Start gifting
Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
Shop the sale
In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks from April 22nd-28th. Donât miss outâpurchases support your local bookstore!
Shop nowHip-Hop Is History
This audiobook uses AI narration.
Weâre taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreThis program is read by the author.
"[Questlove's] performance is a comfortable blend of pro-level reading and genuine enthusiasm that is punctuated with tasty sound effects and quotes delivered by an unnamed voice talent. Along with his keen insights on racial politics and culture, his easy-to-hear performance will make listeners feel like they are âin the roomâ with the personalities and cultural energy of each era." âAudioFile on Music Is History.
This is a book only Questlove could have written: a perceptive and personal reflection on the first half-century of hip-hop.
When hip-hop first emerged in the 1970s, it wasnât expected to become the cultural force it is today. But for a young Black kid growing up in a musical family in Philadelphia, it was everything. He stayed up late to hear the newest songs on the radio. He saved his money to buy vinyl as soon as it landed. He even started to try to make his own songs. That kid was Questlove, and decades later, he is a six-time Grammy Awardâwinning musician, an Academy Awardâwinning filmmaker, a New York Times bestselling author, a producer, an entrepreneur, a cofounder of one of hip-hopâs defining acts (the Roots), and the genreâs unofficial in-house historian.
In this landmark book, Hip-Hop Is History, Questlove skillfully traces the creative and cultural forces that made and shaped hip-hop, highlighting both the forgotten but influential gems and the undeniable chart-topping hitsâand weaves it all together with the stories no one else knows. It is at once an intimate, sharply observed story of a cultural revolution and a sweeping, grand theory of the evolution of the great artistic movement of our time. And Questlove, of course, approaches it with not only the encyclopedic fluency and passion of an obsessive fan but also the expertise and originality of an innovative participant.
Hip-hop is history, and also his history.
A Macmillan Audio production from AUWA Books.
Questlove is a six-time Grammy Awardâwinning musician, Academy Awardâwinning filmmaker, drummer, DJ, producer, director, culinary entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, cofounder of the Roots, and the musical director for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where the Roots serves as the house band. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Moâ Meta Blues, Creative Quest, Music Is History, and his first childrenâs book series, The Rhythm of Time, as well as the James Beard Awardânominated somethingtofoodabout, Mixtape Potluck, and the Grammy-nominated audiobooks Creative Quest and Music Is History. Questlove made his directorial debut with the Academy Awardâ, Grammy Awardâ, and BAFTA Awardâwinning documentary film Summer of Soul, which broke the record for the highest-selling documentary to come out of the Sundance Film Festival. Questlove is a cofounder of Two One Five Entertainment. He is the publisher of AUWA Books, an imprint of MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Questlove is a six-time Grammy Awardâwinning musician, Academy Awardâwinning filmmaker, drummer, DJ, producer, director, culinary entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, cofounder of the Roots, and the musical director for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where the Roots serves as the house band. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Moâ Meta Blues, Creative Quest, Music Is History, and his first childrenâs book series, The Rhythm of Time, as well as the James Beard Awardânominated somethingtofoodabout, Mixtape Potluck, and the Grammy-nominated audiobooks Creative Quest and Music Is History. Questlove made his directorial debut with the Academy Awardâ, Grammy Awardâ, and BAFTA Awardâwinning documentary film Summer of Soul, which broke the record for the highest-selling documentary to come out of the Sundance Film Festival. Questlove is a cofounder of Two One Five Entertainment. He is the publisher of AUWA Books, an imprint of MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Reviews
"A memorable, masterful history of the first 50 years of an indelible American art form. . . Questloveâs instincts as a superfan and artist take this history beyond the hype to something very special."
âKirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A kaleidoscopic chronicle of hip-hopâs 50-year history. . . Throughout, Questlove interweaves sharp and lyrical analyses of hip-hopâs evolution with fascinating, up-close recollections of the genreâs turning points. . . an exuberant account of a dynamic musical genre and the cultural climate in which it evolved."
âPublishers Weekly (starred review)