Bobby Robinson (1917-2011): An Unreleased History

Bobby Robinson, the founder of one of the first rap labels, Enjoy Records, and the first record man to sign a bonafide hip-hop act from the streets of the Bronx — Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five  — died Saturday at the age of 93. I was lucky enough to be able to meet and […]

VIDEO: 5 Hip-Hop Business Tragedies

In the latest installment of The Big Payback video series, I explore five tragedies of the hip-hop business, including: The Eclipse of Sugar Hill Records The Demise of Macola Records Public Enemy’s Raw Deals The Black-Owned Distributor Fails The Death of KDAY Get more of the story below! Play it, embed it, circulate it! Peep […]

VIDEO: Jay-Z… REALLY Decoded

In this new installment of my video series for The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, I discuss a vital factor in the Jay-Z-Damon Dash breakup that you won’t find in Jay-Z’s new book, Decoded, or in any other book for that matter… Play it, embed it, circulate it! Peep the video […]

Critical Raves for “The Big Payback”

Dan Charnas’ The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop (New American Library, December 7, 2010) is already getting big love from critics: Charnas’ “exhaustive, engrossing history of the genre” is #8 on the “Must List” — Entertainment Weekly “A classic of music business dirt-digging as well as a kind of pulp epic.” […]