Hip Hop Raised Me

The definitive volume on the essence, experience and energy that is hip hop, and its massive and enduring impact over the last 40 years

In 2008, with help from Jay-Z and Puff, Obama got the hip-hop vote, and became the first African American to be elected president. For a brief moment the ‘Audacity of Hope’ seemed attainable. Yet in 2014 the Ferguson riots brought an abrupt end to that hope, making emerging hip-hop artists, such as J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, the voice of the voiceless.

Spliced between thematic text sections that feature seminal interviews conducted with practically every name in hip hop are photographs, ephemera and infographics that together tell the incredible 40-year visual story of the scene that changed everything. Seminal photography of artists both on and off stage, rare shots and previously unseen contact sheets by key hip-hop photographers are displayed alongside the rarest ephemera and vinyl.

Original infographics show the continuing influence and impact of key hip-hop artists, such as Jay-Z, track the ever-evolving fashions, and highlight the key events in hip-hop history to complete the picture.

The definitive volume on the essence, experience and energy that is hip hop, Hip Hop Raised Me® traces the characteristics and influence of hip hop from its origins in the early 1970s with DJ Kool Herc’s block parties in the South Bronx, through its breakthrough to the mainstream and advent of gansta rap in the late 1980s, with artists such as Run D.M.C., Public Enemy and Ice-T, to the impact of contemporary artists and the global industry that is hip hop today.

Draws extensively from Semtex’s catalogue of interviews with the biggest names in hip hop, including:
Jay-Z
Kanye West
Eminem
Macklemore &?Ryan Lewis
Drake
Nicki Minaj
J. Cole
Kendrick Lamar
Nas
The Wu-Tang Clan

DJ Semtex hosts the UK’s top hip-hop show on BBC Radio 1Xtra every Friday, and is currently the Director of Artist Development at Sony Music.
Founder of Public Enemy, Chuck D is a hip-hop giant and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.