Can't Stop Won't Stop (book)
 | |
| Author | Jeff Chang |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Hip hop |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Picador |
Publication date | 2005 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 560 pp |
| ISBN | 0312425791 |
| OCLC | 62860625 |
For the album by pop-punk band The Maine, see Can't Stop, Won't Stop (album).
Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation is a book by Jeff Chang chronicling the early hip hop scene.
The book features portraits of DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D, and Ice Cube, among others, and is based on numerous interviews with graffiti artists, gang members, DJs, rappers, and hip hop activists. DJ Kool Herc wrote the introduction.
Reception
The book was well received, winning an American Book Award in 2005.[1]. On Metacritic, the book received an aggregate score of 81/100 from twelve reviews—indicating "universal acclaim".[2] Critics praised the book as being "extensively researched and meticulously written"[3] and described it as "one of the most urgent and passionate histories of popular music ever written"[3].
Criticism of the book included there being too heavy a focus on the political aspects - "Chang is interested in hip-hop as a revolutionary medium... [so] he more or less leaves music behind... as a result, his provocative, intermittently brilliant history begins to lose its form and focus"[4], and a lack of focus on the music and culture of hip-hop - "by the end of Chang's history, the four elements have fallen away entirely, and politics are all that remain to tie the hip-hop generation together"[5]. Thus, it was also criticized for leaving out key elements of hip-hop history - "if you want to read a long and unbelievably self-indulgent trawl through the internal politics of US hip-hop magazine The Source, then this is the place to do it. But Biggie Smalls and Missy Elliott get just one mention apiece.http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/cant-stop-wont-stop-a-history-of-the-hiphop-generation-by-jeff-chang-504605.html Can't Stop Won't Stop: a history of the hip-hop generation by Jeff Chang - Reviews, Books - The Independent]</ref>.
KRS-One’s criticism
In 2007, KRS-One did two interviews where he criticized Can’t Stop Won’t Stop[6][7]. KRS-One commented: “when I read Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop I didn’t see the scholarship. I saw Kool Herc thrown at the front of the book for his own credibility – and the foreword was wack”.
KRS-One’s main point of contention was with the way he himself was covered – “[Jeff Chang] gets around to the Stop The Violence movement and totally down-plays the movement, destroys any kind of hope we have for leadership in our culture, and just breezes over with inaccurate information about the Stop The Violence movement” [6]. He also commented on Chang not interviewing him or other pioneers such as Grandmaster Caz and Busy Bee Starski[8].
Jeff Chang responded saying, “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop was and is never meant to be the last word on anything. It’s meant to be a small contribution to the larger wave of thinking about the hip-hop generation”[9].
It has also been suggested that KRS-One’s song ‘I Was There’ is a further criticism of Jeff Chang and other “so-called objective rap historians”[10][6].
Notes
- Chang, Jeff (2005). Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. Picador, ISBN 0312425791.
References
- ^ The American Book Awards / Before Columbus Foundation. American Booksellers Association. Accessed July 11, 2008.
- ^ Can't Stop Won't Stop by Jeff Chang: Reviews. Metacritic. Accessed July 11, 2008.
- ^ a b Can't Stop Won't Stop by Jeff Chang: Reviews
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/books/review/04ABRAM.html?_r=1
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/books/review/04ABRAM.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5070&en=2320b5c7c907dfaf&ex=1127275200
- ^ a b c KRS-One – The Unkut Interview | unkut.com - A Tribute To Ignorance (Remix)
- ^ http://www.mp3.com/news/stories/9464.html
- ^ http://www.mp3.com/news/stories/9464.html
- ^ KRS-One on Can’t Stop Won’t Stop « Can’t Stop Won’t Stop
- ^ Is KRS-One Dissing You? « Can’t Stop Won’t Stop
External links
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