Listen to Hip Hop!: Exploring a Musical Genre

With a focus on 50 defining artists, songs, and albums, Listen to Hip Hop! Exploring a Musical Genre provides an overview of hip-hop music for scholars and fans of the genre.

This title explores non-rap hip hop music, and as such it serves as a compliment to Listen to Rap! Exploring a Musical Genre (Greenwood Press, Anthony J. Fonseca, 2019), which discussed at length 50 must-hear rap artists, albums, and songs. This book aims to provide a close listening/reading of a diverse set of songs and lyrics by a variety of artists who represent different styles outside of rap music.

Most entries focus on specific songs, carefully analyzing and deconstructing musical elements, discussing their sound, and paying close attention to instrumentation and production values – including sampling, a staple of rap and an element used in some hip hop dance songs. Though some of the artists included may be normally associated with other musical genres and use hip hop elements sparingly, those in this book have achieved iconic status. Finally, sections on the background and history of hip hop, hip hop's impact on popular culture, and the legacy of hip hop provide context through which readers can approach the entries.

Anthony J. Fonseca, PhD, is library director and college archivist at Elms College in Massachusetts, where he also teaches courses in rock music and music literature as an adjunct.