The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop, Hardcover

Description

Explore the roots of rap in this stunning, rhyming, triple-timing picture book

A generation voicing

stories, hopes, and fears

founds a hip-hop nation.

Say holler if you hear.

The roots of rap and the history of hip-hop have origins that precede DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash. Kids will learn about how it evolved from folktales, spirituals, and poetry, to the showmanship of James Brown, to the culture of graffiti art and break dancing that formed around the art form and gave birth to the musical artists we know today. Written in lyrical rhythm by award-winning author and poet Carole Boston Weatherford and complete with flowing, vibrant illustrations by Frank Morrison, this book beautifully illustrates how hip-hop is a language spoken the whole world 'round, it and features a foreward by Swizz Beatz, a Grammy Award winning American hip-hop rapper, DJ, and record producer.

About the author

Carole Boston Weatherford is an award-winning nonfiction children's book author. Her books have received numerous accolades, including a Caldecott Honor for Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, a Coretta Scott King Award Honor for Becoming Billie Holiday, and both a Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor for Freedom in Congo Square, as well as the NAACP's Image Award. She is currently a professor of English at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina where she created a hip-hop course. Find out more about her at cbweatherford.com.

Frank Morrison was born in Massachusetts and moved to New Jersey at an early age. He grew up during the early days of rap music, graffiti, and break dancing. A well-known graffiti artist and also an accomplished break-dancer, he was actually part of the Sugar Hill Gang's dance entourage. It was during one of the group's European tours he got a chance to visit the Louvre in Paris and was so intrigued by all the magnificent art that he decided to return to his roots and become an artist. His talent and hard work paid off with over 20 illustrated children's books, including the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award winner, Jazzy Miz Mozetta, and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor book, Little Melba and Her Big Trombone.