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The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop
The Big Payback takes readers from the first $15 made by a rapping DJ" in 1970s New York to the multi-million-dollar sales of the Phat Farm and Roc-a-Wear clothing companies in 2004 and 2007. On this four-decade-long journey from the studios where the first rap records were made to the boardrooms where the big deals were inked, The Big Payback tallies the list of who lost and who won. Read the secret histories of the early long-shot successes of Sugar Hill Records and Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC's crossover breakthrough on MTV, the marketing of gangsta rap, and the rise of artist/ entrepreneurs like Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs.
300 industry giants like Def Jam founders Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons gave their stories to renowned hip-hop journalist Dan Charnas, who provides a compelling, never-before-seen, myth-debunking view into the victories, defeats, corporate clashes, and street battles along the 40-year road to hip-hop's dominance.
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672 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 7, 2010
149 people are currently reading
2734 people want to read
About the author
Dan Charnas
7 books110 followersDan Charnas is the author of the definitive history of the hip-hop business, The Big Payback (NAL/Penguin). He’s also the author of Work Clean (Rodale/Harmony), a book detailing applying chefs’ techniques to almost any life situation. He was also the co-creator and executive producer of the VH1 movie and TV series, The Breaks. He lives in Manhattan, and is an associate professor at NYU/Tisch’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 128 reviews
May 6, 2012
This is an encyclopedic guide to hip-hop history and hip-hop business deals which I would recommend to anyone interested in modern music history. The first half of this book reads incredibly well, as Dan Charnas is able to weave together various, seemingly unrelated stories with such ease. This book is pretty dense and I was barely able to read a page without jotting down a name or label or song to look up later. You can tell that Charnas not only has a lot of knowledge about hip-hop, especially in its infancy, but that he and his team put a remarkable amount of research in the book. The early stories are fascinating, as Charnas cites the happen-chance encounters, failed deals, minor successes and big breaks that pushed the budding art form along. While I was reading the book, I was consistently floored by the amount of interviews this must have required. Details down the the name of clubs, club owners, how they dressed, how they talked and how Russell Simmons convinced them to let a new act perform really set the bar for future hip-hop books/documentaries.
The second half of the book focuses more on later hip-hop, which was a great way for me to learn about the music and artists I thought I already knew about. Learning about how hip-hop slowly gained acceptance and made its way to the west coast was also really great. As I mentioned above, this book is pretty dense, and as a result, I sort of wore myself out after about 400 pages and a couple dozen post-it notes of names and dates! This isn't a read-before-bed type of book; rather it was actually pretty exciting to read, and you do need to be engaged as a reader. I feel like the second half of the book was less "story-like" than the first half, which read like a Bronx fairytale. Kool Herc and his "merry-go-round" and Run-DMC with their Adidas shoes. This book made me wish I had been a kid in New York during the eighties, buying 7-inch singles and waiting for my favorite radio MCs to come on, rather than skipping songs on Pandora like we do today.
I'm giving this book 5 stars for the enormous amount of information it contains. It's one of the most well-researched books I've read. The stories were fascinating to read, but I do wish the book had been broken down into smaller sections to make it easier to find a certain part again. However, the index is pretty detailed.
Another thing that bugged me once I got to the end of the book is how much of a focus Charnas put on Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. At times, it seemed like he was writing their biographies. I understand that they did play a pivotal role in early hip-hop, especially with the Def Jam label, but I feel like Charnas' personal connection to the two got in the way. Furthermore, Charnas vilifies certain individuals (like the Robinsons), and I understand why, but when the creators of say, Tommy Boy, engage in some of the same backhanded dealings, they don't get burned by Charnas words as harshly. Again, as an industry insider, I feel like Charnas personal connections did bias the final product. And no, telling us how messy Rick's dorm room was didn't really balance out the Rubin worship! Lastly, I commend Charnas and his team for using the "business" slant to weave together the various stories, but I do feel that that got a bit lost and fell a bit flat at times. A section of the book would finish and before he forgot, Charnas wold tack on "and that was how this business deal, which reflects the American values of this and that, shaped this and that." I guess it worked, but it didn't fall into place as naturally as everything else.
I know the "cons" paragraph is long, but those were really just minor personal irks for me, which I just wanted to get out! Overall, this is an incredibly well-researched, detailed and truly fascinating piece.
The second half of the book focuses more on later hip-hop, which was a great way for me to learn about the music and artists I thought I already knew about. Learning about how hip-hop slowly gained acceptance and made its way to the west coast was also really great. As I mentioned above, this book is pretty dense, and as a result, I sort of wore myself out after about 400 pages and a couple dozen post-it notes of names and dates! This isn't a read-before-bed type of book; rather it was actually pretty exciting to read, and you do need to be engaged as a reader. I feel like the second half of the book was less "story-like" than the first half, which read like a Bronx fairytale. Kool Herc and his "merry-go-round" and Run-DMC with their Adidas shoes. This book made me wish I had been a kid in New York during the eighties, buying 7-inch singles and waiting for my favorite radio MCs to come on, rather than skipping songs on Pandora like we do today.
I'm giving this book 5 stars for the enormous amount of information it contains. It's one of the most well-researched books I've read. The stories were fascinating to read, but I do wish the book had been broken down into smaller sections to make it easier to find a certain part again. However, the index is pretty detailed.
Another thing that bugged me once I got to the end of the book is how much of a focus Charnas put on Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. At times, it seemed like he was writing their biographies. I understand that they did play a pivotal role in early hip-hop, especially with the Def Jam label, but I feel like Charnas' personal connection to the two got in the way. Furthermore, Charnas vilifies certain individuals (like the Robinsons), and I understand why, but when the creators of say, Tommy Boy, engage in some of the same backhanded dealings, they don't get burned by Charnas words as harshly. Again, as an industry insider, I feel like Charnas personal connections did bias the final product. And no, telling us how messy Rick's dorm room was didn't really balance out the Rubin worship! Lastly, I commend Charnas and his team for using the "business" slant to weave together the various stories, but I do feel that that got a bit lost and fell a bit flat at times. A section of the book would finish and before he forgot, Charnas wold tack on "and that was how this business deal, which reflects the American values of this and that, shaped this and that." I guess it worked, but it didn't fall into place as naturally as everything else.
I know the "cons" paragraph is long, but those were really just minor personal irks for me, which I just wanted to get out! Overall, this is an incredibly well-researched, detailed and truly fascinating piece.
May 2, 2024
Feel like I learnt way more about the business from this than you could from some textbook. It's so thorough in looking at exactly what deal did what for who and when. As scummy as it all was, I find myself looking at how things worked then more fondly; the endless warrens of regional radio, street teams, small-time labels honestly sounds easier - or at least more tangible - than "just get big on tiktok".
He DOES focus too much on Def Jam, so finding out he worked for Rubin makes sense, he does (understandably cause it sucks) give up rather quickly on the super-commercialised rap landscape of the 2000s, and I would've liked to hear about the South way more - Dungeon Fam get one mention, Wayne and Cash Money one, OutKast none! - but there is probably only so much one can fit in a 700 page book without takin the piss
He DOES focus too much on Def Jam, so finding out he worked for Rubin makes sense, he does (understandably cause it sucks) give up rather quickly on the super-commercialised rap landscape of the 2000s, and I would've liked to hear about the South way more - Dungeon Fam get one mention, Wayne and Cash Money one, OutKast none! - but there is probably only so much one can fit in a 700 page book without takin the piss
December 27, 2023
This was a cool book. I almost think calling it the history of the "business" of hip-hop is doing it a disservice. It's a huge book and I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to read that much about the business side. But this is a pretty comprehensive book about the history of hip-hop. At least the early days which is the part I found most fascinating.
January 27, 2013
Dan Charnas is aware that some disgruntled rap purists may eschew his epic tome on planet hip-hop's animated cast of titanic dick swingers. The author says so right there in the intro: "My approach may not appeal to hip-hop fans who believe that the culture existed in some pristine state before it was sold, nor to those who believe that corporate executives assembled in a room and decided to promote violent, misogynistic hip-hop for profit and the degradation of Black people." His point is understandable - the rise of rap in the mainstream is a black-and-white tale only in terms of its characters. But in many ways, The Big Payback validates the spite that righteous heads have for contemporary bastard-issue boom-bap, and it confirms the notion that nefarious interests have always threatened authenticity and stained the commercial face of hip-hop.
It turns out that the story behind the rap business, though at times confusing, isn't very complicated. The dozens of leading and peripheral personalities portrayed by Charnas can be divided into three basic categories: salesmen who believed in hip-hop as an art form, sharks who dabbled just to stack chips, and dopes who rejected rap altogether and in turn faded out. But though Charnas is an industry veteran of Profile Records, Def American, and the Source magazine, he presents them all objectively, from the creeps to the geeks. The Big Payback isn't just the most comprehensive journalistic account of hip-hop ever written — it's a mature, Pulitzer-worthy work, an integral account of essential urban history on a par with Robert A. Caro's The Power Broker.
And though casual rap fans may find lessons and amusement in these pages, for hardcore hip-hop enthusiasts this is a feast, as well as an elaborate complement to such established staples as Nelson George's Hip-Hop America. In sections that both parse and transcend distinguishable categories (New York and Los Angeles, record labels and radio stations, and so on), Charnas delivers detailed goods that could surprise even the most learned rap aficionado. His account of slimy Sylvia and Joe Robinson's Sugar Hill Records is riveting; the rifts among the Def Jam founders have rarely been so explicitly aired; some monumental contributions from promoters and disc jockeys are reported for the first time. And there are some delicious trivial minutiae. Who the hell knew that Jon Schecter, who helped build the Source from a Harvard dorm room, was in a rap group called the White Boys with a friend who inherited the same NYU dorm room where Ric Rubin first recorded L.L. Cool J?
Overall, the author creates compelling master narratives that intertwine those in his sights - record breakers and decision makers from Wu-Tang and Bad Boy to Death Row and Cash Money. Without a hint of academic noise or overreaching, Charney offers stories that are universes bigger than the music itself and that respect the architects without pandering. Most admirably, there's much more showing than there is telling. The number of renowned individuals from outside rap's immediate realm who make cameos - from Al Sharpton and Vincent Gallo to Barack Obama - attests to how severely this genre vandalized the American tapestry from early on. By his own admission, the author himself was not enough of a power broker to appear in his own book. But when it comes time to write a history of hip-hop scribes who ignore mythology in order to reveal inconvenient truths, Dan Charnas will be the first name mentioned.
From my review in the Boston Phoenix: http://thephoenix.com/boston/arts/113...
It turns out that the story behind the rap business, though at times confusing, isn't very complicated. The dozens of leading and peripheral personalities portrayed by Charnas can be divided into three basic categories: salesmen who believed in hip-hop as an art form, sharks who dabbled just to stack chips, and dopes who rejected rap altogether and in turn faded out. But though Charnas is an industry veteran of Profile Records, Def American, and the Source magazine, he presents them all objectively, from the creeps to the geeks. The Big Payback isn't just the most comprehensive journalistic account of hip-hop ever written — it's a mature, Pulitzer-worthy work, an integral account of essential urban history on a par with Robert A. Caro's The Power Broker.
And though casual rap fans may find lessons and amusement in these pages, for hardcore hip-hop enthusiasts this is a feast, as well as an elaborate complement to such established staples as Nelson George's Hip-Hop America. In sections that both parse and transcend distinguishable categories (New York and Los Angeles, record labels and radio stations, and so on), Charnas delivers detailed goods that could surprise even the most learned rap aficionado. His account of slimy Sylvia and Joe Robinson's Sugar Hill Records is riveting; the rifts among the Def Jam founders have rarely been so explicitly aired; some monumental contributions from promoters and disc jockeys are reported for the first time. And there are some delicious trivial minutiae. Who the hell knew that Jon Schecter, who helped build the Source from a Harvard dorm room, was in a rap group called the White Boys with a friend who inherited the same NYU dorm room where Ric Rubin first recorded L.L. Cool J?
Overall, the author creates compelling master narratives that intertwine those in his sights - record breakers and decision makers from Wu-Tang and Bad Boy to Death Row and Cash Money. Without a hint of academic noise or overreaching, Charney offers stories that are universes bigger than the music itself and that respect the architects without pandering. Most admirably, there's much more showing than there is telling. The number of renowned individuals from outside rap's immediate realm who make cameos - from Al Sharpton and Vincent Gallo to Barack Obama - attests to how severely this genre vandalized the American tapestry from early on. By his own admission, the author himself was not enough of a power broker to appear in his own book. But when it comes time to write a history of hip-hop scribes who ignore mythology in order to reveal inconvenient truths, Dan Charnas will be the first name mentioned.
From my review in the Boston Phoenix: http://thephoenix.com/boston/arts/113...
November 12, 2014
This is too thoroughly detailed and well put together to give any less five stars, but I could spend all day nitpicking it if I wanted to. (I've got a lot of free time, but I've also got a lot of "hobbies.") So I'll just point out a few things.
(1) The author is a lot less clever than he thinks he is, and a lot of these anecdotes and coincidences aren't as interesting as he thinks they are. Charnas is the worst kind of elderly barbershop raconteur.
(2) He's also more reverent of and less skeptical about the Tom Silvermans and Lyor Cohens of the world. I've literally never heard anyone say anything nice about either of those guys. The worst we learn about Lyor is that he was apparently on a constant cocaine IV drip throughout the late '80s and probably to this day -- which mostly just made me more jealous of him than I already was. You could easily see someone taking a way different approach to the same subject matter, i.e. writing this as a series of horror stories.
(3) This book is clearly a relic of a time when President Chocolate Jesus filled America's collective heart with hope. Er, a time when you could get a book deal based on that anyway. On the one hand, this book's ending suggests that hip-hop had more or less run its course by '08, which was decidedly prescient, but on the other hand, the suggestions that Obama would do the black community any good, and that hip-hop was finally rid of cultural appropriation, seem like someone's idea of a cruel joke, in light of what's happened since.
(1) The author is a lot less clever than he thinks he is, and a lot of these anecdotes and coincidences aren't as interesting as he thinks they are. Charnas is the worst kind of elderly barbershop raconteur.
(2) He's also more reverent of and less skeptical about the Tom Silvermans and Lyor Cohens of the world. I've literally never heard anyone say anything nice about either of those guys. The worst we learn about Lyor is that he was apparently on a constant cocaine IV drip throughout the late '80s and probably to this day -- which mostly just made me more jealous of him than I already was. You could easily see someone taking a way different approach to the same subject matter, i.e. writing this as a series of horror stories.
(3) This book is clearly a relic of a time when President Chocolate Jesus filled America's collective heart with hope. Er, a time when you could get a book deal based on that anyway. On the one hand, this book's ending suggests that hip-hop had more or less run its course by '08, which was decidedly prescient, but on the other hand, the suggestions that Obama would do the black community any good, and that hip-hop was finally rid of cultural appropriation, seem like someone's idea of a cruel joke, in light of what's happened since.
December 13, 2010
“The man who invented American money lived and died in Harlem.”
Thus begins The Big Payback, a tour-de-force of a book that details the rise of rap music from the burned-out blocks of the South Bronx in the 1970s to the top of the international mainstream music world today. Tracking more than 30 years of hip-hop’s history, it gives readers a peek at the origins of all the major players in the genre today–and the pioneers on whose shoulders they stand.
This sweeping narrative reminds readers that hip-hop has merged with mainstream popular music despite the naysayers who, even today, write it off as a passing fad. One need look no further than the obscure DJs spinning in sweaty South Bronx clubs in the book’s early chapters to the rap stars starting their own companies by the book's end to realize how far hip-hop has come, and where it may yet go.
In a year that has seen plenty of hip-hop books, The Big Payback stands out as a must-read for any fan (or even any detractor) of the genre.
Thus begins The Big Payback, a tour-de-force of a book that details the rise of rap music from the burned-out blocks of the South Bronx in the 1970s to the top of the international mainstream music world today. Tracking more than 30 years of hip-hop’s history, it gives readers a peek at the origins of all the major players in the genre today–and the pioneers on whose shoulders they stand.
This sweeping narrative reminds readers that hip-hop has merged with mainstream popular music despite the naysayers who, even today, write it off as a passing fad. One need look no further than the obscure DJs spinning in sweaty South Bronx clubs in the book’s early chapters to the rap stars starting their own companies by the book's end to realize how far hip-hop has come, and where it may yet go.
In a year that has seen plenty of hip-hop books, The Big Payback stands out as a must-read for any fan (or even any detractor) of the genre.
February 26, 2011
This was a great reference for filling in many of my missing links in hip-hop. You get an idea of who the artists are as people, how they got into the industry and how they were discovered.
What you also get is a window into the depths of the music business - more than "industry rule 4080/record company people are shadyyyyyy". It explains how some execs short artists, make colossal mistakes and eventually get around to having an upper hand.
I didn't pay much attention to the business side of hip-hop - I always found the music more interesting, but the contract/promotion/business side definitely impacts what music comes out, when it comes out, and in a large part, what succeeds.
Well written and researched.
What you also get is a window into the depths of the music business - more than "industry rule 4080/record company people are shadyyyyyy". It explains how some execs short artists, make colossal mistakes and eventually get around to having an upper hand.
I didn't pay much attention to the business side of hip-hop - I always found the music more interesting, but the contract/promotion/business side definitely impacts what music comes out, when it comes out, and in a large part, what succeeds.
Well written and researched.
April 22, 2021
A huge encyclopedia about the business of hip-hop. The research that has gone in to this was staggering.
Really enjoyed the first half about how rap came in to fruition and its first real push into the public eye in the late 80s. The passages about The Source were incredibly interesting. I probably cared less about the radio station battles in America as I am probably less familiar.
Would love Charnas to chronicle more on rap post 2000. The parts of Diddy, Jay-Z and the small section on 50 Cent and how they made their money was fascinating. As much as I appreciate Russell Simmons it did feel like it was a biography on his life at times.
Really enjoyed the first half about how rap came in to fruition and its first real push into the public eye in the late 80s. The passages about The Source were incredibly interesting. I probably cared less about the radio station battles in America as I am probably less familiar.
Would love Charnas to chronicle more on rap post 2000. The parts of Diddy, Jay-Z and the small section on 50 Cent and how they made their money was fascinating. As much as I appreciate Russell Simmons it did feel like it was a biography on his life at times.
May 1, 2023
Really thorough review of hip hop's journey from Harlem club fad to dominant musical force. The book addresses some of the major artists from the early 70s through to the late aughts particularly artists who achieved some sort of cultural or business milestone but the focus here is on the varied business people who collectively made hip hop what it is today. It took visionaries across disciplines to take hip hop from Kool Herc's backbeat parties to a cultural phenomenon and not just a niche genre like funk or emo. The book is impressively broad touching on agents, labels, promoters, radio programmers, publishers, and ad execs. Dan Charnas has done a great job taking a broad lens and pulling everything together into a cohesive timeline and story including things like:
1) The importance of radio station programmers like KMEL in San Francisco that broke free from old school "black" and "white" radio to play hip hop together with rock.
2) Just how important fashion was and how some key rap acts and execs built brands that earned more than the music including Wu Wear, Sean John, and RocaWear.
3) The Source was an instrumental publication to treat hip hop as a legitimate art form and not a joke. They played a key role in trashing pop rap like Hammer and Vanilla Ice and defining what real hip hop is. Yo MTV Raps played a similar role on television.
4) It took a beverage no one really cared about (Sprite) for an ad exec to build an advertising campaign around Nas, KRS One, and Q-Tip. I vaguely remember this and it still amazes me that this happened.
Despite the breadth, the central spine of the book and, in many respects the central spine of hip hop, is the vicissitudes of Def Jam. The first label to take hip hop seriously including landing artists like Run DMC, Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J, Def Jam has continued to chart the progress of hip hop all the way through to its merger with Rocafella. In particular, the book tracks three major Def Jam players and a fourth sort of Def Jam player: Rick Rubin (the auteur), Russell Simmons (the promoter), and Lyor Cohen (the businessman). Chris Lighty, the Def Jam intern turned exec turned bought out partner is the fourth.
It's also intriguing to see how the growth of hip hop has followed the S Curve similar to any new innovation. The initial years are ruled by innovators who built the techniques still in use today. People like Grandmaster Flash (fascinating sidebar story from the book, the video for Rapture was supposed to recapture a visit Debbie Harry made to a club with Fab 5 Freddy including Flash on the decks. Flash couldn't make the video taping so they subbed in Freddy's friend Jean-Michel Basqiat to play the part). In addition to the innovators, though, this period is also ruled by a bunch of hucksters trying to make a quick buck. Dan Charnas covers a lot of these labels that died out after 2-3 years including Tin Pan Records which never did anything more than serve as a vehicle for the Fat Boys. It amazes me in hindsight that any business was ever able to be profitable (even for a few years) solely on the back of the Fat Boys.
The middle years of the S Curve are where you need solid businesses like Def Jam, the Source, and KMEL to legitimize the art form and broaden the audience. And you also have artists like the Wu Tang who were able to write contracts that finally rewarded the artists. Finally, when you get to the plateau of the S Curve you get to the execs who were able to show how to diversify product lines beyond the music including the likes of Puffy, Chris Lighty, and Jay-Z. I'd forgotten that 50 Cent was a co investor in Glaceau with Lighty and made something like $300M when Coke bought Glaceau. Unbelievable.
The only caution I'd throw out about the book is that it's pretty encyclopedic and can read like a textbook at times. It wasn't a fast read for me. If you're not a fan of hip hop, it might be a slog. If you are a fan, I absolutely recommend this.
1) The importance of radio station programmers like KMEL in San Francisco that broke free from old school "black" and "white" radio to play hip hop together with rock.
2) Just how important fashion was and how some key rap acts and execs built brands that earned more than the music including Wu Wear, Sean John, and RocaWear.
3) The Source was an instrumental publication to treat hip hop as a legitimate art form and not a joke. They played a key role in trashing pop rap like Hammer and Vanilla Ice and defining what real hip hop is. Yo MTV Raps played a similar role on television.
4) It took a beverage no one really cared about (Sprite) for an ad exec to build an advertising campaign around Nas, KRS One, and Q-Tip. I vaguely remember this and it still amazes me that this happened.
Despite the breadth, the central spine of the book and, in many respects the central spine of hip hop, is the vicissitudes of Def Jam. The first label to take hip hop seriously including landing artists like Run DMC, Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J, Def Jam has continued to chart the progress of hip hop all the way through to its merger with Rocafella. In particular, the book tracks three major Def Jam players and a fourth sort of Def Jam player: Rick Rubin (the auteur), Russell Simmons (the promoter), and Lyor Cohen (the businessman). Chris Lighty, the Def Jam intern turned exec turned bought out partner is the fourth.
It's also intriguing to see how the growth of hip hop has followed the S Curve similar to any new innovation. The initial years are ruled by innovators who built the techniques still in use today. People like Grandmaster Flash (fascinating sidebar story from the book, the video for Rapture was supposed to recapture a visit Debbie Harry made to a club with Fab 5 Freddy including Flash on the decks. Flash couldn't make the video taping so they subbed in Freddy's friend Jean-Michel Basqiat to play the part). In addition to the innovators, though, this period is also ruled by a bunch of hucksters trying to make a quick buck. Dan Charnas covers a lot of these labels that died out after 2-3 years including Tin Pan Records which never did anything more than serve as a vehicle for the Fat Boys. It amazes me in hindsight that any business was ever able to be profitable (even for a few years) solely on the back of the Fat Boys.
The middle years of the S Curve are where you need solid businesses like Def Jam, the Source, and KMEL to legitimize the art form and broaden the audience. And you also have artists like the Wu Tang who were able to write contracts that finally rewarded the artists. Finally, when you get to the plateau of the S Curve you get to the execs who were able to show how to diversify product lines beyond the music including the likes of Puffy, Chris Lighty, and Jay-Z. I'd forgotten that 50 Cent was a co investor in Glaceau with Lighty and made something like $300M when Coke bought Glaceau. Unbelievable.
The only caution I'd throw out about the book is that it's pretty encyclopedic and can read like a textbook at times. It wasn't a fast read for me. If you're not a fan of hip hop, it might be a slog. If you are a fan, I absolutely recommend this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 16, 2020
This was so much better than I even expected. An important book to anyone who is interested in what makes a culture, a society, a people. And how that all happened with hip hop.
January 18, 2011
Wonderful for about the first 500 pages. Charnas is great on how people started recording rap (great bits on how the Robinsons of Sugar Hill records had the first rap smash with "Rapper's Delight," then squandered it by remorselessly ripping off their artists), how Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin started Def Jam, how rap got on the radio (a particularly sharp exploration of how the business worked and how the Bay's own KMEL played a major role in making rap part of a community's listening), and a great discussion of the ramifications of the "Cop Killer" controversy. Plus detours into things like Sprite's adroit use of old-school rap insider knowledge to build its cred and the growth of street teams. He has an implicit black power teleology here that makes sense (the key is to get into relations of production, not just to produce culture) that provides a useful framework. It's just that the story kind of deserts him toward the end; analytically it makes sense to conclude this way, but I had to slog through the last 70 pages, which were way too full for my taste of various infightings among the principals of Def Jam; Jay-Z vs Damon Dash; and more James Stewart-type high-finance doings. I lost track of how many times people were kicked out of meetings for various kinds of threats, and who had taken over for whom where. By that point they're all incredibly rich. Still, for a good 500 or so pages this is really great, and it makes you think anew about how "culture" is produced, why, and by whom.
April 13, 2011
All the other reviews had it right; great for the first 500 pages, and then the later developments of JayZ and Rocafella took over.
What I don't get is how a book of this magnitude, focusing on the business of hip-hop, completely ignored Rawkus Records, a mainstay in indie rap for almost ten years. A label that brought us Pharoahe Monch, Mos Def, and others, isn't even MENTIONED. And the way they plummeted would be VERY interesting reading, but they're not even mentioned. Def Jux' omission is a bit less critical, but still key to understanding the move to indie hiphop in the 90s-2000s. I really enjoyed the book, but those things stood out for me.
What I don't get is how a book of this magnitude, focusing on the business of hip-hop, completely ignored Rawkus Records, a mainstay in indie rap for almost ten years. A label that brought us Pharoahe Monch, Mos Def, and others, isn't even MENTIONED. And the way they plummeted would be VERY interesting reading, but they're not even mentioned. Def Jux' omission is a bit less critical, but still key to understanding the move to indie hiphop in the 90s-2000s. I really enjoyed the book, but those things stood out for me.
May 14, 2012
This is hands down the most interesting hip-hop history book I have ever read. Radio, record labels, journalism, marketing—"The Big Payback" goes beyond the common myths and typical artist bios to uncover the often overlooked pioneers who helped push the genre to the forefront of American culture. Even hip-hop's most overexposed stories feel new with the level of exhaustive detail and fresh analysis Mr. Charnas brings to the table. As far as I'm concerned, this book sets the new standard. I'm embarrassed that I waited so long after its release to read it!
February 25, 2011
Certainly the best-researched book on hip-hop I've read (pro tip: stay away from anything labeled "oral history"--bound to be full of errors and half-recollections). The author did a good job keeping the business dealings as interesting as possible. I was surprised he didn't mention how sampling, specifically the need to pay for samples, changed the industry by changing the music. A must-read for fans.
April 1, 2017
Rating - 9.8
A mesmerizing read on the business facets of hip hop (records, radio, publication, clothing, etc) & how it has taken over as a pre-eminent brand within America (w the white rich getting whiter & richer)
Tracking through all the artists was a bit of nostalgia lane but the cliches of money, greed & corruption are more apparent; Also implied many times is the clutches of organized crime within the industry
A mesmerizing read on the business facets of hip hop (records, radio, publication, clothing, etc) & how it has taken over as a pre-eminent brand within America (w the white rich getting whiter & richer)
Tracking through all the artists was a bit of nostalgia lane but the cliches of money, greed & corruption are more apparent; Also implied many times is the clutches of organized crime within the industry
December 28, 2013
WOW! Detailed, filled with interesting backstories and histories. A thorough look at the birth and growth of the Rap music world. An interesting read for anyone interested in music/contemporary history/popular culture... even if you're not a Hip Hop fan (and I'm not!). Heavy lifting but worth the effort. Reads like a novel. Really, a terrific, engrossing book - very hard to put down!!!
January 5, 2011
Well researched, well written, and generally awesome.
September 24, 2013
So dense, but so worth it.
June 24, 2025
Dan Charnas’ The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop is a captivating dive into the evolution of hip-hop from a gritty street subculture to a global commercial juggernaut. For fans of hip-hop or music history in general, this book is a treasure trove of insights, offering a meticulously researched narrative that traces the genre’s rise through the lens of its business dealings. It’s an essential read for anyone passionate about understanding how hip-hop transformed from South Bronx block parties to a multibillion-dollar industry.
One of the book’s standout strengths is its ability to unearth fascinating, lesser-known stories. For instance, I was particularly struck by the account of the 1991 Grand Upright Music v. Warner Bros. lawsuit involving Biz Markie, which redefined the rules of sampling in hip-hop. Learning how this legal battle forced producers to rethink their creative process was eye-opening and added a new layer to my appreciation of the genre’s evolution. Charnas’ knack for weaving such pivotal moments with vivid anecdotes—drawn from over 300 interviews with artists, producers, and executives—makes the book feel alive and authoritative.
However, The Big Payback isn’t without flaws. At times, the level of detail can be overwhelming, particularly in sections dissecting corporate maneuvers or obscure label disputes. While these details might thrill industry insiders, they occasionally bog down the narrative for casual readers. Conversely, the book omits or glosses over some significant aspects of hip-hop’s history. For example, the contributions of Southern scenes like Atlanta and Houston feel underexplored compared to the heavy focus on New York and Los Angeles. This uneven coverage left me wanting a more comprehensive view of the genre’s regional diversity.
Overall, The Big Payback earns a solid 7/10. It’s a compelling and richly informative read that any hip-hop enthusiast will devour, packed with revelations like that case of Biz Markie that reshape how you view the music’s past. Yet, its tendency to linger on minutiae and skip other critical perspectives keeps it from being perfect. If you’re a music lover eager to explore the hustle behind the beats, this book is well worth your time—just be prepared for a fully balanced ride.
One of the book’s standout strengths is its ability to unearth fascinating, lesser-known stories. For instance, I was particularly struck by the account of the 1991 Grand Upright Music v. Warner Bros. lawsuit involving Biz Markie, which redefined the rules of sampling in hip-hop. Learning how this legal battle forced producers to rethink their creative process was eye-opening and added a new layer to my appreciation of the genre’s evolution. Charnas’ knack for weaving such pivotal moments with vivid anecdotes—drawn from over 300 interviews with artists, producers, and executives—makes the book feel alive and authoritative.
However, The Big Payback isn’t without flaws. At times, the level of detail can be overwhelming, particularly in sections dissecting corporate maneuvers or obscure label disputes. While these details might thrill industry insiders, they occasionally bog down the narrative for casual readers. Conversely, the book omits or glosses over some significant aspects of hip-hop’s history. For example, the contributions of Southern scenes like Atlanta and Houston feel underexplored compared to the heavy focus on New York and Los Angeles. This uneven coverage left me wanting a more comprehensive view of the genre’s regional diversity.
Overall, The Big Payback earns a solid 7/10. It’s a compelling and richly informative read that any hip-hop enthusiast will devour, packed with revelations like that case of Biz Markie that reshape how you view the music’s past. Yet, its tendency to linger on minutiae and skip other critical perspectives keeps it from being perfect. If you’re a music lover eager to explore the hustle behind the beats, this book is well worth your time—just be prepared for a fully balanced ride.
Read
October 16, 2022Got turned onto this book via Rick Rubin's "Broken Record" podcast looking at Charnas's recent book about J Dilla.
This book looks at the history of hip hop, but mostly focusing on the business side of things (who started the labels, who got hip hop on the radio, who merchandised etc.) A lot of the artists and music are part of the story though, because obviously the business couldn't happen without 'the product', plus hip hop's grassroots elements, and the entrepreneurial nature of some of the artists meant the art and business often overlapped.
It's a pretty fulsome history going up till the mid-late 00s. Sometimes the screeds of names and companies can get a bit much to keep in your head, but I appreciated the thoroughness of it. The passion in the writing, and the excitement of the history keep it ticking along across its 640-odd pages.
Sadly the moral of the story often seems to be that the music industry is largely a ruthless place, and that money and power corrupt eventually. Along the way though, a genre of music and an entire shift in pop culture were created. The radio waves of the US which were largely symbolically segregated got united and a lot of people made a lot of money... just often not the artists.
This book looks at the history of hip hop, but mostly focusing on the business side of things (who started the labels, who got hip hop on the radio, who merchandised etc.) A lot of the artists and music are part of the story though, because obviously the business couldn't happen without 'the product', plus hip hop's grassroots elements, and the entrepreneurial nature of some of the artists meant the art and business often overlapped.
It's a pretty fulsome history going up till the mid-late 00s. Sometimes the screeds of names and companies can get a bit much to keep in your head, but I appreciated the thoroughness of it. The passion in the writing, and the excitement of the history keep it ticking along across its 640-odd pages.
Sadly the moral of the story often seems to be that the music industry is largely a ruthless place, and that money and power corrupt eventually. Along the way though, a genre of music and an entire shift in pop culture were created. The radio waves of the US which were largely symbolically segregated got united and a lot of people made a lot of money... just often not the artists.
March 28, 2022
This was a good, detailed, thorough history of hip hop. It starts in Harlem with (no lie) Alexander Hamilton, telling briefly his rise to power from little, then shifts to the story of the area he lived as it changed throughout history, ending with its local name, Sugar Hill, the name of the first studio to bring hip hop to the public living rooms. The writing is fantastic, as shown in this analogy, detailing the first times hip hop was brought out on records, the push to allow it to be heard on the radio, the first big stars, the backlash, then the big business. It focuses on the stars, but equally if not more on the business men and women who helped keep it successful and shape it into what it is today. It’s detail heavy, so it took me a while to read, and the structure generally moved forward, but with a little stutter step as it introduces new people and then went back to tell their backstories. That was an effective strategy for cohesion, but it was a challenge to keep the names straight. Still worth a read.
February 24, 2018
Fascinating read on the rapid growth of hip-hop as a business/entertainment empire. Hat tip to Dan Charnas for breaking down what doesn't always get covered in hip-hop writing: the promotion, artist development and corporate side of the dominant music/cultural form of the current era.
Positives: Great chronology and rich detail, well-written, covers majority of the hip-hop acts, record labels and business minds from the mid-70s to the 2000s. Many aspects of the music industry that aren't common knowledge to the casual observer (like myself) were uncovered quite well.
Negatives: Sometimes detailed to the point of getting slightly on the 'boring' side - for those more interested in the artist/culture than the business side, it might get a little dry for your taste!
For fans of: Jeff Chang, Nelson George, Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson or other authors focusing on the intersection of business and entertainment.
Positives: Great chronology and rich detail, well-written, covers majority of the hip-hop acts, record labels and business minds from the mid-70s to the 2000s. Many aspects of the music industry that aren't common knowledge to the casual observer (like myself) were uncovered quite well.
Negatives: Sometimes detailed to the point of getting slightly on the 'boring' side - for those more interested in the artist/culture than the business side, it might get a little dry for your taste!
For fans of: Jeff Chang, Nelson George, Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson or other authors focusing on the intersection of business and entertainment.
March 22, 2019
I discovered this author while watching the excellent Netflix documentary, The Evolution of Hip-Hop. I'm not an avid fan of hip-hop so a 700 page tome of a book focusing on, not even the general history but the business of it, was a unlikely read for me. I picked this up primarily to learn about the early days of hip-hop. Ive always loved dance music and was fascinated by the of D.J.'S spinning records to maximize the break and then starting to rap over the music to get crow involved. The first half of the book was absolutely enthralling, the author writes well and really makes the history come alive.
The second half of the book felt less personal and more true to the book's subtitle but the writing was so good that I happily continued to read. It was still interesting, just not the page turner that the first half of the book was.
The second half of the book felt less personal and more true to the book's subtitle but the writing was so good that I happily continued to read. It was still interesting, just not the page turner that the first half of the book was.
March 24, 2021
A great complement to "Can't Stop Won't Stop," which was more earnest, and less focused on the big misses of the hip-hop era. Charnas is readable, well-sourced, and skeptical without getting cynical. He recreates conversations and scenes down to the last detail, like in one early section about Rick Rubin's dorm room DJ-ing that compellingly describes how he beat an RA rap, foreshadowing the hustle that would make him both a success and an occasional failure.
I'd recommend reading both this and CSWS, but this one has far more "oh THAT's where that single came from" moments, for anyone who grew up with hip-hop.
I'd recommend reading both this and CSWS, but this one has far more "oh THAT's where that single came from" moments, for anyone who grew up with hip-hop.
December 26, 2021
This book packs in so much information about Hip-Hop it can be overwhelming. The parts I found to be the most interesting were when radio had the biggest impact in the genre along with the street contributions to the genre such as street dance and street art. Amongst all the facts that were interesting there were plenty that I didn't find to be worth mentioning. This may be a personal preference in the type of books I like to read, I think I'm into more concentrated/specific subject matters as opposed to broader topics as a whole.
April 24, 2023
Stunningly thorough and thoroughly stunning.
I'm not sure I would have ever described a book covering business history as compelling and utterly readable, yet here we are. A perfect blend of history, nuanced personality studies & an in-depth view of the incredibly byzantine music business. The way that Charnas charts the ebbs, flows, rises & falls of industries, careers, dreams & even cities is completely captivating.
A 100% must-read for any self-professed hip-hop fan. Like KRS-One said, "You Must Learn".
I'm not sure I would have ever described a book covering business history as compelling and utterly readable, yet here we are. A perfect blend of history, nuanced personality studies & an in-depth view of the incredibly byzantine music business. The way that Charnas charts the ebbs, flows, rises & falls of industries, careers, dreams & even cities is completely captivating.
A 100% must-read for any self-professed hip-hop fan. Like KRS-One said, "You Must Learn".
August 20, 2024
Masterpiece. Essential reading tracing Hip Hop from its origins to the era of Jay-Z and 50 Cent achieving corporate dominance. In its organization this book reminded me of The Wire in that the author tarries in so many dimensions of hip hop from the music, to the business deals, to the role of the media and the first major journalistic outlets, to the politics and sociology. I enjoyed every minute of this book and consider it essential reading for anyone who wants to educate themselves on the music.
May 3, 2019
I pretty much couldn’t put this down . An insanely readable account of how a music born in a basement in the Bronx and already considered dead by 1981 , made it to the top of the world - dragged there kicking and screaming by a parade of hustlers , schemers , rhymes , stealers , visionaries and Mavericks . Full of fascinating insights and great anecdotes . Ironically , for a book about the business end of the music business , it’s made me fall in love with hip hop all over again .
May 5, 2025
By far my all-time favorite hip-hop book! Like Don’t Stop, Won’t Stop this book is a must read for any hip-hop fan. Even more if you’re a true hip-hop head. You will learn a lot of hip-hop history and music industry. I hope I could read it again in spanish 🙏🏼 Dan Charnas writing skills and flow is in another level. A top level, for sure! I highly recommend this book. I’m 100% sure you will love it!
September 2, 2017
Amazing book about how some scrappy young street entrepreneurs took hip hop from the parks of the Bronx and the house parties in Harlem to build empires and eventually take over some of the biggest businesses in America. Hip hop is forever.
P.S. Big props to KMEL, Star Records in San Jose and City Nights! Yay Area!
P.S. Big props to KMEL, Star Records in San Jose and City Nights! Yay Area!
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