![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Hip-Hop-Family-Tree.-jpg.jpg\")
\nBy Ed Piskor<\/b> (Fantagraphics)
\nISBN: 978-1-60699-690-4<\/p>\n
\nBy Ed Piskor<\/b> (Fantagraphics)
\nISBN: 978-1-60699-690-4<\/p>\n
Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: way better than Record Tokens\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 8\/10<\/b><\/p>\n
Comics is an all-encompassing narrative medium and – even after 30 plus years in the game – I’m still frequently amazed and delighted at the new ways creators constantly find to use the simple combination of words and pictures in sequence to produce new and intoxicating ways of conveying information, tone, style and especially passion to their target audience.<\/p>\n
A particularly brilliant case in point is this compulsive compilation of strips and extras from self-confessed Hip Hop Nerd and cyber geek Ed Piskor (author of the astonishing Hacker graphic novel Wizzywig<\/b>) which originally appeared in serial form on the website Boing Boing<\/b>.<\/p>\n
In astounding detail and with a positively chillin’ attention to the art styles of the period, Piskor details the rise of the rhyme-and-rhythm musical art form (whilst paying close attention to the almost symbiotic growth of graffiti and street art) with wit, charm and astonishing clarity.<\/p>\n
Charting the slow demise of the disco and punk status quo by intimately following fledgling stars and transcendent personalities of the era, ‘Straight Out of the Gutter’<\/i> begins in the mid 1970s with the South Bronx block parties and live music jams of such pioneers as DJ Kool Herc<\/i>, Grandmaster Flash<\/i>, Grandwizard Theodore<\/i> and Afrika Bambaataa<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The new music is mired in the maze of inescapable gang culture but as early word-of-mouth success leads to at first rare vinyl pressings and the advent of the next generation, the inevitable interest of visionaries and converts leads to the circling of commercial sharks\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
The technical and stylistic innovations, the musical battles and physical feuds, the management races by truly unsavoury characters to secure the first landmark history-making successes are all encyclopaedically yet engaging revealed through the lives – and, so often early deaths – of almost-stars and later household names such as Furious 4-plus-1<\/i>, Kurtis Blow<\/i>, The Sugarhill Gang<\/i>, the Furious Five<\/i>, and even three kids who will become Run-DMC<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The story follows and connects a bewildering number of key and crucial personalities – with a wealth of star-struck music biz cameos and ends with Hip Hop on the very edge of global domination following the breakout single Rapture<\/b> (from new wave icons and dedicated devotees Blondie<\/b>) and the landmark TV documentary by Hugh Downs and Steve Fox on the national current affairs TV show 20\/20 <\/b>which brought the new music culture into the homes of unsuspecting middle America\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
To Be Continued\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n