With an introduction by leading culture critic Michael Eric Dyson, THAT'S THE JOINT! is the first book to present hip-hop scholarship in one comprehensive volume. Organized thematically, the selections address history, identity politics of the hip-hop nation, debates of street authenticity, gender, revolutionary politics, aesthetics, technologies of production, hip-hop as a cultural industry, and much more. The authors draw examples from such figures and groups as 2 Live Crew, Grandmaster Flash and the Five, and Public Enemy.

THAT'S THE JOINT! is both a comprehensive scholarly text in hip-hop research and an evocative literary read that is divided up into seven engaging sections.

• PART I: Hip Hop Ya Don't Stop: Hip-Hop History and Historiography
  Hip-hop history is isolated, selling the stage or the emergent culture of hip-hop and its diffuse practices. From break dancing to the politics of graffiti, no historic details are left out.

• PART II: NO TIME FOR FAKE NIGGAS: Hip-Hop Culture and the Authenticity Debate
  What is hardcore rap? This chapter is an examination of the controversial effects the entertainment industry has questionably had on the art of hip-hop.

• PART III: Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City: Hip-Hop, Space, and Place
  Rap music takes the city and its multiple spaces as the foundation of its cultural production. This chapter takes a sociological glimpse into the spatial politics of hip-hop.

• PART IV: I'll be Nina Simone Defecating on Your Microphone: Hip-Hop and Gender
  From Fly Girl and Queen Mother to Sista with an Attitude and Lesbian, key stereotypes are broken down, while major strides for women in rap are illuminated.

• PART V: THE MESSAGE: Rap, Politics, and Resistance
  Rap largely impacts- and has impacted since its inception, economics, politics and gender issues in the African-American community. With comprehensive detail, this chapter focuses on the significance, possibilities and contradictions that exist within the community because of and through rap music.

• PART VI: LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT BEAT: Hip-Hop Aesthetics and Technologies of Production
  Devoted to understanding concepts such as digital sampling and free speech in music, the pages of this section are a meticulous study of the laws surrounding hip-hop culture.

• PART VII: I USED TO LOVE H.E.R.: Hip-Hop in/and the Culture Industries
  With the aesthetic demise of black popular music, the soul of the people as it was expressed in the music went underground. The New York underground hip-hop scene is tracked from the Bronx and Harlem down to the Bay area funk of Brooklyn.

THAT'S THE JOINT! is filled with essays that will entertain and educate anyone interested in the widespread influence of rap and hip-hop culture. Whether digging into the aesthetics of rap beats or uncovering the authenticities of the rap mystique, THAT'S THE JOINT! is a must-have.

About the Authors
Murray Forman is Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Northeastern University. He is author of The 'Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop (Wesleyan University Press, 2002). Forman is also a former research fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Studies at Harvard University.

Mark Anthony Neal is Associate Professor of Black Popular Culture in the Program in African and African-American Studies at Duke University. He is the author of What the Music Said, Soul Babies, and Songs in the Key of Black Life.

That's The Joint!
Edited by Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal
Price: $35.00
ISBN: 0-415-96919-0