{"product_id":"the-big-payback-isbn-9780451234780","title":"The Big Payback","description":"\u003cb\u003e“There has never been a better book about hip-hop…a record-biz portrait that jumps off the page.”—\u003ci\u003eA.V. Club\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe perfect read for music lovers and business aficionados alike, \u003ci\u003eThe Big Payback\u003c\/i\u003e reveals t\u003c\/b\u003ehe 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTHE INSPIRATION FOR THE VH1 SERIES \u003ci\u003eTHE BREAKS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Big Payback\u003c\/i\u003e 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, \u003ci\u003eThe Big Payback\u003c\/i\u003e tallies the list of who lost and who won. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e300 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. \u003cb\u003eINCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS\u003c\/b\u003e“Pulitzer-level reporting.”—\u003ci\u003eSpin\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A classic of music business dirt-digging as well as a kind of pulp epic.”—\u003ci\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e (4-star review) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As gripping and dense as a prime Jay-Z rhyme...Charnas has done a real service to pop history.”—\u003ci\u003eNew York Daily News\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Detailed and colorful…a must-read for fans of the music industry.”—\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The rap tome you have to read...\u003ci\u003eThe Big Payback \u003c\/i\u003efocuses not on the beefs you know but on the back-room battles you don’t.”—\u003ci\u003eDetails\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[An] exhaustive, engrossing history of the genre.”—\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In a year that has seen plenty of hip-hop books, \u003ci\u003eThe Big Payback\u003c\/i\u003e stands out as a must-read for any fan—or detractor—of the genre.”—\u003ci\u003eForbes\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“One of the juiciest, flat-out most enjoyable books I’ve read in a long time.”—\u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Epic.”—\u003ci\u003eThe Village Voice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“[A] stylish, lavishly detailed love letter to the genre and industry...Charnas makes an elegant case for how hip-hop is the consummate art form.”—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The riveting dialogue culled from more than 300 interviews makes it seem as if Charnas was in the room for every deal that ever went down in hip-hop, and sometimes he was.”—\u003ci\u003eAustin Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Dan Charnas captures an epic story full of joy and pain, triumph and failure, grace and greed with the skills of a journalist, the wisdom of an insider, and the passion of a microphone fiend. Call \u003ci\u003eThe Big Payback\u003c\/i\u003e a hip-hop version of David Halberstam's \u003ci\u003eThe Reckoning\u003c\/i\u003e.”—Jeff Chang, author, \u003ci\u003eCan't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“With an insider's connections and an outsider's perspective, Dan Charnas has written the otherwise untold story of the business of hip-hop. His cast of characters—producers, agents, label executives, talent scouts—is every bit as compelling and dramatic as the musicians themselves.”—Samuel G. Freedman, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e columnist and author of \u003ci\u003eUpon This Rock, Who She Was\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eJew vs. Jew\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“The Big Payback\u003c\/i\u003e is a stunning achievement. Not only does it manage to pack in countless unprecedented anecdotes about hip-hop that you can't find anywhere else, the read is effortlessly smooth.”—Cheo H. Coker, co-screenwriter of \u003ci\u003eNotorious\u003c\/i\u003e and author of \u003ci\u003eUnbelievable: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Dan Charnas brings a fan's devotion, an industry insider's savvy, and a reporter's unblinking eye to chronicling a cultural revolution that is as contradictory and complex as the country that produced it. \u003ci\u003ePayback\u003c\/i\u003e is a bitch.”—Fred Goodman, author of \u003ci\u003eFortune's Fool\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Mansion on the Hill\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eDan Charnas\u003c\/b\u003e, a veteran of the hip-hop music business, began his career scouting talent and promoting records for seminal rap label Profile Records and for Rick Rubin’s Def American Recordings. He penned some of the first cover stories for \u003ci\u003eThe Source\u003c\/i\u003e magazine and was part of a generation of young writers who helped create hip-hop journalism. His writing has appeared in the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eNew York Press\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eVillage Voice\u003c\/i\u003e. He also worked as a segment producer for MTV’s \u003ci\u003eThe Lyricist Lounge Show\u003c\/i\u003e. Charnas holds a master’s degree from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and was awarded a Pulitzer fellowship. He was born and lives in New York City.","brand":"Berkley","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300089811173,"sku":"NP9780451234780","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780451234780.jpg?v=1767738375","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-big-payback-isbn-9780451234780","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}