Honorable Mention From The Dean

Music criticism may be going the way of the CD in the Internet age, as critics no longer have much of a lead on fans in procuring new music, and fans have more platforms than ever to share their opinions directly with each other. We have, alas, become the squeezed-out middlemen. But folks my age […]

Dan On CNN, Discussing Common And Conservatives

There’s a first time for everything. The rapper Common — still smelling of Gap clothing and Erykah Badu’s incense — called “vile,” “misogynist,” and “violent.” The writer Dan Charnas called to talk about it on CNN. Kinda cool.

Spotted Reading “The Big Payback”…

I told my wife last year that I wouldn’t feel truly fulfilled as a first-time author until I saw a random person on the train reading my book. Last night, it happened. Her name is Ephrat, she’s a dancer (and a b-girl at that), and she actually got the book from a friend of mine, […]

Going Going, Back Back To Cali, Cali, Cali

Dan Charnas, author of The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, will be appearing this Saturday, April 30, 2011 at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books alongside renowned music scribes Fred Goodman, Simon Reynolds and Randall Roberts on a panel entitled “In Flux: The Music Biz.”

New York Magazine “Approves” The Big Payback

I’ve had a number of peak experiences since the release of The Big Payback, some public (like being interviewed on radio and in print) and some more personal (the emails and Tweets and phone calls from friends, family, colleagues and strangers alike). But there’s a special thrill for me in The Big Payback making New […]