Music & Movies

The Gospel of Hip Hop: First Instrument, the first book from the I Am Hip Hop, is the philosophical masterwork of KRS ONE. Set in the format of the Christian Bible, this 800-plus-page opus is a life-guide manual for members of Hip Hop Kulture that...

With iconic imagery and engrossing text, Black TV is the first book of its kind to celebrate the groundbreaking, influential, and often under-appreciated shows centered on Black people and their experiences from the last fifty years. Over the past...

Do you have a "ride or die chick" in your life? A "ride or die chick" is a Black woman who holds down her family and community. She's that friend or family member that you can call up in the middle of the night to bail you out of jail, if ever needed,...

From the author of Queen Sugar--now a critically acclaimed series on OWN directed by Ava Duvernay--comes a beautiful exploration and celebration of black farming in America. In this impressive anthology, Natalie Baszile brings together essays, poems,...

The definitive biography of MF DOOM, charting the reclusive and revered hip-hop artist's life, career, and eventual immortality."Fernando provides a comprehensive look at DOOM's life and career, meticulously researched through interviews with the...

Co-authored by Hip-Hop legend LL COOL J, acclaimed journalist Vikki Tobak and Rock The Bells' editorial director Alec Banks, this momentous volume celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the influential culture, sound, and preeminent voices of American...

Mama Phife Represents is a hybrid-story that follows the journey of a mother’s grieving heart through her first two years of public and private mourning. Told through a tapestry of narrative poems, dreams, anecdotes, journal entries, and...

"The conventional history of jazz music in the United States begins in New Orleans, moves upstream along the Mississippi River to Chicago, then by rail into New York before exploding across the globe. But in fact the nation's capital has been a fertile...

American pop music is arguably this country's greatest cultural contribution to the world, and its singular voice and virtuosity were created by a shining thread of Black women geniuses stretching back to the country's founding. This is their surprising,...

"For ten glorious years, I had the best seat in the house." -Bruce W. Talamon Talamon saw it all during the golden age of soul, R&B, and funk. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, this young African American photographer from Los Angeles found...

From the mind of brilliant historian Robin Kelley comes the first full biography of legendary jazz musician Thelonious Monk, including full access to the family's archives, dozens of interviews, and an afterword for Monk's 2017 centennial. Thelonious...

"Tariq Trotter . . . could be hip-hop's Dostoyevsky. Like the Russian novelist, Mr. Trotter has refined literary fire from the soulful furnace of pain and suffering."--The New York Times From one of our generation's most powerful artists and incisive...

The first Asian woman in hip-hop, Sophia Chang shares the inspiring story of her career in the music business, working with such acts as The Wu-Tang Clan and A Tribe Called Quest, her path to becoming an entrepreneur, and her candid accounts of marriage,...

James Baldwin used to tell Nina Simone, This is the world you have made for yourself, now you have to live in it. Simone has created for herself a world of magnificent peaks. Often compared to Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf, Simone is known as one of the...

Ed Piskor's acclaimed graphic novel series continues! Book 3 highlights Run DMC's rise to fame and introduces unassailable acts like Whodini, The Fat Boys, Slick Rick, and Doug E Fresh. The Beastie Boys become a rap group. Rick Rubin meets Russell...