Can’t Stop Won’t Stop
Welcome to Jeff Chang’s website.
Big things for 2007!
The long-awaited anthology, Total Chaos: The Art & Aesthetics of Hip-Hop, is now ready for pre-order. This companion volume to Can't Stop Won't Stop features an incisive look at hip-hop arts in the voices of its pioneers, innovators, and mavericks. The book's release will be accompanied by the Total Chaos Hip-Hop Forum Series, an unprecedented set of panel talks on hip-hop arts across the country. For more info on the book, check the Total Chaos website, and sign up for the email list on this page to get the updates in your inbox. Tour info will also be here.
Meanwhile, Can't Stop Won't Stop is still snatching awards and making noise! Haven't got yours yet? Pick up the paperback on Picador Books in the US, on Ebury Press in the UK and Australia, on Allia in France, and on Reverb/SL Books in Sweden. Coming soon, translations for Brazil, Finland, and Japan.
Don't forget to check the infamous Blog for your shot of madness.
It's a new year. Time for peace.
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Q+A
Q: Can't Stop Won't Stop is subtitled "A History of the Hip-Hop Generation", which seems to me to be rather distinct from calling it "A History of Hip-Hop". Is there a distinction between the two?
A: I'm not interested in writing about hip-hop just in terms of rap music—which is what most people might think when they hear the word "hip-hop"—or even just as a cultural force encompassing the "four elements". Hip-hop is all that and—to flip dead prez's epigram—it's also bigger than all that. Hip-hop offers a generational worldview that encompasses the shoes you choose to whether you're inclined to vote or not to how you understand the issue of race. So I use this worldview to look at the last three decades of the American century.
Q: In 2004, there was a celebration commemorating the 25th anniversary of "Rapper's Delight", which many people see as the beginning of hip-hop. Your history starts in 1968, which is more than a decade prior to that. Why?
For the rest of the Q+A click here.
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The Ghetto Brothers
The Ghetto Brothers were one of the most important Bronx gangs of the late 60s and early 70s, the driving force behind the pivotal 1971 peace treaty that set the stage for the emergence of hip-hop. Read interview excerpts from the Ghetto Brothers in the The Files.
Last B-Boys Standing
In 1979, b-boying and the first school of hip-hop was dying in The Bronx. The Rock Steady Crew brought it back and took it global. Here's the story of how they did it, and what that story says about the history of urban style. Read the introduction and click to the article in The Reader.
The Politics of the Hip-Hop Generation
The term "hip-hop activism" was coined by the pioneering hip-hop intellectual and journalist Harry Allen and has since been embraced by young organizers, thinkers, cultural workers and activists to describe their generation's work for social justice. For a lot more on how they are changing our world, check out the Power section.
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The Past and Future of Hip-Hop Dance :: Me on Rennie Harris
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Dates
Upcoming Appearances
January 31, 4:00 PMRADIO :: Hard Knock Radio KPFA (Bay Area)
February 1, 7:00 PMRADIO :: Apex Express KPFA (Bay Area)
February 12, 7:00 PMPANEL :: 92nd Street Y/Makor with Jason Tanz and special guest TBA (New York City)
February 13, 7:00 PMREADING & DISCUSSION :: Asian American Writers Workshop Presents the Bowling Green Caravan (Bowling Green State University, OH)
February 15, 5:00 PMSCREENING & Q+A :: Byron Hurt presents "Beyond Beats and Rhymes"
For a complete list of Jeff's appearances, check Dates.
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