Hip Hop

“Father of Hip Hop”, Afrika Bambaataa

Foundations and History of Hip-Hop

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

2. "The Hip Hop Movement: From R&B and the Civil Rights Movement to Rap and the Hip Hop Generation" by Reiland Rabaka

3. "Yes Yes Y'all: The Experience Music Project Oral History Of Hip-hop's First Decade" by Jim Fricke

4. "Hip hop: the illustrated history of break dancing, rap music, and graffiti" by Steven Hager

5. "The Vibe History of Hip Hop" by Alan Light

6. "The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed" by Shea Serrano

Biographies and Artist Profiles

1. "The Rose That Grew from Concrete" by Tupac Shakur

2. "Decoded" by Jay-Z

3. "The Autobiography of Gucci Mane" by Gucci Mane

4. "Jay-Z: Made in America" by Michael Eric Dyson

5. "The Wu-Tang Manual" by The RZA

6. "My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy" by Albert Johnson

7. "The Autobiography of Gucci Mane" by Gucci Mane

8. (And others in the original list focusing on individual artists or groups.)

Cultural and Societal Analysis

1. "Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America" by Tricia Rose

2. "The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop--and Why It Matters" by Tricia Rose

3. "Hip Hop Culture" by Emmett G. Price, III

4. "It's Bigger Than Hip Hop: The Rise of the Post-Hip-Hop Generation" by M.K. Asante Jr.

5. "Other People's Property: A Shadow History of Hip-Hop in White America" by Jason Tanz

Regional and Global Perspectives

1. "Dirty South: OutKast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop" by Ben Westhoff

2. "Hip Hop Africa: New African Music in a Globalizing World" by Rainer Polak

3. "The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy" by Steve Stoute

4. "Queens Reigns Supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent, and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler" by Ethan Brown

Music, Business, and Technology

1. "The 50th Law" by 50 Cent

2. "Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner to Corner Office" by Zack O'Malley Greenburg

3. "The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution" by Dave Kusek

4. "Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music" by Greg Kot

5. "All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster" by Joseph Menn

Poetry, Lyrics, and Analysis

1. "Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop" by Adam Bradley

2. "Decoded" by Jay-Z (also listed under biographies)

3. "The Anthology of Rap" by Adam Bradley (editor)

Hip-Hop in Media and Popular Culture

1. "For The Love: The Art of the Hip-Hop Video" by Kevin McDormand

2. "Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop" by Joseph G. Schloss

3. "Hip Hop in American Cinema" by Melvin Donalson