The first history of hip hop ever written, now expanded with the complete, uncensored interviews behind it.
In 1980, a whole-car subway masterpiece by Futura 2000 sent a young New York Daily News reporter on a quest to find out where this new culture came from. Steven Hager tracked down the DJs, MCs, breakdancers and graffiti writers who had built hip hop in the Bronx and on the trains, and his book became the first history of the movement. It remains the only book to document the full contributions of graffiti pioneer Phase 2.
The original edition was a lean, narrative-driven history. This new edition opens up the author's research vaults. Alongside the restored original text, it prints the full transcripts of the taped interviews Hager conducted with the first generation of hip hop pioneers in the late 1970s and early '80s. Where the first book drew short quotes from these conversations, here they appear complete and uncensored, in the pioneers' own words.
At 665 pages, more than twice the length of the original, Hip Hop: The Complete Archives is an essential primary source for fans, scholars, artists and anyone who wants to hear how hip hop began from the people who started it.