Can't Stop Won't Stop (book)
{{Short description|Book by Jeff Chang}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = Can't Stop Won't Stop.jpg
| caption =
| author = Jeff Chang
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| subject = Hip hop
| genre = Non-fiction
| publisher = Picador
| pub_date = 2005
| english_pub_date =
| media_type =
| pages = 560 pp
| isbn = 0-312-42579-1
| oclc= 62860625
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation is a 2005 book by Jeff Chang chronicling the early hip hop scene.
The book features portraits of DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D, and Ice Cube, among others, and is based on numerous interviews with graffiti artists, gang members, DJs, rappers, and hip hop activists. DJ Kool Herc wrote the introduction.
Reception
The book was well received, winning an American Book Award in 2005.[http://www.ambook.org/btw/awards/The-American-Book-Awards---Before-Columbus-Foundation The American Book Awards / Before Columbus Foundation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003235753/http://www.ambook.org/btw/awards/The-American-Book-Awards---Before-Columbus-Foundation |date=2011-10-03 }}. American Booksellers Association. Accessed July 11, 2008. On Metacritic, the book received an aggregate score of 81/100 from twelve reviews—indicating "universal acclaim".[https://web.archive.org/web/20080315141427/http://www.metacritic.com/books/authors/changjeff/cantstopwontstop Can't Stop Won't Stop by Jeff Chang: Reviews]. Metacritic. Accessed July 11, 2008.
Scott T. Sterling of LA Weekly praised the book as being "extensively researched and meticulously written"{{Cite web|url=http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/16/books-sterling.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050312062526/http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/16/books-sterling.php |title=Before Bling: Hip-hop's storied past |first=Scott T. |last=Sterling |website=LA Weekly |date=March 11, 2005 |archive-date=March 12, 2005 |url-status=dead}} and The New Yorker described it as "one of the most urgent and passionate histories of popular music ever written".{{Cite web|url=http://www.newyorker.com:80/critics/content/articles/050228crbn_brieflynoted |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060411192529/http://www.newyorker.com:80/critics/content/articles/050228crbn_brieflynoted |title=The New Yorker: The Critics – Briefly Noted |website=The New Yorker |date=February 21, 2005 |archive-date=April 11, 2006 |url-status=dead}}
Conversely, some reviewers were more critical of Can't Stop Won't Stop. Alex Abramovich of The New York Times argued that the book focused too heavily on politics over music, leading it to "lose its form and focus" at points.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/books/review/04ABRAM.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5070&en=2320b5c7c907dfaf&ex=1127275200 | work=The New York Times | title='Can't Stop Won't Stop': A Nation of Millions | first=Alex | last=Abramovich | date=September 4, 2005}} Ben Thompson of The Independent opined that the book focused excessively on topics like "the internal politics of US hip-hop magazine The Source" while giving insufficient attention to rappers like the Notorious B.I.G., Missy Elliott, or Eminem.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/cant-stop-wont-stop-a-history-of-the-hiphop-generation-by-jeff-chang-504605.html|title=Can't Stop Won't Stop: a history of the hip-hop generation by Jeff Chang|last=Thompson|first=Ben|date=28 August 2005|work=The Independent|accessdate=May 4, 2010 | location=London}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
=KRS-One's response=
In 2007, KRS-One criticized Can't Stop Won't Stop: "When I read Can't Stop Won't Stop I didn't see the scholarship. I saw Kool Herc thrown at the front of the book for his own credibility—and the foreword was wack."[http://www.unkut.com/2007/06/krs-one-the-unkut-interview/ KRS-One – The Unkut Interview] His main point of contention was with the way he himself was covered: "[Jeff Chang] gets around to the Stop The Violence movement and totally downplays the movement, destroys any kind of hope we have for leadership in our culture, and just breezes over with inaccurate information about the Stop The Violence movement."
Jeff Chang responded: "Can't Stop Won't Stop was and is never meant to be the last word on anything. It's meant to be a small contribution to the larger wave of thinking about the hip-hop generation."[http://cantstopwontstop.com/blog/krs-one-on-cant-stop-wont-stop/ KRS-One on Can't Stop Won't Stop]
Notes
- Chang, Jeff (2005). Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. Picador, {{ISBN|0-312-42579-1}}.
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.cantstopwontstop.com Official website]
- [http://www.beatknowledge.org/2010/08/15/cant-stop-wont-stop/ Review of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop on Beat Knowledge]
Category:2005 non-fiction books