The Big Payback, Dan Charnas
The Big Payback, Dan Charnas
List: $35.99 | Sale: $25.20
Club: $17.99

The Big Payback
The History of the Business of Hip-Hop

Author: Dan Charnas

Narrator: Kevin R. Free

Unabridged: 26 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 10/07/2011


Synopsis

An original journalist for The Source, Dan Charnas built a celebrated career in the rap industry. In The Big Payback, he chronicles the rise of the hip-hop culture and shows how it became so powerful in a matter of decades. Charnas also profiles many of the movers and shakers in this burgeoning cultural movement, offering unprecedented access to an industry that continues to shake the globe. "Nuanced treatment of the impresarios behind signature sounds and recording empires, and brisk, dramatic vignettes, give this history of a leaderless revolution impressive momentum."-Publishers Weekly, starred review

About Dan Charnas

Dan Charnas is the author of the definitive history of the hip-hop business, The Big Payback (NAL/Penguin). He’s also the author of Work Clean (Rodale/Harmony), a book detailing applying chefs’ techniques to almost any life situation. He was also the co-creator and executive producer of the VH1 movie and TV series, The Breaks. He lives in Manhattan, and is an associate professor at NYU/Tisch’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Amanpreet on May 06, 2012

This is an encyclopedic guide to hip-hop history and hip-hop business deals which I would recommend to anyone interested in modern music history. The first half of this book reads incredibly well, as Dan Charnas is able to weave together various, seemingly unrelated stories with such ease. This book......more

Goodreads review by Phillip on May 02, 2024

Feel like I learnt way more about the business from this than you could from some textbook. It's so thorough in looking at exactly what deal did what for who and when. As scummy as it all was, I find myself looking at how things worked then more fondly; the endless warrens of regional radio, street......more

Goodreads review by Tommy on December 27, 2023

This was a cool book. I almost think calling it the history of the "business" of hip-hop is doing it a disservice. It's a huge book and I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to read that much about the business side. But this is a pretty comprehensive book about the history of hip-hop. At least the ear......more

Goodreads review by Byron on November 12, 2014

This is too thoroughly detailed and well put together to give any less five stars, but I could spend all day nitpicking it if I wanted to. (I've got a lot of free time, but I've also got a lot of "hobbies.") So I'll just point out a few things. (1) The author is a lot less clever than he thinks he is......more

Goodreads review by Tyrone on February 26, 2011

This was a great reference for filling in many of my missing links in hip-hop. You get an idea of who the artists are as people, how they got into the industry and how they were discovered. What you also get is a window into the depths of the music business - more than "industry rule 4080/record com......more