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Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Hip-Hop History
The American Book Award winner, now completely adapted for a young adult audience!
From award-winning author Jeff Chang, Can't Stop Won't Stop is the story of hip-hop, a generation-defining movement and the music that transformed American politics and culture forever.
Hip hop is one of the most dominant and influential cultures in America, giving new voice to the younger generation. It defines a generation's worldview. Exploring hip hop's beginnings up to the present day, Jeff Chang and Dave "Davey D" Cook provide a provocative look into the new world that the hip hop generation has created.
Based on original interviews with DJs, b-boys, rappers, activists, and gang members, with unforgettable portraits of many of hip hop's forebears, founders, mavericks, and present day icons, this book chronicles the epic events, ideas and the music that marked the hip hop generation's rise.
From award-winning author Jeff Chang, Can't Stop Won't Stop is the story of hip-hop, a generation-defining movement and the music that transformed American politics and culture forever.
Hip hop is one of the most dominant and influential cultures in America, giving new voice to the younger generation. It defines a generation's worldview. Exploring hip hop's beginnings up to the present day, Jeff Chang and Dave "Davey D" Cook provide a provocative look into the new world that the hip hop generation has created.
Based on original interviews with DJs, b-boys, rappers, activists, and gang members, with unforgettable portraits of many of hip hop's forebears, founders, mavericks, and present day icons, this book chronicles the epic events, ideas and the music that marked the hip hop generation's rise.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published March 16, 2021
26 people are currently reading
1639 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Chang
21 books405 followersJeff Chang is a writer, host, and a cultural organizer known for his work in culture, politics, the arts, and music.
His cultural biography of Bruce Lee called Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America (Mariner) will be published on September 23, 2025. He is the host of the Signal Award-winning podcast on artists and ideas, Edge of Reason, produced by Atlantic: Rethink and Hauser & Wirth, and of Notes From the Edge, produced by KALW Public Media.
His first book, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, garnered many honors, including the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. Slate named it one of the best nonfiction books of the past 25 years. Powell’s’ Books chose it as one of their 50 most important books of the past 50 years. A revised and updated Young Adult edition—co-written with legendary hip-hop journalist Dave “Davey D” Cook—was published in 2021.
Who We Be: The Colorization of America (St. Martin’s Press) was released on October 2014, to critical acclaim. It was published in paperback in January 2016 under the new title, Who We Be: A Cultural History of Race in Post Civil Rights America (Picador). The book won the Ray + Pat Browne Award for Best Work in Popular Culture and American Culture and shortlisted for the NAACP Image Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and Books For A Better Life Award.
We Gon' Be Alright: Notes On Race and Resegregation (Picador), was published in September 2016, was named a Book of the Year by the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. The Washington Post declared it “the smartest book of the year.” He also edited the book, Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop (Basic Civitas, 2006) and Freedom Moves: Hip-Hop Knowledges, Pedagogies, and Futures (University of California Press, 2023).
(You can find a list of all his books in print here.)
Jeff has been a USA Ford Fellow in Literature and a Lucas Artist Fellow. He was named by The Utne Reader as one of "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World,” by KQED as an Asian Pacific American Local Hero, and by the Yerba Buena Center for The Arts to its YBCA 100 list of those “shaping the future of American culture.” He was named to the Frederick Douglass 200, as one of “200 living individuals who best embody the work and spirit of Douglass.”
In May 2019, he and director Bao Nguyen created a four-episode digital adaptation of We Gon Be Alright for PBS Indie Lens Storycast. Jeff has been featured in the PBS documentary series, Asian Americans, Bao Nguyen’s movie, “Be Water”, and Lisa Ling’s show, “This Is Life.”
His bylines have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as Slate, Mother Jones, The Nation, n+1, and The Believer. He was a winner of the North Star News Prize for his cultural and political journalism. With H. Samy Alim, he received the St. Clair Drake Teaching Award at Stanford University.
A national leader in narrative and cultural strategy and a recognized advocate for cultural justice, Jeff co-founded CultureStr/ke (now the Center for Cultural Power) and the Webby-nominated May 19th Project. He led the Butterfly Lab for Immigrant Narrative Strategy and the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University. He helped to write the Cultural New Deal alongside a number of artists and culture bearers.
He was a founding member of the SoleSides Crew, a hip-hop collective that included DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, Lateef the Truthspeaker, and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Joseph Monish Patel.
He began his journey working at college radio stations KALX and KDVS, organizing for the Center for Third World Organizing, California State Student Association, and the National Hip-Hop Political Convention, and writing and editing for magazines like URB, Rap Pages, The Bomb Hip-Hop Magazine, Vibe,
His cultural biography of Bruce Lee called Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America (Mariner) will be published on September 23, 2025. He is the host of the Signal Award-winning podcast on artists and ideas, Edge of Reason, produced by Atlantic: Rethink and Hauser & Wirth, and of Notes From the Edge, produced by KALW Public Media.
His first book, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, garnered many honors, including the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. Slate named it one of the best nonfiction books of the past 25 years. Powell’s’ Books chose it as one of their 50 most important books of the past 50 years. A revised and updated Young Adult edition—co-written with legendary hip-hop journalist Dave “Davey D” Cook—was published in 2021.
Who We Be: The Colorization of America (St. Martin’s Press) was released on October 2014, to critical acclaim. It was published in paperback in January 2016 under the new title, Who We Be: A Cultural History of Race in Post Civil Rights America (Picador). The book won the Ray + Pat Browne Award for Best Work in Popular Culture and American Culture and shortlisted for the NAACP Image Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and Books For A Better Life Award.
We Gon' Be Alright: Notes On Race and Resegregation (Picador), was published in September 2016, was named a Book of the Year by the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. The Washington Post declared it “the smartest book of the year.” He also edited the book, Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop (Basic Civitas, 2006) and Freedom Moves: Hip-Hop Knowledges, Pedagogies, and Futures (University of California Press, 2023).
(You can find a list of all his books in print here.)
Jeff has been a USA Ford Fellow in Literature and a Lucas Artist Fellow. He was named by The Utne Reader as one of "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World,” by KQED as an Asian Pacific American Local Hero, and by the Yerba Buena Center for The Arts to its YBCA 100 list of those “shaping the future of American culture.” He was named to the Frederick Douglass 200, as one of “200 living individuals who best embody the work and spirit of Douglass.”
In May 2019, he and director Bao Nguyen created a four-episode digital adaptation of We Gon Be Alright for PBS Indie Lens Storycast. Jeff has been featured in the PBS documentary series, Asian Americans, Bao Nguyen’s movie, “Be Water”, and Lisa Ling’s show, “This Is Life.”
His bylines have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as Slate, Mother Jones, The Nation, n+1, and The Believer. He was a winner of the North Star News Prize for his cultural and political journalism. With H. Samy Alim, he received the St. Clair Drake Teaching Award at Stanford University.
A national leader in narrative and cultural strategy and a recognized advocate for cultural justice, Jeff co-founded CultureStr/ke (now the Center for Cultural Power) and the Webby-nominated May 19th Project. He led the Butterfly Lab for Immigrant Narrative Strategy and the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University. He helped to write the Cultural New Deal alongside a number of artists and culture bearers.
He was a founding member of the SoleSides Crew, a hip-hop collective that included DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, Lateef the Truthspeaker, and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Joseph Monish Patel.
He began his journey working at college radio stations KALX and KDVS, organizing for the Center for Third World Organizing, California State Student Association, and the National Hip-Hop Political Convention, and writing and editing for magazines like URB, Rap Pages, The Bomb Hip-Hop Magazine, Vibe,
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
March 23, 2021
I am not much of a music fan and really not into rap, however this book totally awed me. I have a whole new respect for rap and the people who perform it. I love how this book uses the history of a music genre to explain important historical events and allows the reader to see these events through a different lens than mainstream media provides. I will definitely be purchasing this title for my library and encouraging my students to read it.
April 21, 2021
This got off to an incredibly slow start for me. I almost gave up on it, but I’m glad I didn’t. After listening for around 3 hours, the history started to be more compelling and focused on more than hip hop. While my engagement slipped on and off after that, I was much more engaged and was VERY engaged for the last 1/4 of the book. The interplay of history and music were wonderfully done, and the focus on race was compelling and comprehensive. I think it will take students quite a while to initially engage unless they are history buffs AND die-hard hip hop fans. 3/4 of the musicians and time periods focused on in this book are before they were born.
May 25, 2021
The content is super great and I learned so much about not just hip hop - but so many cultural moments attached to the music genre.
I didn’t read the original, so I don’t know how adapted to the YA audience this is. Seems to me this could be a bit dense for that age group. There are some interesting parts but overall it’s a lot of info to cover in a relatively short timespan. The ending has been edited to be up-to-date with the current BLM movement as well as other current events.
I didn’t read the original, so I don’t know how adapted to the YA audience this is. Seems to me this could be a bit dense for that age group. There are some interesting parts but overall it’s a lot of info to cover in a relatively short timespan. The ending has been edited to be up-to-date with the current BLM movement as well as other current events.
July 14, 2021
Okay, now that I'm finished, I think this is a great choice for teen and adult readers with TONS of details and interesting stories. It's also complex enough and trusts readers to make connections in a way that feels best suited to a high school audience rather than a middle school one, but I think I might still bring it to our 8th graders. There's so much history that weaves around the details about hip-hop, providing context, grounding a reader who wasn't alive for most of this. It's not a light read, but it is an amazing story of art, history, and culture, and I think it will resonate for tons of readers. The audiobook is wonderful, and I highly recommend it for adult readers as well as teens.
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I borrowed this from our library on audio, partly because it says that it's been "adapted for a young adult audience." It's a fascinating book so far, but it definitely reads like adult non-fiction in the amount of detail and depth of the history. I think this updated version would work great as a crossover for adult readers, and I'll wait til I finish before I decide what age I might booktalk this for at schools. Right now I'm leaning high school only, but I'm only a handful of chapters in so far.
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I borrowed this from our library on audio, partly because it says that it's been "adapted for a young adult audience." It's a fascinating book so far, but it definitely reads like adult non-fiction in the amount of detail and depth of the history. I think this updated version would work great as a crossover for adult readers, and I'll wait til I finish before I decide what age I might booktalk this for at schools. Right now I'm leaning high school only, but I'm only a handful of chapters in so far.
Read
July 15, 2023I wish the publisher or author included a playlist or further listening / suggested listening for the book.
Audiobook’d because going to see Grandmaster Flash give a talk about the history of hip hop on campus in September with some friends.
I wanted an overview and didn’t think the longer, adult focused written version was for me (because I don’t do doorstop sized books).
Audiobook’d because going to see Grandmaster Flash give a talk about the history of hip hop on campus in September with some friends.
I wanted an overview and didn’t think the longer, adult focused written version was for me (because I don’t do doorstop sized books).
September 26, 2020
I had read Chang's book a couple of years ago as I was developing a course on the history of American pop culture at the high school I teach. I thought that there was sections that were so intriguing, and that my students would also find them amusing if I could get the reading to their level. Lo and behold, here's the book. It is fair reiteration of the original (something that does not always occur in YA adaptions). The narrative stays the same, and the organization remains. Dave Cook does a great job taking a higher reading level and reworking it for a younger audience.
My main criticism is sometimes the history is hard to connect, and I think it's especially true for students. If I were to assign the book, I think they would immediately get lost in the first chapter. It is full of a lot of esoteric information, and the connection to hip hop music isn't explicitly made. While I understand it sets up the context, for young readers, it needs to be clear, or they will get lost in the murky details.
As the book goes on, there are pieces of history that I think is fair to say they would not be encountering any other places. Certainly not textbooks, at least. I give this book my endorsement as a teacher, who is consistently trying to find sources of interest for my students. While they may not necessarily need to read the entire book (or Ch. 1), there is quite enough to warrant this to be in a school library or an option for student research.
My main criticism is sometimes the history is hard to connect, and I think it's especially true for students. If I were to assign the book, I think they would immediately get lost in the first chapter. It is full of a lot of esoteric information, and the connection to hip hop music isn't explicitly made. While I understand it sets up the context, for young readers, it needs to be clear, or they will get lost in the murky details.
As the book goes on, there are pieces of history that I think is fair to say they would not be encountering any other places. Certainly not textbooks, at least. I give this book my endorsement as a teacher, who is consistently trying to find sources of interest for my students. While they may not necessarily need to read the entire book (or Ch. 1), there is quite enough to warrant this to be in a school library or an option for student research.
January 18, 2021
**I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.
I so enjoyed reading this book. To preface, I rarely read nonfiction. I've never really found it my thing. Part of that might go back to being a history major in college. I always felt like I "knew enough." However, one of my favorite things is learning more about something that I thought was just common knowledge. Obviously, this book taught me more than I ever thought!
Hip Hop and the creation of rap music is so incredibly interesting. Chang does an excellent job of taking readers through the entire story. Throughout the book, he explains the origins of artists, movements, and how gangs and inner city clubs created hip hop. I found myself pouring over this book and trying to retain as much information as possible. The language in the book is easy to understand for me and probably most YA readers. I also felt that I gained a new appreciation for hip hop music in general. As some who grew up in the late 90's and early 00's, I could connect a lot of what I listened to to the overarching ideas and concepts. I liked knowing more about where the music I enjoyed came from.
This is definitely a book that should grace the shelves of libraries with students or readers who love hip hop and rap music or our current culture. The last section will tie everything together for our generation z readers and honestly everyone else as well.
I so enjoyed reading this book. To preface, I rarely read nonfiction. I've never really found it my thing. Part of that might go back to being a history major in college. I always felt like I "knew enough." However, one of my favorite things is learning more about something that I thought was just common knowledge. Obviously, this book taught me more than I ever thought!
Hip Hop and the creation of rap music is so incredibly interesting. Chang does an excellent job of taking readers through the entire story. Throughout the book, he explains the origins of artists, movements, and how gangs and inner city clubs created hip hop. I found myself pouring over this book and trying to retain as much information as possible. The language in the book is easy to understand for me and probably most YA readers. I also felt that I gained a new appreciation for hip hop music in general. As some who grew up in the late 90's and early 00's, I could connect a lot of what I listened to to the overarching ideas and concepts. I liked knowing more about where the music I enjoyed came from.
This is definitely a book that should grace the shelves of libraries with students or readers who love hip hop and rap music or our current culture. The last section will tie everything together for our generation z readers and honestly everyone else as well.
August 6, 2021
I love hip-hop. I listen to it and dance it, so I was excited for this edition. But I was so disappointed that there was not a single picture. Hip-hop is so visually vibrant so why didn't they put in pictures of the Greats?
This was written so dryly, like a police report, that it seems the author doesn't even like hip-hop. It was also physically hard to read as the leading (the space between the lines) was so small that the text looked too crowded. There wasn't even any space between paragraphs!
If this is geared for teens, it won't hold their attention. I tried it with my breakdancing rapper teen but he stopped at the first page. I'm so disheartened that hip-hop was presented so dully. Reading it deadened my interest as well.
@IvyDigest
This was written so dryly, like a police report, that it seems the author doesn't even like hip-hop. It was also physically hard to read as the leading (the space between the lines) was so small that the text looked too crowded. There wasn't even any space between paragraphs!
If this is geared for teens, it won't hold their attention. I tried it with my breakdancing rapper teen but he stopped at the first page. I'm so disheartened that hip-hop was presented so dully. Reading it deadened my interest as well.
@IvyDigest
November 21, 2021
15 years ago I reviewed the original for SLJ's Adult Books for Young Adults. I loved it! I wish I could have found that copy to compare it with this one. This one fell flat for me, and to tell you why, I'm going to have to break the cardinal sin of "reviewing" - reviewing the book I wanted rather than the one I got.
I questioned why we would update a 15 year old book instead of writing a new one. I still question that. This is a lifetime for the target audience. So why not write a new one? Because the end result to this one was that it felt too stuffed.
Hip hop is now 50 years old, and trying to tie not only 50 years of hip hop but its cultural relevance into 300 pages is too much. As a result, some things aren't given the attention they need, or even an entire sentence. These things include sentence fragments about :
-Afrika Bambaata's sexual assault allegations (despite the fact that his entire chapter remains.)
-Grime (despite the fact that there is an entire chapter based on international hip hop and Grime is as big as any subset of hip hop right now)
-Soundcloud rappers
There are 500 stories in this book that could warrant 300 page books on their own. Unfortunately, 50 years of history ends up reading like sentence sentence sentence, this happened then this. It ends up feeling overstuffed and superficial at once.
I questioned why we would update a 15 year old book instead of writing a new one. I still question that. This is a lifetime for the target audience. So why not write a new one? Because the end result to this one was that it felt too stuffed.
Hip hop is now 50 years old, and trying to tie not only 50 years of hip hop but its cultural relevance into 300 pages is too much. As a result, some things aren't given the attention they need, or even an entire sentence. These things include sentence fragments about :
-Afrika Bambaata's sexual assault allegations (despite the fact that his entire chapter remains.)
-Grime (despite the fact that there is an entire chapter based on international hip hop and Grime is as big as any subset of hip hop right now)
-Soundcloud rappers
There are 500 stories in this book that could warrant 300 page books on their own. Unfortunately, 50 years of history ends up reading like sentence sentence sentence, this happened then this. It ends up feeling overstuffed and superficial at once.
June 29, 2022
"Hip hop had always been there right at the Nexus of violence and creativity, a place where young people could choose to continue the division since segregation they had inherited or to instead transform their own lives and others, whether the few around them or millions around the world."
I have always loved hip hop and could never quite put into words what it was about the music that spoke to me so much. Upon finishing this book, reading the history of the music that spoke to me so clearly, I can see and understand what it was the resonated with me. Hip hop has the magic of expanding borders and creating and sparking connections between people who may be in different places and different situations that have the same feelings at their core. This book was well written, thoughtful, and empowering.
I have always loved hip hop and could never quite put into words what it was about the music that spoke to me so much. Upon finishing this book, reading the history of the music that spoke to me so clearly, I can see and understand what it was the resonated with me. Hip hop has the magic of expanding borders and creating and sparking connections between people who may be in different places and different situations that have the same feelings at their core. This book was well written, thoughtful, and empowering.
January 18, 2022
Incredibly informative and well researched. Beyond being just a book about hip hop artists, Jeff Chang and Davey D build a comprehensive narrative of the birth and proliferation of hip hop culture through the lens of the continual systemic racism against and exploitation of black and coloured people in America; an ongoing feature of it’s economic policies and policing from the civil rights movement until today. Can’t stop, won’t stop tracks hip hop from its beginnings in block parties as a culture and expression of the working class and oppressed, to the multimillion dollar empire it has spawned in the early 2000s, to the Soundcloud generation of rappers today.
July 18, 2024
3.5
I wouldn't recommend this book for Middle Schoolers unless it's supported by a class or parent reading along with them. Just a heads up - part 1 is quite dense, but keep going. On a personal note, I enjoyed reading the book because 99% of the artists mentioned (especially those mentioned from the early 90s) were people I grew up listening to. I remember going to a Roots and Fugees concert in 1995 at Capital Ballroom in DC for $20. Neither the venue or that price exists today.
p.s. This book would make for a really informative, powerful, and fun elective! Shout out to my old colleague at SSFS who does teach a course on Hip Hop. More should.
I wouldn't recommend this book for Middle Schoolers unless it's supported by a class or parent reading along with them. Just a heads up - part 1 is quite dense, but keep going. On a personal note, I enjoyed reading the book because 99% of the artists mentioned (especially those mentioned from the early 90s) were people I grew up listening to. I remember going to a Roots and Fugees concert in 1995 at Capital Ballroom in DC for $20. Neither the venue or that price exists today.
p.s. This book would make for a really informative, powerful, and fun elective! Shout out to my old colleague at SSFS who does teach a course on Hip Hop. More should.
March 6, 2024
Definitely a well written book detailing the history of hip-hop from its inception in New York City to the Black Lives Matter movement. It might not cover brand new material if you’re already familiar with the biggest stories in the genre, but it’s definitely a great way to introduce readers that might not be familiar with the history of hip-hop to those stories and help them understand why the genre remains a huge force in music over 5 decades later.
March 10, 2021
I loved this book. I love to keep learning in life and about topics I have never read about. I am too old to know about hip hop so this was a great book. Hip Hop is a very generation defining movement, it has given a voice to the younger generation. This book talks about the start of hip hop and it goes all the way up to the newest performers.
July 11, 2021
I’m not sure if it’s my age or what, but I found this fascinating! Oddly, about 3 months ago, a colleague and I were trying to figure out the difference between hip hop and rap. Now it know! It was a readable history of what hip hop is and what its goals are. This is one of those books that I read and start bringing up the “did-ja-knows” in conversations.
September 5, 2022
What a compilation of Bronx gang info, hip hop artists and their pieces, graffiti artists....my! The research that must have gone into this! It's a history of hip hop...but so many names for all of the above that it's different "reading". I wonder, too, what makes this the YA version. Look forward to discussing all of this at the Children's Literature book club later this month.
November 16, 2020
A perfect adaptation of the original book for young audiences. It's written so that young adults can really understand the history of music and activism. It would be a great companion with a soundtrack.
December 17, 2021
The Roxanne Wars. Breakin'. Break dance contests. I was in intermediate school, but my friend's middle school sister kept us informed of the drama and happenings, and would play hip-hip records when she could get them. This was a fun, informative listen.
February 2, 2022
This book did a really good job of placing hip hop music within its larger cultural significance. It's a pretty lengthy young adult edition, so I wondered how much got adapted from the original.
My only complaint is that I hated the font the whole way through!
My only complaint is that I hated the font the whole way through!
March 16, 2021
A little too convoluted for my taste and, in my opinion, definitely too convoluted for a YA audience.
Definitely full of information, though! Worth the read if you can get through it
3 stars
Definitely full of information, though! Worth the read if you can get through it
3 stars
April 21, 2021
Hip-hop is placed in its cultural, socioeconomic, and political context. Informative.
April 17, 2023
Thorough and well-researched. Loved the intro especially, and the late 70s social context given to the initial rise of DJ Kool Herc.
July 29, 2023
it’s crazy to me how recent the origins of hip hop are like most of these people are alive and well
August 9, 2024
So much history (US history, music, culture…) and some flashbacks to my youth.
August 11, 2024
A neat informational look into how hip hop started and changed over the years.
January 21, 2025
My reasons:
1. Unless you have some background knowledge of this topic, this will go right over your head. Not enough definitions as well. Becomes very overwhelming very quickly and makes it very hard to read.
2. This is a failed young adult adaptation because it goes through way too much material way too fast - while still dragging on for the first 70 pages.
3. It gets to the point too fast, while it doesn't have any repetitive parts which is good for a young adult adaptation, it goes through too much, too fast, too soon.
4. This book could have benefited from maps, defining regions of the United States or the neighborhoods of NYC for various chapters. For example, a map of the gangs living in the boundaries of NYC with maps and boundary lines in Chapter 1, would have been very beneficial instead of throwing me for a loop in the first 10 pages.
5. It does widen the historical figures for students to read about - but I would say it did it too well, by providing too many people and names with not a single picture. It could have benefited from pictures of the rappers it talks about to put a face to a name.
6. It could have benefited from a visual timeline as well, even though the book is written chronologically.
7. The font makes it hard to read because while it is modern, it's not spaced out to my liking.
8. It does display the same breadth and preview that the adult version boasts, however which is good.
As a young adult adaptation, I would say it was failed adaptation because it moves too fast and young adults or kids may not be able to keep up with the pace of the book. It does take out slurs but not taking out context so you're not leaving you in the dark. Some parts could have been cut to make it more to the point. It would still be a good benefit to high school libraries because it doesn't contain too much explicit language for high school students and does have A LOT of good information for any student to do research or a research project with or on. I would also say it's credible for any student to use this book to source information from.
1. Unless you have some background knowledge of this topic, this will go right over your head. Not enough definitions as well. Becomes very overwhelming very quickly and makes it very hard to read.
2. This is a failed young adult adaptation because it goes through way too much material way too fast - while still dragging on for the first 70 pages.
3. It gets to the point too fast, while it doesn't have any repetitive parts which is good for a young adult adaptation, it goes through too much, too fast, too soon.
4. This book could have benefited from maps, defining regions of the United States or the neighborhoods of NYC for various chapters. For example, a map of the gangs living in the boundaries of NYC with maps and boundary lines in Chapter 1, would have been very beneficial instead of throwing me for a loop in the first 10 pages.
5. It does widen the historical figures for students to read about - but I would say it did it too well, by providing too many people and names with not a single picture. It could have benefited from pictures of the rappers it talks about to put a face to a name.
6. It could have benefited from a visual timeline as well, even though the book is written chronologically.
7. The font makes it hard to read because while it is modern, it's not spaced out to my liking.
8. It does display the same breadth and preview that the adult version boasts, however which is good.
As a young adult adaptation, I would say it was failed adaptation because it moves too fast and young adults or kids may not be able to keep up with the pace of the book. It does take out slurs but not taking out context so you're not leaving you in the dark. Some parts could have been cut to make it more to the point. It would still be a good benefit to high school libraries because it doesn't contain too much explicit language for high school students and does have A LOT of good information for any student to do research or a research project with or on. I would also say it's credible for any student to use this book to source information from.
June 14, 2025
Nice work
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews