Hip-Hop

by Shea Serrano, Arturo Torres (Illustrations)

HIP-HOP (AND OTHER THINGS) is the third book in the (And Other Things) series. The first two—Basketball (And Other Things) and Movies (And Other Things)—were both #1 New York Times bestsellers.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Pop Culture, Humor, Essays, Coffee Table Books, Comedy

Audiobook

Published October 26, 2021

Reviews

[Traci Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love love love Shea’s writing style. It is so conversational and funny without being corny. It’s what so many people try to but can’t do. I love the way he thinks and asks questions. He is just so interesting and smart. So yeah this book works great bc it’s all Shea.

[Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of loose, illustrated, mostly for-fun essays on various hip-hop-adjacent topics. Some of the essays are basically just funny riffs ("Where's the Second Most Impractical Place Ludacris Mentions Having Sex in During 'What's Your Fantasy'?"), some are a little more earnest ("How Do You Talk About Missy Elliott's Supa Dupa Fly?"), all are written in an enthusiastic, conversational style dense with anecdotes from Serrano's own life and the careers of the rappers he's writing about.

The biggest pro and con of this sort of writing will always be how personal it is. You can tell Serrano is trying to cover his bases, trying not to linger too much on any one particular figure or era or region or style, but nevertheless I'm sure any hip-hop lover will walk away from this with a list of things they wish he'd have devoted more or less page space to. (For example: why does Action Bronson get a whole essay but OutKast doesn't? Why are Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar relegated to a single shared chapter, and why is that chapter shorter than the one about Project Pat's "Chickenhead"? Shouldn't a fun hip-hop book published in 2021 by an author who's active on Twitter at least, like, mention Lil Nas X at some point?) Serrano makes no secret of the fact that he has a soft spot for stuff that came out during his own adolescence and young adulthood in the '90s and early '00s, and judging by this book I think it's also fair to say that he's slightly more interested in hip-hop as a pop culture phenomenon than as a capital-A Artform. I'm not not interested in hip-hop as a pop culture phenomenon—probably my favorite couple chapters here are the ones where Serrano basically "live"-tweets the 1995 Source Awards—but I'm more into the artistry personally, and wouldn't have minded more of that kind of analysis.

On the other hand, if you sanded off everything that makes this book a Shea Serrano book about hip-hop rather than just a book about hip-hop which happens to be by Shea Serrano, you'd also do away with most of what makes it fun to read in the first place. The intention here isn't really to present all the peer-reviewed, orthodox opinions on hip-hop history (although Serrano does pay his dues to all the right people, even it's just a line or two)—you can get that anywhere. It's about one specific person celebrating his specific relationship to a medium that he loves. As someone who also loves (but is still relatively new to) the world of hip-hop, I found Serrano's enthusiasm infectious, learned a bunch of trivia, chuckled a few times, nodded in agreement a few times, and picked up some song recommendations. That's all he's really going for, I think, and that's perfectly fine.

[chantel nouseforaname · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yo it took me forever to finish this, linear it is and is not. Shea Serrano is funny, but like sometimes he drags on the joke toooooo long my G. Otherwise the book was dope. Some of it was maaaad drawn out, and I almost dnf’d it, but I persisted. Some of my favourite is Shea predicting how great Meg would be. She is that great. I love that the Women and men in Rap are dealt with and reviewed equally. I appreciate that to no end. I love that he had a great long list of other great books by other great music writers listed at the end, it gives me a lot to move through, thanks Shea!

I almost forgot one of my favourite things about this book: the illustrations. So good! Missy in the rain is a favourite of mine. All the movies mentioned, Shea also gave me more to work through: Good Will Hunting, Carlito’s Way, gotta rewatch some movies.

[Sean Tenaglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

“No matter what happens, don’t stop rapping. Don’t. Stop. Rapping. If you’re in love, rap about being in love. If you’re getting money, wrap about getting money. If you’re broke, rap about being broke. There’s always going to be people that can relate to your station in life. You just have to not be afraid to tell them what that station is. Don’t stop rapping. You need to keep going.” —Bun B

Another classic from Shea. Not only is he a creative and inventive writer, but he’s one of the best storytellers out there. One chapter will be completely absurd (e.g. “What’d the Chicken Have to Say About Project Pat’s ‘Chickenhead?’”), then another will have you on the verge of tears as he eloquently hits on some universal, deeper meaning (e.g. finding comfort amidst the sadness of Mac’s “Circles”).

Hip-hop has always meant a lot to me, and it clearly has to Shea. I’m just so grateful that he could bottle some of those feelings and put them down on the page. This’ll join his other works as a permanent coffee table fixture.

[Jak Krumholtz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shea's voice stands out but chapters can vary wildly in quality. Glad I read it and love the random illustrations.

[Zahreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of Shea's books are fun to read and this one was no exception.

[Mike Lebow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Shea’s book are like just hanging out with an old friend who is passionate about the subject you’re discussing and also has a great sense of humor.

[Nathan Shuherk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shea has a brilliant and funny way of expressive his love for a subject. Hip Hop (And Other Things) is his own unique way talking about how culture and history (and sometimes unrelated diatribes) of rap is not only important, and, for mostly everyone, personal. While I did enjoy this and will always be a preorderer for all his books, I felt this book wasn’t as realized as the rest of his And Other Things series.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. I love Shea Serrano.

My level of respect for Missy, Lauryn Hill, and Cardi went up a few notches after reading this.

Watch the 1996 Fugees clip from The Apollo where they perform How Many Mics? Goose bumps.

Some clips:
14 is a sort of magic age for the development of musical tastes. Pubertal growth hormones make everything we're experiencing, including music, seem very important. We're just reaching a point in our cognitive development when we're developing our own tastes. And music tastes become a badge of identity.

1994 is (I would argue) the most purely great year in the history of rap. That's when Nas put out Illmatic, Biggie put out Ready to Die, Outkast put out Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, Scarface put out The Diary, UGK put out Super Tight, and Da Brat put out Funkdafied.

Illmatic is potentially, word-for-word, line-for-line, the greatest pure rap album that has ever rap albumed.

Nobody has ever had better control of their words and a better grasp on how to say them than Biggie. In his finest moments, he is a god creating the universe.

Nobody has ever had a stronger grasp how to pump words full of emotion than 2Pac. He weaponized charisma in a way that we hadn't seen before and we haven't seen since.

No two solo rappers have ever been as perfectly and inextricably linked as 2Pac and Biggie.

The answer to "2Pac or Biggie?" can only ever be 2Pac and Biggie.

[Tamas O'Doughda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been listening to No Skips with Jinx and Shea religiously, and have been enjoying Shea's half-joking reminders that he's a New York Times best-selling author and listeners should cop this book. So, I went ahead and got a copy and was really excited to read it. I've recently been picking up books I've got medium interest in, more like I'm just trying to maintain my reading life. But I was actually enthused and looking forward to reading this. And happily, it fulfilled expectations.

What was I looking for? Love and enthusiasm for hip-hop, interesting and funny life anecdotes, facts and background I didn't already know, and opinions that both challenged and confirmed my own. And this delivered on all fronts. I was mentally agreeing to things like Capone N Noreaga being underappreciated, arguing back that Outkast has FOUR essential/classic albums, not three, and laughing about the student-teacher "P-TOE" incident. And was astounded to learn that Run-DMC was getting a "Lifetime Achievement" award from the Source at 30-32 years old. I'm 35! And still feel pretty young. I can't imagine getting an award 3-5 years ago that basically meant, "Hey, you're no longer relevant, but we appreciate what you did ten years ago!" They tore the doors down at 20-22!? Snoop, Outkast, Nas too. I'm blown away at the legendary music that such young artists produced. It's astounding. And cool to look back on in this book.

Glad I got to read it.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything by Shea is super-enjoyable and represents his pure enjoyment of his subject on each page. This is the first time I didn't go five stars, and I'm sure it was mostly due to of his three "AOT" books, this is probably the subject I had the least knowledge or opinion on the subjects he was writing about. His basketball book was right in my wheelhouse and his movie one I had seen almost every film he wrote about. As my rap listening period was relatively limited to a 6 year period in my teens/early 20's that was a bit before Shea's main subject areas, I was experiencing much of his descriptions and stories about songs, albums or artists I hadn't really listed to that much - made it a little difficult to fully immerse myself in the writing.

The artwork but Arturo Torres was again excellent.

Recommend for anyone that likes Shea or rap, and if both it's a must have. FOH forever.

[Monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book that immediately captured my interest due to the overall concept of the essays and the visuals woven throughout.

However, while it had some good focus points, it lost me some of them. There were some questions and debates he raised that I was genuinely interested in to see the breakdown, but then he would throw some of those ideas away just because or because he wanted some humor.

This book had so much potential to be one of my favorites. Unfortunately, it just didn't fully live up to what it could have been.

[Paula Rooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was gifted this book by my dear friend Juice man Crossin. I did a crazy thing and both listened to this on audiobook and read along. The book has really fun footnotes I didn’t want to miss and very cool artwork. And the audiobook was read by a gentleman with a great voice who just made the book even more fun. It was a really fun concept where Shea asks questions about rap/hip-hop and then tries to answer them (sometimes with just his opinion which is entertaining). The majority can be kind of silly while also teaching you a good deal and also included a lot of his personal stories which I enjoyed. That ~finally read my coffee table book~ feeling.

[matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Serrano’s Rap Yearbook, Basketball and Other Things, and this book are exactly what I want from pop culture writing. Witty, sincere, clever, and impassioned. (Movies and Other Things was ok, but I’m not as much of a movie person as I am Rap, Hip-Hop, and basketball.)

[TJ Neer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shea Serrano is perfect. This book is perfect.

[Eddie Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never read a Shea Serrano book that didn't teach me things while also making me LOL.

[Keegan Siebenaler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading people talk about the ting they love. Shae Serrano loves hip hop in the same way I love it.

[Ryan Reese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Shea, and I love Shea's books. So many of the chapters he constructs are the types of debates and questions that I most love having with my friends. He is unendingly relatable and hilarious, and his takes are 90% spot-on. He is a master of footnotes, and he's one of the best at weaving together both hysterical and poignant personal anecdotes that never feel like too much of a jump cut. This book was great. All of his books are great.

[Kaleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fun. Tons of great conversations that can be had about hip-hop will spawn from this book. I enjoyed the humorous writing style a lot! Chapters were bite sized and you can skip around if you so choose.

[Grant Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love rap and nerding out about music this is the book for you. There's a chapter where he debates which album is better, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy or good kid, m.A.A.d city. There's a chapter where he discusses Lauryn Hill's career shooting percentage. There's a chapter where he decides which rap duo is the best. This book rules.

[Kieran · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m definitely tired of Shea’s writing style at this point. Don’t misunderstand me - I appreciate his loose, carefree tone, his passion, and his sense of humor. However, he never goes deep enough to say anything of value, instead always preferring to go for the low-hanging fruit and get the cheapest laugh.

Example A: the book opens with an essay examining who got hit the hardest by one of Jay-Z’s subtle disses. There is so much potential for analysis that is both insightful AND entertaining. Instead, Shea concludes that Geppetto, the puppet maker from Pinocchio, got hit the hardest. Funny, sure, but not meaningful in any way.

Example B: He walks us through a minute-by-minute recount of the 1995 Source Awards. 6,000 words and not once does he tell us WHY this particular award show was so impactful. Instead, he just writes rappers names in all caps when he gets excited to see them on stage.

The book is a fun read, and some sections are legitimately interesting, but I would highly recommend any book by Questlove or even Shea’s own Rap Year Book as examples of books about hip hop that manage to be funny and enjoyable without sacrificing depth and meaning.

[Charity P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shea Serrano has one of the most natural and engaging voices ever. His love and knowledge and personal connection to rap is in every single page. Insightful, charming, an homage to all the artists he writes about. I hope someday someone publishes an ode to Serrano with as much love and humor as he puts out there into the world.

[Leif Quinlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

See my review for Shea Serrano's "Basketball (And Other Things)"

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hip-Hop (And Other Things) is an entertaining celebration of rap music. Each of the 32 chapters focuses on a specific hip-hop history question: the most perfect duo in rap history, whether Action Bronson is a good travel partner, 2Pac or Biggie? Reading each chapter is like spending a couple of hours in the pub shooting the breeze with an engaging colleague who not only knows more about music than you do, but, annoyingly, is also smarter and funnier than you are.

The strength of Hip-Hop (And Other Things) is that Serrano clearly loves hip-hop. The weakness is that Serrano clearly loves hip-hop. The taint of saccharin becomes notable after a few chapters, when it becomes clear that Serrano's favoured artists are almost infallible. Serrano is the single hip-hop obsessive in the world unable to decide whatsoever between 2Pac and Biggie. When there are preferences, Serrano protests that if really, really forced he marginally, slightly, prefers Filet Mignon to Lobster Thermidor. While Biggie edges out Nas, the music of Nas still births universes, a line so good it is later used for Biggie as well. The cloying feel to the book misses the fact that love and heartbreak are intertwined. Everyone who loves hip-hop has their list of personal disappointments. I'm still scarred by the rapid realisation that Tha Alkoholiks 1997 album, Likwidation, was not the genre-defining breakthrough I anticipated.

Serrano's writing works is ideally suited to the Internet, and is less convincing in book form. After a few chapters you realise that each chapter works on the same formula. Make a list of hip-hop references, formulate a catchy question-based title, and find a twist so it looks like it wasn't just a list. Then liberally mix in movie references and the odd pseudo-intellectual reference (ideally cognitive neuroscience) and the chapter writes itself. When Serrano sticks to the basics it works well, as when he suggests the best person for a guest verse in each period through the history of rap. It works less well in other cases. Lauryn Hill's career being quantified as a basketball shooting percentage is convoluted. Giving various Nas lyrics a 'percent Nasian' reference feels similarly forced, particularly when a nondescript line by Nas's standards ("My window faced shootouts, drug overdoses") gets a high 94 percent score.

Despite these relative quibbles, Hip Hop (And Other Things) is a smart, amusing history of an art-form that has increasingly received the literary attention it deserves. Readers will find themselves nodding away as vigorously as if they were listening to a DJ Premier track. Even for a celebration of hip-hop, it is overly positive, with Serrano channelling his inner Voltaire to claim that all is for the best is this best of all possible hip-hop worlds. The thing is, he's largely right. Hip-Hop is fantastic. Celebrate it with Serrano.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun. Clever. Thoughtful.

Think of this book as a love letter to hip-hop. For the uninitiated, Shea's style is this delightful blend of sarcastic yet warm. You can tell he loves this music, but more importantly, he loves talking about it with other super-fans.

That's what I enjoy most about Shea's work and delivery - it feels like he's addressing a room full of close friends who all want to jaw and debate endlessly about their favorite topics. Yet, the tone never feels know-it-all or obnoxious. He simply wants to talk about what he loves most about hip-hop. Sure, he drops all sorts of over-the-top opinions, but you get the sense that he'd happily discuss this stuff with just about anyone.

Another thing I enjoy about Shea's style - you don't have to actually be a big fan of hip-hop to enjoy this book. That same writerly grace appeared in his books about movies and basketball. Sure, it would be GREAT if you were as a big a nerd about the topic as he is, but you don't have to be. That's where his legacy as a middle school science teacher comes to the fore: he might know more than you, but he is also REALLLLLLLY excited to teach you about stuff if you show even the slightest bit of interest.

Like most of Shea's books, the chapters revolve around the sort of debates close friends have about their favorite topics. He delivers discussions about DMX, the 1995 Source Awards, Cardi B, the best duos in rap, Nas, Biggie, & 2Pac, but he does so in the form of wacky, yet relatable lists that are quite conversational in tone.

All in all, this is an excellent bookend to the first four books in Shea's career, the first of which is The Rap Year Book - which remains my favorite of his.

[Sean - WillSeanYawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shea’s AOT series are basically a collection of essays. The chapters are independent of each other, so you can read the book a la carte if you want. Each chapter starts with a question, and Shea proceeds to try and answer it. Some can be serious questions like: Which was the most perfect duo in rap history? Some can be silly questions like: Where's the second most impractical place Ludacris mentions having sex in during "What's Your Fantasy"? The book also has amazing artwork by @arturodraws and ridiculous diagrams in it, like bar graphs about how fun fictional drug dealers would be to hang out with. Plus there are footnotes that add more flavor to an already enjoyable read.

A few of the chapters are written as hypothetical conversations. There's a Good Cop/Bad Cop chapter about Cardi B. There's a chapter where a chicken is having a press conference and fielding questions from reporters. It's so ridiculous and I laughed out loud several times (My wife can attest to that).

But he also has more serious and emotional chapters.
One takes a turn from talking about Rapper trading cards to talking about Mac Miller. And I felt emotional reading about that. (Miller tragically passed away in 2018 at the age of 26) Shea wrote a paragraph about how he didn't know how to put his emotions in to words when he was listening to Mac Miller's posthumously released album "Circles". And let me tell you, it takes a talented writer to write such a beautiful passage about not being able to find the right words.

1 absolutely recommend this book for anyone who listens to Hip-Hop.

[Mario · Rating 4 out of 5]

The same format as the two previous books from the (And Other Things) series. Shea asks a bunch of questions related to Hip -Hop and answers them in his style.

Some of the questions are what you would expect to find in a book about hip-hop/rap such as '2Pac or Biggie?', 'Which Was the Most Perfect Duo in Rap History?', 'How Do You Talk About Missy Elliott's Supa Dupa Fly?' and then there's the other sillier, more jokey side such as 'Where's the Second Most Impractical Place Ludacris Mentions Having Sex In During "What's Your Fantasy?" and an entire chapter written as a Q&A between reporters and a literal chicken!

Shea is passionate about the topic, he loves the genre and the artists and shows that in his writing as he only talks about songs/artists that he likes and what they mean to him, not about those he doesn't. And he mixes in many personal stories and pop culture references within the essays. For those not familiar with Shea's work, this isn't a deep dive into hip-hop/rap or anything like that but it's not supposed to be. See above re: the talking chicken.

There are 32 chapters but some are the same essay split into 2+ parts. So overall there are 24 questions to be answered. Not all of them were hits in my opinion but not everyone can shoot at the same percentage as Lauryn Hill (you'll know what this means if you've read the book).

[Braulio Ambriz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shea is known for his incredibly unique and hilarious writing style, and although this is the first book of his I’ve read, I was privy to his personality by listening to his podcast w/ Jinx called No Skips, which I highly recommend.

This is basically Shea just letting his intrusive thoughts about hip hop win over and writing them down for us to digest and relate to, and it works beautifully. He covers a lot of ground and topics that aren’t talked about as much as they should be, and others that nobody would’ve ever thought about discussing.

As someone who has listened mainly only to hip hop released 2010-present, I only have vague understandings of legendary hip hop moments and time periods, so Shea helps with truly grasping how those things felt in the moment they happened.

I think I speak for many younger readers when I say that I wish he had more sections about more recently released music, but Shea makes it very clear that he writes only about whatever he wants, which you can’t help but respect. I also wish there were more interactive parts like he did for the “make your own teenage mixtape” page. Overall a very fun read and recommend to anyone wanting to dive more into hip hop culture!

[Sirbriang2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first thing to know about Shea Serrano’s HIP-HOP (AND OTHER THINGS) is that you don’t need to be heavily into hip-hop to enjoy this book. The second thing to know about HHAOT is that it obviously helps if you know what the hell Shea is talking about. And “talks” is the correct word to use; Serrano has an extremely conversational style, which is probably the best reason to read this. It’s like being at a bonfire where everyone else has gone inside, but you and one person stay out by the fire and just bullshit for a few hours on a single topic.

It’s not a history of the musical genre. It’s absolutely biased and arbitrary in its judgements. And — depending on how much you know about hip-hop — you might find yourself skimming or skipping portions. And all of that is perfectly fine. If you want a book that will make you want to excited to hear some music (whether it’s nostalgia or for a first listen), this is for you.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a fun book that feels like you're having a spirited conversation about hip hop with your friends where the conversation goes off the rails sometimes. At its best, this book is insightful about Hip Hop's past with funny quips and personal anecdotes that remind you of arguments with your best friend. At its worst, it's absurdist and off topic to the point where it's just "Other Things" and the original onus is nowhere to be seen. Depending on how much you like Shea and his sense of humor, your opinion may vary on these sections.

Still, Shea is more funnier than not, so I'd recommend this to Hip Hop fans. Due to the way the book is laid out (a series of seemingly bizarre essay topics), it's pretty easy to skip past the ones that don't resonate.