditions in inner-city communities: Afrika Bambaataa, Public Enemy, Ice Cube. And rather than deifying these hip-hop icons, which could be awfully tempting, Chang offers up a much more complex view of their work, putting it in dialogue with feminists and other activists who've often clashed with their views along the way.

One of my favorite chapters is about Ice Cube's Death Warrant, the uber-macho gangster rap album that Chang first made me appreciate by showing how it evolved out of the race politics that defined L.A. during the Rodney King era of police brutality. But then, turn the page, and there's a transcript of Ice Cube in conversation with a prominent black feminist who questions his portrayal of women on the album. This is why I loved reading Chang! -- he puts it all in context, but without oversimplifying. He both celebrates the art form and dissects the politics, giving us layers upon layers to unravel.(less)

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Sep 17, 2007 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: all MCs in the place to be

Shelves: non-fiction, social-history, twentieth-century, post-modern, music-history, all, biography, american-history, american-urbanism, media-culture, race, chang, america, authors-a-g, politics, history, diy

I loved this book. My only criticism is that it has a political bias (but so does much of hip hop culture, so in some ways, it's appropriate).

Things I praise in this book:
-The volume, depth and scope of the author's research
-The mix of many angles from which he writes history, going from biography/storytelling to economic/political history to cultural history to material culture to musical analysis - Chang demands your sustained attention by presenting a unique challenge to merely keep up with h...more

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Sep 09, 2007 Nickie rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: b-boys, b-girls, anyone who's just read the comments after the rodney king vid on youtube.

I feel bad about only giving it 3 stars, but this only really took off from about page 200 when it got into Public Enemy and beyond. It's impressibly expansive - from the birth of dub in jamaica, to the black panthers, b-boys, punk, the new wave art scene, police brutality, woeful/intentionally non-existent domestic policy in inner cities, public enemy, anti-semitism, the L.A. riots and beyond. chang is so much better on social history/politics than he is on actually describing the music. shame...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Gunnar rated it 4 of 5 stars

As a socio-economic/cultural history of hip-hop, it's brilliant and extremely comprehensive. As a history of the music, it's not. But then again, I don't think an encyclopedic history of the music was what the author intended.

Still, there are things in hip-hop history that I wish Chang had discussed---the 90s East/West coast tension and the murders of 2Pac and Biggie are stunning omissions from the narrative. And on a personal note, I was bummed that the Wu didn't get any discussion. Hip-hop ma...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Justin Evans rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-etc

I found this a bit disappointing to be honest, but that's in large part because I was expecting something different. Chang doesn't really get into music/graffiti/lyrics/dancing very much at all; he does, though, do a great job of explaining the social context in which all that art was produced. So keep in mind that that's what you're getting - a history of gang culture, youth politics and (most impressively) urban geography at the end of the twentieth century - and you'll probably enjoy the book...more I found this a bit disappointing to be honest, but that's in large part because I was expecting something different. Chang doesn't really get into music/graffiti/lyrics/dancing very much at all; he does, though, do a great job of explaining the social context in which all that art was produced. So keep in mind that that's what you're getting - a history of gang culture, youth politics and (most impressively) urban geography at the end of the twentieth century - and you'll probably enjoy the book.

That said, there are major flaws, starting with the fact that it's hard to read. Not because Chang doesn't write clearly, because he does. It's just *literally* hard to read; the font's a couple of pixels better than Comic Sans. Who in their right mind sets a book in a sans-serif font? Are the publishers trying to send a whole generation of readers blind? More importantly, Chang's incredible research - really, amazing - is undermined by an overly simplistic political frame, which you could pretty much describe as 'Fuck the Man.' Sometimes the Man has it coming. Sometimes whoever it is that isn't the man has to take some of the blame. But you'd never know that from this book; here it's *always* the Man's fault and His alone.

So there's a weird 90s vibe to the whole thing. In the Prelude Chang writes that 'Hip-Hop Generation' describes, among other things, "the turn from politics to culture." I have no idea what he was thinking when he wrote that, because his book is almost entirely about politics, activism, in particular. That makes the book tendentious: chapters on Public Enemy and (mid-period) Ice Cube, but nothing on ATCQ or any of the other late-80s early 90s geniuses? A chapter on The Source, but nothing on the indies that emerged after that magazine imploded? And, weirdest of all, chapters on the Million Man March and anti-Globalization protests, but only a passing mention of the incredible music of that time (Wu-Tang, for instance, is mentioned only as an antagonist of The Source's editorial crew, and in one line about nineties paranoia). Obviously this isn't because he doesn't know his stuff; he's forgotten more about hip-hop than I'll ever know (seriously, the man co-founded SoleSides. He knows his stuff). It's just that the book turns out to be more a history of many-raced activists, and has very little to say about music. Here's hoping he brings his writing style and impeccable research skills to a book about the music, graf, and dancing. (less)

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Jun 21, 2011 Brian Shevory rated it 5 of 5 stars

Amazing history of hip hop. The great thing about Chang's book is that it traces it back to the roots in Jamaica, looking at parallels between not just the music, but the political climate and instability, and music's role in being a change agent in society. Thus, he posits like Reggae and Dub, hip hop served as a social thermometer or mirror which reflected the problems in society. I'm glad that Chang paid so much attention to Public Enemy and NWA and Ice Cube, and looked not only at their cont...more

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Mar 12, 2010 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first half, chronicling the beginnings of hip-hop from early dub records to Grandmaster Flash and the first graffiti artists is great. It brought a new perspective to the music for me and had me digging for countless albums for weeks. The second half, where the book focuses more on the "hip-hop generation" than the story of the music, is where it begins to fall apart a little bit. There is still great stuff, especially where the author helps place some songs and albums in the context of what...more

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Oct 27, 2009 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jeff Chang's mostly exhaustive history of hip hop is subtitled A History of the Hip Hop Generation for a reason, it's not The History. His research is impeccable and he shows a direct cause and effect for what lead to what (the Reagan administration's failure to do anything about apartheid in South Africa begat Public Enemy, racism in the LAPD begat NWA). He writes like a thorough sociologist, identifying social ills and connecting the music that came after it. Chang is especially critical of th...more

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Jul 30, 2007 Kendra rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I know, you don't need me to gush about this book. And maybe if I read it again from top to bottom I wouldn't be quite as excited as I was the first time. But Chang's copious footwork--first- and second-hand interviews, news and academic documentation--plus his scope and earnestness earns this the 5-star "amazing" rating from me. Even if you don't think you're interested in hip hop history, the insights into New York and LA through musical landmarks will hold your attention.

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Apr 07, 2012 Darran Mclaughlin rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a very interesting and enjoyable book but, as some others have pointed out, it doesn't stick very closely to the music. It is very much a work of social history weaved around the story of hip-hop, and as long as you are expecting that you should enjoy it. I did expect the book to cover some people it didn't like LL Cool J, the Wu Tang Clan, Biggie and Tupac, Jay Z and maybe the South a bit as well as New York and LA, but I suppose that would be a lot to cover. The early chapters about th...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm not sure that any book I've personally read has managed to capture the political, musical and general cultural moments that have defined the lives of those in my generation. That said, like nearly every book, this one is certainly flawed despite the five star rating. Chang is a gifted researcher, solid writer and fantastic storyteller (who should get docked a few points for egregious and unnecessary use of hip hop slang as well as extreme overuse of the word Cipher in an otherwise mostly sch...more I'm not sure that any book I've personally read has managed to capture the political, musical and general cultural moments that have defined the lives of those in my generation. That said, like nearly every book, this one is certainly flawed despite the five star rating. Chang is a gifted researcher, solid writer and fantastic storyteller (who should get docked a few points for egregious and unnecessary use of hip hop slang as well as extreme overuse of the word Cipher in an otherwise mostly scholarly text).

I think the book's genius is in Chang's choice to start the book not in the late 70's in the Bronx, but rather exploring New York at large in the 60's as well as Jamaica and other important global outposts of Black music, to contextualize the social, political and economic moment of Hip Hop's inception. This choice sets the tone and flavor of the book. What follows is NOT the most inclusive, anecdotey, inside baseball version of "The Hip Hop Generation" but rather a broad look, through selected moments, of how the world changed and how the music of black, brown (and white) young people changed through several decades of incredible political, socio-economic and cultural change. This it not, nor need not be, a history of hip hop from DJ Kool Herc to Kanye. It instead explores how the music, art, dance and culture that is hip hop came to be through a series of seismic shifts in marketing, protest culture, cultural awareness, exclusion and inclusion.

On a more personal note (feel free to tune out here), I loved this because the book was one of the few histories that accurately and broadly tells the story of my own cultural experience of hip-hop. An east-coast child of a Black musician and a Black advertising executive (with extremely varied opinions on hip hop and the death/rebirth of black music, respectively) who grew up in Bergen County NJ and Montclair (homes to the Isley Brothers, DMX, Lil' Kim, Biggie, Stevie Wonder, Lenny White, Reggie Workman, Joe Morton, Frankie Faison and Oliver Lake amongst others) -- my own life reflects the generational tensions that hip hop has created and has taken place in close proximity to these struggles, changes and shifts. My early pseudo-professional life, visiting my mother at Black ad agencies, interning at VIBE and Hot 97 95-07, working at the Source during the dark days of its final collapse. I left the book feeling like my own experiences were reinforced, like the moments that made me made others like me and that despite my status as a formerly suburban now-Brooklynite arts administrator and educator with vaguely hipster tendencies who has oft been accused of sounding white, like Mos Def, I am definitely and absolutely Hip Hop.

Lastly, Questlove recently tweeted to one of his followers "Rap doesn't make me hip hop, diversity does" and this book does an amazing job of showing how smart, diverse, political, cross-national, cross-racial and cross-platform Hip Hop can be. It's a glorious celebration of race, poverty, pain, music, dance, industry, innovation, feminism and rage. It doesn't just reduce the culture to the reductive base, misogynistic, cynical gangsterism and lack of innovation it often is. The hip hop generation thanks you.

I suspect that Chang, like many of us, glossed over much of the era that was post-90's hip hop (noticeably spending very little time on ATCQ, De La, Biggie, Tupac, etc.) because things did change, especially for people his age. I suspect someone younger with less investment in the old school will have to tell that story.

Regardless, everyone buy a copy for your parents. It brings our generation together with theirs in the loveliest of ways.

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Feb 28, 2011 Dillan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was great for learning the ins and outs of the history of hip hop. From the politics behind it to the culture and how it developed. Through the good and bad times, hip hop has been through it all; and prevailed. This book does a great job combining hip hop’s music, dance and fashion into a culture that feeds America’s youth.

Jeff Chang uses his passion for the hip hop culture and the exeriences that he has been through and reflects them in a way that is easy to understand. It allows...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Conrad rated it 5 of 5 stars

What impressed me about this book was Chang's ability to pull back broadly to discuss larger historical and cultural events (such as the anti-apartheid movement at American universities in the 80's and 90's), then seamlessly focus on minute details (such as the rise and fall of Public Enemy's career).

Chang also does a great job of exploring hip hop beyond the music, something which the music industry has turned into the focal point of the culture. Hip hop was (and is) more than just music, but...more

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Jan 30, 2010 Christine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jeff Chang is a clutch figure when it comes to hip hop scholarship - he's written as a music critic and as a historian - and is notoriously dedicated to living the dream, starting his own hip hop label a while back. This book showcases that respect for hip hop culture, and for that reason alone I'm glad I read it. A guideline to bear in mind: Can't Stop Won't Stop is not a history of hip hop MUSIC, but rather a history of the hip hop generation, a distinction that is borne out in the content and...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Jordan Ferguson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: hip-hop

If hip-hop is a class, this is the required text. You can find interview collections and oral histories of the music’s birth all over the place, but journalist andSolesides founding member Jeff Chang’s ‘History of the Hip-Hop Generation’ is the most thorough and easy to read overview of the culture’s birth and early development. Not only does Chang trace the musical origins of the culture from the soundclashes of Jamaica and the block parties in the Bronx, he traces the socioeconomic factors tha...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Dylan Suher rated it 3 of 5 stars

Chang's really great at describing the beginning of hip-hop, and makes the best arguments for the root of the culture in Jamaica that I've seen in print. He also has a no-bullshit journalist's instinct for sketching out the political and social background for the culture, which is done really well here. OTOH, it's sort of a chimera of a book, with the three sections of the book (New York, LA, and the political epilogue) hanging loosely together, with largely different focuses. The last section b...more

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Jul 14, 2011 Jenn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had to read this book for a history class in university (Problems in U.S. History), which spanned themes from the Salem Witch Trials to the Reagan Era. Anyways, I was surprised to find myself fully immersed in the text, I read the entire thing and wrote (if my grade is a true reflection) an excellent essay.

Worth reading for sure! Jeff Chang does a wonderful job of drawing the reader into the long, complicated and extraordinarily colourful world of hip hop with clarity and sense. The history o...more

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Sep 22, 2009 Chad Walker rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2nd-life, music

Pay attention to the title here: emphasis is on the word "generation." As Chang says in the intro, generations are fictional constructs we use to make sense of Middle History (not current/not old). When he says "hip hop," he means multi-racial/cultural/lingual, largely urban (I don't mean black, I mean based in an urban area), and a group whose common cultural currency will include everything from Different Strokes to Thriller to cassette mixtapes. In other words, a generation come of age in the...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Mack rated it 5 of 5 stars

Can’t Stop, Wont Stop:
A History of the Hip-Hop Generation
Hip-Hop, the word means many things to different people. Some may say it’s that annoying stuff on the radio while others may say it’s an art form or just another musical genre. Can’t Stop, Wont Stop will change the way you think about Hip-Hop. It starts in the birth of Hip-Hop at the Bronx during the 1970’s when people are just starting to rap, break dance and graffiti. It shows the hardship of being in “The Game” back then when you had t...more
Can’t Stop, Wont Stop:
A History of the Hip-Hop Generation
Hip-Hop, the word means many things to different people. Some may say it’s that annoying stuff on the radio while others may say it’s an art form or just another musical genre. Can’t Stop, Wont Stop will change the way you think about Hip-Hop. It starts in the birth of Hip-Hop at the Bronx during the 1970’s when people are just starting to rap, break dance and graffiti. It shows the hardship of being in “The Game” back then when you had to be in a gang, and also most of the rappers were also graffiti artists. Can’t Stop, Wont Stop is the best nonfiction I have read because: one it shows how we got where we are today, two there is some dialog it isn’t straight facts and three it is about subjects I am interested in.
The first reason I enjoyed this book is because it has some dialog and isn’t straight facts. It also tells a story. There is an interview with Grandmaster Flash, one of the first MC’s in the game. It doesn’t just tell you straight facts, the author Jeff Chang makes it flow from section to section.
The next reason is that it shows the uprising of Hip-Hop and where we are now. To be honest with you I think the quality of Hip-Hop music has gone down ever since Biggie Smalls died. But the sound that the music produces the beats in the background have increased, for instance “Rappers Delight” still had that disco feel but that soon changed to a more darker, faster beat was soon picked up. It turned into battles like who could out rap who and the beats got faster and better.
The final reason this is the best nonfiction book I’ve read is because it is about stuff I like. That may just be good book selection but it really is true, I like Hip-Hop music. That was most of the book how it developed and how people reacted to it. I also like graffiti and that was a lot of the book in the beginning but not so much near the end.
Can’t Stop, Wont Stop is the best nonfiction I have read because: one it shows how Hip-Hop got to be were it is today, two there is some dialog, it isn’t straight facts and three, it is about a subject I like. Before reading this book, I watched a series of movies on Youtube called “Style Wars” not knowing it was about the same stuff I was going to read about. It is a very good series and if you like this book you should definitely watch the movies.
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Dec 14, 2012 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This book really is a lot about contemporary black history. Chapters are dedicated to Bronx gangs in the 1960s and 70s, the middle class movement to the suburbs, and the economic conditions in southern Los Angeles. Interspersed Chang details the development of early hip hop elements of graffiti, breakdancing, and deejaying. Later in the book, when gangsta rap is the prominent style, Chang provides us with insightful conversations between Ice Cube and Angela Davis, and chronicles the peace moveme...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Emeelu rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have always shunned away from non-fiction, viewing it more of a textbook or reference. This book changed my mind. It tackled hiphop's history, the story behind the music and the personalities that shaped how it is. Ultimately, it tackles how music (or culture in general) can change lives and create a society and shape one's worldview. This opened my eyes to a different level of racism and how it has influenced how hiphop. Must read! For music buffs or for people who wants to understand more ab...more

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Aug 11, 2009 Sandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've never been a rap/hip-hop fan but the history of it's roots is fascinating as was the political and cultural history. Growing up in NY just North of the city in the 70's and 80's was like living on a different planet from what the author described the city was like back then. Interestingly, it also helped me understand where my Dad's dissatisfaction with the Bronx and city life came from.

The pages are folded down, notes are made in the margin and many sentences underlined as if it was a col...more

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Oct 02, 2009 Gabriel rated it 4 of 5 stars

READ THIS BOOK. NOW.

Throughout my reading of this book, I was just waiting to share my opinion of what was going on with others. Many times, in fact, I was telling those who would listen about the historical pieces I was just learning (my favorite tales happen to come from the first recordings created and how they were ONLY 15 minutes long). This is also one of the few books I read that consistently challenged my thinking.

First off, this is not a complete history of the music end of Hip Hop. Whi...more READ THIS BOOK. NOW.

Throughout my reading of this book, I was just waiting to share my opinion of what was going on with others. Many times, in fact, I was telling those who would listen about the historical pieces I was just learning (my favorite tales happen to come from the first recordings created and how they were ONLY 15 minutes long). This is also one of the few books I read that consistently challenged my thinking.

First off, this is not a complete history of the music end of Hip Hop. While the generation Jeff Chang defines has music tied to the definition, the music itself is NOT the focus of the book. That was one of the hardest hurdles for me to get over, especially when the book starts off discussing the musical foundations for what occurred in the 1970's and 1980's. This is a history, instead, of the events that affected those who were the DJ's, the MC's, the B-Boys and Girls, and the graffiti artists and how those events affected a select few of them. Granted, a lot of the big topics are discussed between these pages: Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, Basquiat, Public Enemy, Run-DMC ... names that any aficionado of hip hop would know. However, lots of other large things are left out. 2 Live Crew's "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" album is relegated to a couple of sentences near the end of the book, despite the fact that the album would lead to the creation of the "Clean" or Edited album. Jay-Z (who Popmatters.com is now calling the Greatest Hip Hop Icon) is not mentioned once. Nor is Danger Mouse despite the fact that he helped popularize the production end of Hip Hop (and music in general) recently ... although he did this in the mid-2000's and the book ends at the start of 2000.

The hurdle that was hardest for me to get over in this book, though, was the lack of non-African-American musicians mentioned. Besides Cypress Hill (who have one sentence written about them), all the rappers mentioned in the book are African-American and of the DJ's mentioned in the beginning, one was raised in Jamaica the rest are strictly Bronx African-Americans. That's right, despite the big deal he was in 1999, Eminem is not mentioned, but also female rappers are barely discussed and besides Cypress Hill, other Latinos (such as one-half of The Beatnuts) are ignored. Groups from around the world are also dissed in the passover technique. While the discussion of the Black August tour mentions that the US rappers (all listed out at the start of the three page section) "offended" the South African Hip Hop Heads with their tales of racism in America, only three members of the South African Hip Hop scene are mentioned by name and two of them are Hip-Hop Activists. No discussion of their music or the history of how that music developed (besides attributing it to Afrika Bambaataa) is included. The focus is strictly on the African-AMERICANS.

The reason that section was a hurdle for me stems from one of the underlying themes of the book about uniting people, especially over issues of racism. By subconsciously writing out every race from Hip Hop, Jeff Chang is promoting a type of racism that I found hard to get over UNTIL ...

I realized that the real goal of this book was to promote and discuss modern historical events from the point of view of Brooklyn and South Central LA. In other words, to be told the story of gangs from those who were there when they were trying to create peace treaties despite the cops attacking them at every corner. The goal of this book was NOT to deliver a complete history of anything, but rather to illustrate one more point of view for history. This is, in a sense, a modern chapter of A People's History of the United States. Once I realized this, all that anger I had about the lack of representation of other races and females dissipated.

The BEST thing about this book is that it has completely changed the way I listen to Hip-Hop. Of course I grew up hearing that rap music was telling tales of how it really was in the hood ... but until I actually had the foundation of the story they were telling, I didn't understand the stories I was listening to. When Marginal Prophets (not mentioned in the book) write on the back of their debut CD "Black-Jewish relations have hit an all time low" ... I thought it was just a self-derogatory comment based on the fact that one MC was Black, the other Jewish. Now I have a much clearer picture that Black-Jewish relations have been strained time and again. While the media blitz that was the Rodney King beating and trial demonstrated how bad certain police were, the numerous other cases mentioned in the book explains the reason why "F**K Tha Police" was as explosive and necessary as it was. The skit in The Fugee's album "The Score" where they go to the Asian-American grocer and try to buy some food ... it's not just a toss-off funny skit, but a serious representation of the cultural miscommunication that escalated during the LA riots.

Listening to this music is not just knowing the slang, but knowing the history behind it. This book, better than any other thing I've read, gives everyone the foundation to understand rap and Hip Hop (as long as it's from an African-American MC, which is the majority of popular rap).

There are so many "I get it now!" moments in this book that I have to recommend it to everyone. This is a book that describes White Privilege in a way so unobtrusive, half of those who read the book won't even realize they've been schooled. Also, hearing about the positive things Minister Farrakhan has done for the African-American population was a nice change of pace from the constant barrage of hate from mainstream media.

If nothing else, this book will challenge your conceptualization of the United States since the 1980's and force you to look for deeper meanings behind everything. Even if you find the hurdles I faced too high to go over, the process of looking at those hurdles is as enlightening as finding the path over them. (less)

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Aug 24, 2007 vowelry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: cultural connoisseurs / music junkies

Shelves: underground_art

The bible for Hip-Hop culture.

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Dec 16, 2008 Derrick rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is one of the first books to actually try and write about, among other things, the history of New York and LA street gangs. When folk historians wise-up and realize all the culture they're missing, this book will be on everyone's bibliography. The only problem is that it got cut off before getting to pierce too deep into the LA riots. And it's totally fun and punk rock and inspiring and will make you wanna go out and buy a bunch of this great music you never heard. I think Wolf lent me this...more

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Jan 15, 2011 Cynth rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just watched The Warriors for the first time a few weeks ago and can't believe I hadn't seen it before then. You know what else I couldn't believe I procrastinated doing? Reading this book! Tracing the history behind hip hop through all of it's genre-bending transformations (from art-hiphop like Afrika Bambabataa to NWA's Tipper Gore offending gagsta rap), Chang also details the peripheral influences on some of hip-hop's now cultural elite, like Fab Five Freddy, Jay-Z, Eazy-E, and tons that mT...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Eric Chappell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-reading

An interesting history on the birth, rise, and evolution of hip-hop. Chang takes you from the late 60's to the early 2000's, from the Bronx to Kingston, from Watts & South Central to D.C., with little opportunity to breathe. Overall, I liked it. But the book had some difficulties. For one, this is no introduction the the history of hip-hop. Chang is constantly name-dropping and expecting his reader to know the language of the subculture (I didn't know what b-boying was). Chang's ability to r...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54754.Can_t_Stop_Won_t_Stop?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317063850l/54754.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54754.Can_t_Stop_Won_t_Stop?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang[/url]

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

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

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Books by Jeff Chang

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Other Editions (11)