Created by Matt Zoller Seitz
Directed by Judith Carter
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
Haruki Murakami
Whether you are a fan of hip hop or you are just curious about it, you will not have to look further after finding Eric Reese's The History of Hip Hop. This concise but in-depth book explores all the distinguishing traits of what is not only a genre of music but a lifestyle. Reese traces the history of hip hop from its beginnings in the 1970s and reveals how it changed in the next decades until it became a worldwide phenomenon. The author gives attention to the influence of hip hop at every level, including art and fashion. He also makes valuable considerations about its originality in comparison with other genres.
From the pages of The History of Hip Hop, you will realize the impact hip hop has on our society. Reese explains every aspect of its powerful influence and considers it not only as a musical genre but as a way of living. I like that after exploring the origins of hip hop and its meaning for African Americans, Reese included references to its worldwide presence. It shows its importance better than anything else. Reese's style is essential and clear. He does not linger on long and superfluous dissertations, but he goes straight to the point and enlightens the key concepts with clarity. At the end of The History of Hip Hop, you can be sure you will have all the elements to understand hip hop. You will also know what sets it apart from other musical genres. In short, you will have a clear picture in your mind, and you will be able to understand hip hop better. - Reviewed By Astrid Iustulin for Readers' Favorite
Hip Hop Truth for the Art and Pulse of America!
Hip Hop in the 1990s--What an era? Only one hip hop history book tells you how Hip Hop & R&B took over for ages to come!
This rap history book puts you directly in the minds of the young American hip hop family tree of MCs and dancers of the good ole days of the 1990s where Hip Hop and R&B first meshed resulting in a brand new wave of rap, R&B, pop & jazz artists, collaborating together to produce incredible classics that we still cherish to this day.
What you'll uncover in this hip hop book series which you won't find elsewhere:
As this music legacy continues to expand its sway, know for sure it's here to stay.
History of Hip Hop Volume Three gives you a direct-straight to the point history of the indisputable legendary force of rap artists and their deejays. Hip Hop lives on!
*** Author of "Rapper's Delight" essay currently archived at the Library of Congress ***
*** Guest speaker of BBC2 Radio "Rapper's Delight 40th Anniversary" by DJ Trevor Nelson - September 2019 ***
MZS.Press is the online arts bookstore founded by author, critic, and filmmaker Matt Zoller Seitz and directed by Judith Carter. It offers new, used, signed, collectible, and rare books on film, TV, music, photography, and the visual arts. The store was launched in 2019 on a different platform and has expanded to incorporate arts books published by MZSPress's private imprint: titles currently include Seitz's The Deadwood Bible: A Lie Agreed Upon and Dreams of Deadwood, about the HBO Western, and Walter Chaw's A Walter Hill Film.
Our deepest wish is to promote, encourage, and distribute work by small presses, academic presses, and individuals. Extraordinary work tends to get swallowed up on giant platforms like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The store's inventory of nearly 1000 volumes is currently in the process of being reconstructed after its relocation from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Dallas, Texas. The titles featured here are personally selected by a group of curators and advisors, including Seitz, Carter, and an array of critics, artists, journalists, educators, publishers, and arts mavens who are known for their ability to suss out what Seitz's jazz musician dad liked to call "the good sh*t."
"I feel comfortable using legal jargon in everyday life... I object!" Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz in Legally Blonde, 2001
Matt Zoller Seitz
Critic, Author, Filmmaker, MZS Press Creator
Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large and film critic of RogerEbert.com; Features Writer for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, Contributing Writer for D Magazine and Texas Highways as well as finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism. His writing on film and TV has appeared in Sight and Sound, The New York Times, Salon.com, The New Republic and Rolling Stone. Seitz is the founder and original editor of the influential film blog The House Next Door, now a part of Slant Magazine.
Seitz has written, narrated, edited or produced over a hundred hours’ worth of video essays about cinema history and style for The Museum of the Moving Image, Salon.com and Vulture, among other outlets such as Texas Highways and AARP. His five-part 2009 video essay Wes Anderson: The Substance of Style was spun off into the hardcover book The Wes Anderson Collection. This book and its follow-up, The Wes Anderson Collection: Grand Budapest Hotel were New York Times bestsellers.
Other Seitz books include the New York Times bestsellers The Sopranos Sessions and Mad Men Carousel; TV (The Book), The Deadwood Bible: A Lie Agreed Upon, and The Wes Anderson Collection: The French Dispatch. He is also an interviewer, moderator, and film programmer who has curated and hosted film and TV presentations for the Museum of the Moving Image, IFC Center, San Francisco's Roxie Cinema, and other venues. He has launched a Dallas extension of his MZS Film Series at the historic Texas Theater. On October 3-6, 2024 he brought the legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone back to Dallas for a historic return to the city and the Texas Theatre!
Judith is quoted as saying "his hobbies include exotic dancing, moonwalking, and affixing masking tape labels to every food item in the refrigerator, including eggs. Oh and he has the attention span of a gnat." MZS agreed to it all except the moonwalking.