That’s the Joint! The Hip-Hop Studies Reader

By Murray Forman & Mark Anthony Neal

That’s the Joint: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader brings together the best-known and most influential writings on rap and hip-hop from its beginnings to today. Spanning nearly 25 years of scholarship, criticism, and journalism, this unprecedented anthology showcases the evolution and continuing influence of one of the most creative and contested elements of global popular culture since its advent in the late 1970s. Think of it as “Hip-Hop 101.”

Assembled with great care by Mark Anthony Neal, hailed as “one of the most brilliant cultural critics of his generation” (Chicago Sun Times), and fellow hip-hop scholar Murray Forman, That’s the Joint is the first to attempt to present the most important hip-hop scholarship in one comprehensive volume. Presented thematically, the selections address the history of hip-hop, 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 articles presented here display a diverse array of concerns, illuminating hip-hop in its broadest conception as both a musical and cultural practice. Among the more than forty texts collected in the volume, you will find critiques of groundbreaking recordings like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message” and Public Enemy’s “It Takes a Nation to Hold Us Back,” some of the earliest commentary on B-Boys break dancing and DJs sampling, and serious responses to key moments and controversies from the 2 Live Crew obscenity trial to gangsta rap to the movement of hip-hop into commercial and academic spheres.

That’s the Joint is essential reading for fans and scholars alike, and rewarding for anyone who seeks to understand the profound impact of hip-hop as an intellectual, aesthetic, and cultural movement.