Image: KRS-One (aka the Teacha), via The Ultimate Hip Hop Book Directory.
For a list of books about all things hip-hop, see: Black Perspectives: A #HipHop50 Syllabus, curated by hip hop historian Austin McCoy. For books about women in hip hop, see The Hip Hop Feminist Syllabus, curated by professor Janell Hobson.
Russell Abrahams & Kiana Fitzgerald: Ode to Hip-Hop: 50 Albums That Define 50 Years of Trailblazing Music.
Jonathan Abrams: The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop.
Jake Austen & Yuval Taylor: Darkest America: Black Minstrelsy from Slavery to Hip-Hop.
Regina N. Bradley: Chronicling Stankonia: the Rise of the Hip Hop South.
Jeff Chang: Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation.
Dan Charnas: The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop.
Msia Kibona Clark: Hip-Hop in Africa: Prophets of the City and Dustyfoot Philosophers.
Ian Condry: Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization.
Sohail Daulatzai: Black Star, Crescent Moon: The Muslim International and Black Freedom beyond America.
Aisha Durham, Gwendolyn D. Pough, Rachel Raimist, & Elaine Richardson (editors): Home Girls Make Some Noise!: Hip-Hop Feminism Anthology.
Michael Eric Dyson: Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip-Hop.
Sujatha Fernandes: Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation.
Bakari Kitwana: The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African-American Culture.
Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar: Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap.
Fernando Orejuela: Rap and Hip Hop Culture.
Nate Patrin: Bring That Beat Back: How Sampling Built Hip-Hop.
Marcus Reeves: Somebody Scream!: Rap Music’s Rise to Prominence in the Aftershock of Black Power.
Tricia Rose:
- Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America.
- The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop–and Why It Matters.
Nitasha Tamar Sharma: Hip Hop Desis: South Asian Americans, Blackness, and a Global Race Consciousness.
Shea Serrano:
- The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed.
- Hip-Hop (And Other Things).
A.R. Shaw: Trap History: Atlanta Culture and the Global Impact of Trap Music.
Antonio T. Tiongson Jr.: Filipinos Represent: DJs, Racial Authenticity, and the Hip-hop Nation.
Vikki Tobak:
Felicia Angeja Viator: To Live and Defy in LA: How Gangsta Rap Changed America.