By Malice Intended

These days, Hip-Hop is omnipresent in the pop culture landscape.  There was a time, however, when a rap song being played on daytime radio was the exception rather than the rule.  The same goes for a rap video being in regular rotation on MTV.  That world was hostile to Hip-Hop in a way that today’s younger fans couldn’t imagine.  The victories won in the war for acceptance are largely, and sometimes wrongly, credited solely to the artists themselves.  The truth is that without its sympathizers and champions working tirelessly behind the scenes, Hip-Hop might never have had the chance to take the world by storm.

Dan Charnas knows this story well.  He has now decided to share it with the world.  The Big Payback: The History Of The Business Of Hip-Hop is the story of how Hip-Hop made its journey from 1520 Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx to the top of American popular culture.  Charnas does not document this journey via the lives and perspectives of the artists, nor does he offer analysis of the music itself. Instead, he focuses on the unsung heroes of the music; entrepreneurs, writers, radio DJ’s, radio programmers and label heads that waged war against a largely racist and elitist power structure so that voice of the hood could be heard.

Charnas begins the story in Harlem and the Bronx, where personalities like DJ Hollywood and Kool Herc laid the groundwork for a new and organic form of black music at block parties and clubs in the 1970’s. From there, he describes how people like Sylvia Robinson, Russell Simmons, and Ted Demme began the long and largely thankless process of introducing Hip-Hop the world.  They are but a few players in the massive tale that Charnas spins, which chronicles the founding of Hip-Hop institutions like The Source and Def Jam as well as some of their lesser known and celebrated counterparts.  He also describes how Diddy, Master P and Wu-Tang set the stage for artists themselves to finally cash in on their hard work.

The artists and the music are not forgotten or marginalized.  The reader is made to understand why people like L.L. Cool J, RZA and Hammer matter in the grand scheme of things.  They provided the product that has since become a permanent fixture of record collections and IPod playlists the world over.  Artists’ contributions are not ignored,  they are simply made to share the credit with the business people who in some cases are even more flamboyant and fearless.  Russell Simmons emerges as a seemingly reckless eccentric who is many times more focused than peers would ever suspect.  Chris Lighty is shown to be a cordial and disciplined businessman who is simultaneously able to be much more fearsome than any artist under his management.    

At well over 600 pages, The Big Payback is aimed at dedicated readers.  While its size might seem daunting, the story sucks the reader in from the very start.  Dan Charnas expertly navigates what would be an impenetrable muddle of pop culture minutia in less competent hands.  He is able to make even the most mundane board room squabble feel epic without resorting to pandering or exploitation. 

The Big Payback is the single most competent and compelling piece of Hip-Hop journalism ever released.  It changes the game.  By looking at the culture from as broad and as knowledgeable a perspective as possible, Charnas spells out in very simple and complete terms what Hip-Hop has accomplished, and why those accomplishments are noteworthy.  This is a must read for any Hip-Hopper, regardless of age, taste, or region.      

  Out of 5

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