To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic

by William Jelani Cobb

Book Overview

2007 Arts Club of Washington's National Award for Arts Writing - Finalist
SEE ALSO: Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip Hop's Hold on Young Black Women by T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting.

An inside look into the beats, lyrics, and flow of hip-hop's history

With roots that stretch from West Africa through the black pulpit, hip-hop emerged in the streets of the South Bronx in the 1970s and has spread to the farthest corners...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814716709
• ISBN13: 9780814716700
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Much Needed Viewpoint!

In my opinion, the :Hip Hop experience is the most recent expression of the "African-American musical idiom" which was injected into the veins of American music when the frist African arrived on the North American shores. This author is correct in suggesting that "hip hop(has been dropped) into the vast well of commercial mediocrity (where it has been" diluted and altered in way to apeal to a wider public...'Eileen Southern) and that new and more facinating "musical innovations...are sure to come." When will the pilfering end???????

Brilliant!

I'm tired. I just watched SAVING PRIVATE RYAN for the first time ever. It's April 1, 2007 and unfortunately, this is NOT an April fools joke. The movie was ok, I guess. Too much on the valour and sacrfice of our great American fathers. "Freedom". yeah. "Freeing the world from Tyranny". Yeah, ok. Thankfully, V FOR VENDETTA comes on in about an hour and I get to watch a REAL cartoon hero. Enough on WWII. America didn't want Blacks to fight because they didn't want Blacks to get a taste of what it would feel like to kill white men. My brothers: don't ya'll still wish THAT was in effect? We wouldn't have lost so many in Vietnam and we wouldn't be losing so many in Bagdad. We could all pull Stepin Fetchits and shake our heads in grim remorse as our white countrymen came home in bodybags and limbless. But no, we hafta prove our "full equality" which is absurd-- the whole thing, really. Fighting for a country that enslaved you (that under the guise of freedom too, I might add) and scamper for the back of the bus... where in the world am i going with this? I have no idea. Like I said/wrote, I'm tired. This is now my third attempt to rate and review this book and the other two attempts were about the book so I've given up on that. Thought I'd just write a rant. If this don't make it, I won't be so upset. At least it's a non-sequitur. It has an exuse for not making it. The other two were just poorly written. And when is anybody ever penalized for that? Buy this book ya'll. It's great. Oops. Maybe I just pushed my luck...

So many have tried...

William Jelani Cobb actually succeeds in breaking down true hip hop for a few simple reasons: 1) He's one of the best cultural writers we have out there (see his Essence contributions as an example) 2) He's not afraid to speak truth (and not feestyle with multi-syllable words in order to create an uppity hip hop theory that excludes the very members of its group) 3) He is a child of hip hop, like Chuck D. said. If you're tired of people trying to grind hip hop's meaning down to a minutae of a granule of a spray paint residue with their overly academic hypothesis and their inability to actually pick up a De La Soul CD and listen to the music, then you need this book. Down with the posers.

Blues People For A New Generation!

What William Jelani Cobb does with "To The Break of Dawn" is very similar to what the great writer/author and music critic Amiri Baraka did in 1963 with his earth shattering book, Blues People. Cobb's focus on the aesthetics in hip hop, as seen primarily through its lyrics, and its connection to the African American musical continuum arrives not a moment too soon. As every other car commercial and sports endeavor welcomes hip hop as its soundtrack of commerce, Cobb reminds us that this music emerges from people who were once commodities themselves. The experience of dehumanization created the unique aesthetic of Black music in America and despite the diamond grillz and the posh Atlanta estates "To The Break of Dawn" asserts and proves that rap music still pays homage to field shouts and work songs. Cobb's credentials as historian and social critic serve the reader well as he connects the dots between American history and hip hop aesthetics, but the reader is best served by Cobb's clear love of hip hop, his personal knowledge of the music as kid from Queens, and his adroit and clear writing style. One need not be a member of a historical society to enjoy "To The Break of Dawn." Cobb's clear, funny and incisive prose makes this a book that everybody, from dad in the den listening to old school Bobby Womack to the kid in the basement listening to the best of the dirty south, can understand and more importantly enjoy.