A fascinating look at hip hop, the world’s most popular music, and what it means to young people all over the globe, written by an acclaimed pop-culture critic. An excellent introduction to hip hop for young adults.

Hip hop is arguably the predominant global youth subculture of this generation. In this book Dalton Higgins takes vivid snapshots of the hip hop scenes in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and more.

American hip hop has gone through growing pains, and is questioned for being too commercialized to articulate the hopes, concerns and dreams of marginal youth and community members. Outside the US, hip hop culture is often a political tool to mobilize disenfranchised communities around hard issues, with little support from mainstream corporations or sponsors.

Higgins taps into his own powers of pop culture prognostication to predict the future of the genre and the youth culture that spawned it, as hip hop spreads its tentacles to the furthest reaches of humanity.

"[The Groundwork Guides] are excellent books, mandatory for school libraries and the increasing body of young people prepared to take ownership of the situations and problems previous generations have left them." — Globe and Mail

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.1

Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.2

Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.3

Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.6

Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.

Dalton Higgins is an author, publicist, National Magazine Award–winning journalist and festival producer whose six books and 500+ concert presentations since 2002 have taken him to Denmark, Australia, France, Colombia, Spain, Curaçao, Germany, Cuba, England and many parts of the United States. His biography of rapper Drake, Far From Over, is carried in Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and his Hip Hop World book is carried in Harvard University’s hip hop archive. His latest book, Rap N’ Roll, is a collection of non-fiction essays that delve into a world where race, technology, music and counterculture collide. Higgins has written essays and educational lesson plans for numerous academic textbooks focused on technology, pop culture and hip hop, including iSkills: From Txt To Talk and Rhymes to Re-Education, and he just wrote a chapter for a forthcoming anthology about indigeneity and blackness in hip hop culture.

Dalton Higgins' profile page

Jane Springer is the author of Genocide, part of the Groundwork Guides series for which she is also the series editor. She is a consultant in international development and has lived and worked in Mozambique and India. She is the author of Listen to Us: The World's Working Children and translator of the Portuguese-language books Nest Egg and Tales from the Amazon. Jane Springer lives in Toronto.

Jane Springer's profile page

...a thoughtful examination of the globalization of hip hop...excellent...

School Library Journal

The validity of hip-hop culture has been entrenched by reams of critical analysis and Dalton Higgins' book Hip Hop World adds a fresh voice by interrogating many of the ingrained tenets of hip-hop culture, hopscotching across the world to incorporate a global perspective. When discussing the culture's origins, he takes great care to expand the sphere of analysis beyond the South Bronx...Add to the mix Higgins' provocative critical analysis on hip-hop culture's racial aspects and social responsibility and Hip Hop World represents a clarion call for hip-hop culture to fully seize its power and influence for progressive goals in the future.

Exclaim Magazine

The Canada-born writer of Jamaican parentage takes a uniquely intelligent look at the multiculturalism of hip hop...

Jamaica Gleaner

It's a totally readable guide to the genre with a global breadth rarely seen.

Toro

A solid addition to the Groundwork Guide series, this overview of hip-hop covers an impressive amount of ground and spans the landscape of the art form's global origins and modern existence...the pithy, unapologetically political narrative that results is sure to engage readers.

Kirkus Reviews

...a good primer on the genre's history and canon, from Chuck D to Cool Kids.

EYE Weekly

This highly readable, well-researched series of essays...certainly covers a lot of ground, but it's Higgins's panoramic scope and panoply of references that makes the book so engaging. With its solid chapter on hip-hop history, it's also suitable for impressionable young heads just getting into the music.

NOW Magazine

A refreshingly intelligent history and examination of that much maligned and...truly global phenomenon.

Resource Links

...a fresh take on hip-hop's controversies and accomplishments.

Sway Magazine