Reddit reviews The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop

The book "The Big Payback" also makes this claim. It's well-sourced throughout.

The big payback is good book on the business of hip hop and has a nice section at the start on the origin of hip hop eith djs saying simple ryhmes over breaks.

The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop. It's all about the business of hiphop, from the very beginning up until early 2000's. It is super interesting though and I was amazed how much business affects the art.

not a biography, but a huge chunk of the book revolves around him:

http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0451234782

tons of hip hop knowledge to be learned in that book

No opinion, but I'd recommend you look into the book The Big Payback for some background. Talks a lot about the history of the business of hip hop and how it's pretty much been financed or exploited (depending on your perspective) by white dudes since the beginning. It was the textbook for my history of american hip hop class in college.

For anyone interested on this type of thing, I would highly recommend The Big Payback. Some of the best investigative journalism I've ever read. This dude starts with hip hop's roots in the 20's with jazz and works his way to the mid 2000's. One of the most interesting reads I've ever had. You would be amazed at how some of the slang and phrases in hip hop originated. The depth and detail in this book are absolutely unmatched.

Highly suggest you guys read http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Payback-History-Business/dp/0451234782/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346408992&sr=8-1&keywords=the+big+payback for the contributions that Lighty made to the business of hip-hop in the 90s. He did a lot more than manage ATCQ.

I love hip hop and read a ton of books. Unfortunately the genre's literary canon isn't particularly spectacular. Here is a list of a few books that are actually really good reads on hip hop.

Ego Trip's Big Book of Rap Lists Tons of trivia and a great balance of being informative and entertaining/funny. It's clear that all the contributors really love hip hop. It was written in 1999 and primarily focuses on stuff from 1988-1996, which is totally fine by me.

Check the Technique Rappers and producers giving a track-by-track analysis of their classic albums. Quality of individual chapters is somewhat contingent on the rapper's writing ability and willingness to share (Slick Rick's portion was unfortunately pretty lacking in detail) but there are some gems. Features the Wu-Tang Clan, Tribe Called Quest, the Roots, and a lot more. The sequel was just released in November (featuring 3rd Bass, Company Flow, Ice Cube, among others) and I thoroughly enjoyed that one too.

The Big Payback If you have any interest in the history of the business of hip hop. Traces everything from Rapper's Delight to the present. A long read that is only worth seeking out if you care about the business of the genre, but if you find that appealing you will really enjoy it.

Hip Hop Family Tree Comic series about history of rap. I don't know how far the artist plans to go but right now he has completed 1977-1983. A lot of history and it looks good too.

How to Rap About the craft of rhyming from the rappers themselves. Features contributions from Kool G Rap, Q-Tip, Pharoahe Monch, Chuck D, and others. I liked this one more than Book of Rhymes which touches upon similar subjects. How to Rap 2 is also very good and touches upon some advanced flow concepts.

Root For The Villain: Rap, Bull$hit, and a Celebration of Failure by J-Zone (who, if you're familiar with his music, is equally funny in his book)

Hip Hop Family Tree by Ed Piskor (it's a graphic novel focusing on the early days of hip hop done in the style of 90s Image comics)

How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC by Paul Edwards (this is full of interviews with some of the greatest of all time discussing every single aspect of rapping)

The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop by Dan Charnas (haven't read this one yet, but I've heard great things about it.)

Also, if you're interested in books on specific albums, the 33 1/3 series has quite a few: Illmatic, Paul's Boutique, Donuts, People's Instinctive Travels And the Paths of Rhythm, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. If you're a Nas fan you may enjoy Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas's Illmatic, which is a more scholarly approach to Illmatic