In the spirit of Brian Coleman's 2007 book, Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-hop Junkies, hip-hop fans and scholars now have another volume of interviews with important figures from hip-hop's history. Unlike the Coleman book, however, journalist Andrew J. Rausch does not hinge on the ‘classic albums’ approach, but often asks the same questions of different interviewees. For example, he opens each interview with ‘What does hip-hop mean to you?’. The diverse responses are in themselves a study in hip-hop discourse and popular music discourse more broadly. Rauch, himself once a practitioner of hip-hop and a dedicated fan, knows his material and is able to ask provocative questions surrounding controversies and feuds in various rap careers.

Rausch's previous book topics include Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese and Blaxploitation film. Here he interviews 24 figures, including MCs (Big Daddy Kane, Black Sheep Dres, Chip Fu, Chuck D, Kool Keith of Ultramagnetic MCs, Kool Rock Ski of the Fat Boys, Sadat X, Young MC, Shock G, Eric B, Sticky Fingaz of Onyx), producers (9th Wonder, Daddy-O), DJs (Spinderella), graffiti artists (DJ JS-1), poets (Michael Cirelli) and journalists (dream hampton). Each chapter, of roughly seven to eight pages, opens with a brief biography, and ends with a discography (or bibliography) of the interviewee's work, thus providing a starting point for those unfamiliar to the repertory.

Recurring themes in the interviews include hip-hop as a lifestyle, as creativity, politics, the hard work involved in ‘making it’ in the industry, music influences, homophobia in rap, the current state of hip-hop, compositional process, rap feuds and sampling. One of the most engaging facts was about Emcee/Singer Kokane whose father was Jerry B. Long, Sr., a noted composer and arranger for Motown (e.g. arrangements for The Temptation's ‘Just My Imagination’ and ‘Ball of Confusion’). Kokane's cousin was Cold 187um who was the producer for Above the Law (Ruthless Records). Perhaps most provocative is the fact that he argues that Cold187um invented the g-funk sound that helped catapult Dr. Dre to unprecedented mainstream pop success. This is a point worthy of more musicological investigation, especially in light of the fact that some have argued that Digital Underground were the first innovators of what became the g-funk sound. There is also information on the recording session for Young MC's hit ‘Bust a Move’. More often than not, however, the book focuses on rhetoric and discourse on hip-hop, rather than too many details about compositional process (unlike Coleman's book which has more gems related to the creation of canonical hip-hop albums).

Pervading the book is a sense that these participants care about hip-hop as an art and as a business, and their views represent nostalgia for the past eras. Rausch presumably chooses his figures carefully, and tends to interview those from the so-called ‘Golden Era’ (1986–1993) or slightly earlier. He defines this ‘golden age’ more broadly, from 1986 to 2003, saying ‘I will forever see hip-hop in the way it existed in what is now known as the “golden age”’ (p. xiv). While the book does cover a range of those in the hip-hop world, this focus on one generation does lead to a certain type of perspective. Perhaps surprisingly, these debates do not always fall along the lines of ‘art vs. commerce’, as most of the artists do not criticise newer artists and their entrepreneurial endeavours, but they do lament the lack of variety in modern mainstream hip-hop. Perhaps Daddy-O of Stetsasonic puts it best when he says that ‘I don't think that we – my generation of artists – took enough initiative to be mentors’ (p. 64). Others, such as Akrobatic, point to the lack of maturity in older hip-hop artists as a problem, and R.A. The Rugged Man points to those in power in the industry (including Jay-Z when he was president of Def Jam) as being to blame for not helping support hip-hop as an art form.

The book remains US-centric, though Rob Kelly from Ireland is included as he has appeared on a number of US hip-hop tracks. This may be a necessary focus, but future volumes on other hip-hop eras, as well as international perspectives, would also be welcome.

One of the things that should be praised about the book is that it is relatively affordable as a hardcover (roughly £18.99), compared to more expensive hardcover books aimed at the library market. The book also has a cheaper version for e-readers which I would recommend, in particular, because the book is less of a scholarly endeavour (though it has some intriguing ideas and discourses for further investigation) than an entertaining read geared to ‘hip-hop heads’ who enjoy reading as much as possible about the genre.