Yes Yes Y'All: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop's First Decade

by Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn

Book Overview

A brilliantly different, sweeping, and stylish history of the other superpower of the twentieth century, written by a "superb narrator of the twentieth-century European story"-Washington Times... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 030681224X
• ISBN13: 9780306812248
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.5" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

a MUST READ for anyone who THINKS they know about hip hop

As many other people, I consider myself a fan of true hip-hop but as they say, you must know where it came from before you can see where it is headed. This book perfectly recollected the beginning of hip-hop, breakdancing and DJ'ing that many of us have grown to know and love. It also has tons of pictures that also capture the essence of Hip Hop in its infancy! Definitely a collector's item!

the coolest book

I got the coolest book this passed Christmas, entitled ?Yes! Yes! Yall! The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop?s First Decade ? by Jim Fricke. This book focuses on Hip-Hop, and Black culture in America through oral history. Black urban culture gave birth to hip-hop and is the source of influence for today?s American culture. ?Yes! Yes! Yall!? is a true period piece focusing on the growth of a new artistic movement. The book is very clear and is written as if you?re really listening to someone talk about Hip-Hop?s old school beginnings. This was a relaxing book to read, and very simplistic in form. As I was reading I felt as if I was sitting in a recreation center or classroom listening to the forefathers, and mothers of this great Black music culture.The book starts by panting a picture of New York?s inner city in the early 1970?s to the mid 80?s. Each chapter focuses on all four elements of Hip-Hop, such as: d.j-ing, brake dancing, emceeing/rhyming or raping, and graffiti art. Looking at some of the old photos of B-boys and girls break dancing, the airbrushed clothing, party flyers, and old record jackets was very nostalgic. The book highlights the fact that the whole subculture came out of unequal systematic conditions in the late 1970?s into the 80?s. This is a real honest approach to the history of the newest, and highly co-modified cultures. It?s filled with first hand accounts, stories of back stage antics, tours, emcee battles, dance battles, club fights, and groupies. In chapter two titled, ?The Forefathers?, many people interviewed gave his or her respects to the godfather of Hip-Hop (d.j Kool Herc). They would talk about how d.j Kool Herc would play all the best brake beats at that time. D.j Kool Herc was Jamaica borne and his homeland would be the source that inspired his d.jing style. Kool Herc was the one who coined the term B-boy/B-girl, because boys and girls that would dance to brakes of different songs. The brake was the favorite part of the song, it was known as the get down part of the record. The other reason for calling the party people B-boys and girls was because they were all from Brooklyn also known as the ?Boogie Down Bronx?. Kool Hrec changed and revolutionized the whole music form, once he started toasting, what we call rapping or rhyming today. Toasting started in the Jamaican dance halls, or yard parties. The Selecta or D.j would chant out two or three bare rhymes to get the crowd hyped. Herc added the style toasting from his homeland, and the New York street style of d.jing, to cerate his own style. Thus giving birth to a new sound and genre of music.?Yes! Yes! Yall!? lastly focuses on the gangs, graffiti, emceeing, and brake dancing and how they intertwine within hip-hop and black culture. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in finding more information on the history of Hip-Hop and how it stems from Black culture.

Yes Indeed

A thoroughly researched, thoroughly interesting, and thoroughly enjoyable oral history of the birth of hip-hop. The authors -- one a music critic who is now a curator for the Experience Music Project, the other a filmmaker who did the movie Wild Style -- tracked down many key players, from well known figures like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa to a host of lesser known folks. You definitely don't need to be some sort of hardcore hip-hop fan to enjoy this -- anyone with a passing interest in this culture, where it came it from, how it was affected and changed by commerce, etc., will get something out of it. And actually if you're interested in contemporary music at all, there's great stuff in here that indirectly relates to electronica music, pop, etc. Lots of cool pix, plus a bunch of really interesting old flyers promoting early shows in the Bronx. (All nicely printed in full color.) There are many revealing stories, from how the Sugar Hill Gang ("Rapper's Delight") were put together, to little epiphanies like Bambaataa discovering Kraftwerk. Really good stuff. Nicely done. Kudos to the creators of the book, and to their subject(s).

Excellent History of Hip Hop

For those of us who were teenagers and into hip hop in it's embryonic stage, reading this will be like fondly looking through a high school yearbook. The flyers and forgotten record labels like Sugarhill and Enjoy will also prove to be quite nostalgic. For those who weren't there, this is an excellent history of young people who rebelled against the sterile music of the day and longed for a voice of their own, which would later evolve into a multimillion dollar industry. Hopefully, it will encourage another generation of young people to be creative in forming a new kind of music.

Straight from the source's mouth !!

Yes Yes Y'all is the [the best] -- a must read for everyone living through the hip-hop cultural revolution. That means you, hoss. Stemming from the ground-breaking hip-hop exhibit at Experience Music Project, Yes Yes Y'all embodies countless oral histories, photographs and artifacts that bring to life the rich history of MCs, DJs, B-Boys & Girls, and Graffiti artists. This publication is lavishly illustrated and lovingly crafted. It's a classic right outta the gate!