Jonathan Abrams’ Hip-Hop History “The Come Up” Is a Rapper’s Delight

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KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As an 11-year old kid growing up in the L.A. suburbs, writer Jonathan Abrams managed to wheedle a Tupac Shakur cassette from a sympathetic Circuit City employee. When his mom discovered the tape with its parental advisory sticker, she made him return it, but that didn’t deter Abrams’ love for hip-hop. In his new oral history of hip-hop “The Come Up,” Abrams goes back to the genre’s roots and traces its iterations, innovations, and impact on not just music, but global culture. We’ll talk to Abrams and hear from you, who’s your go to hip-hop artist and what’s on your essential hip-hop playlist? Guests: Jonathan Abrams, "The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop," Abrams is a staff writer for the New York Times and author of "All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of the Wire" and "Boys Among Men. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:44.3	I'm Mina Kim.
0:46.3	This song, The Message by Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, is considered one of the early hip-hop songs to get widespread attention for the genre, which started 50 years ago in the Bronx.
1:01.0	Today, hip-hop accounts for nearly 30% of the music industry's output, the most popular genre by far.
1:07.0	And this arc is lovingly traced by writer Jonathan Abrams through the words of the artists and producers themselves in his new book called The Come Up, an oral history of the rise of hip-hop. That's next on forum.
1:21.1	On the stage, you know, they just don't care. I can't take the smell, can't take the noise, got Got no money to move out I guess I got no choice
1:28.1	Rats in the front room
1:29.5	Rogers in the back
1:30.4	Junkies in the alley
1:31.6	with the baseball bat
1:32.8	I try to get away
	...

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