Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation

Jeff Chang

Apr 2007 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

Can't Stop Won't Stop is a powerful cultural and social history of the end of the American century, and a provocative look into the new world that the hip-hop generation created.

Forged in the fires of the Bronx and Kingston, Jamaica, hip-hop became the Esperanto of youth rebellion and a generation-defining movement. In a post-civil rights era defined by deindustrialization and globalization, hip-hop crystallized a multiracial, polycultural generation's worldview, and transformed American politics and culture. But that epic story has never been told with this kind of breadth, insight, and style.

Based on original interviews with DJs, b-boys, rappers, graffiti writers, activists, and gang members, with unforgettable portraits of many of hip-hop's forebears, founders, and mavericks, including DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D, and Ice Cube, Can't Stop Won't Stop chronicles the events, the ideas, the music, and the art that marked the hip-hop generation's rise from the ashes of the 60's into the new millennium.

Ratings and reviews

This book brought me back to my youth, as a member of the Young Immoratals and dating the niece of Blackie from the Savage Skulls, it really captures the realism and flavor of the Bronx. I always heard bad talk about disco and the night club scene, but I think it really saved a lot of lives in the Ghetto. Disco came at the right time, otherwise I believe we would still be fighting each other to this day as they do in LA and Chicago with their gang problems. The book was a nice throwback and it unleashed great memories of the good old days in the boogie down. Enjoy.

Phenomenal and breathtakingly amazing. Hip-Hop isn't a musical genre it's a culture. Jeff Chang did his research and got it right.

Good book n better understanding from the reggae to the hip hop culture..

About the author

Jeff Chang has been a hip-hop journalist for over a decade and has written for The San Francisco Bay Guardian, The Village Voice, Vibe, The Nation, URB, Rap Pages, Spin and Mother Jones. He was a founding editor of Colorlines Magazine, Senior Editor at Russell Simmons' 360hiphop.com and co-founder of the influential hip-hop label, SoleSides, now Quannum Projects. He lives in California.