Book Review: “Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ” by Mark Katz

A new book exploring the evolution of the hip-hop DJ

Mark Katz gives appropriate shout-outs to Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton, Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn, as well as Jeff Chang for their tomes on hip-hop culture and its early beginnings. But to again discuss the inception of the hip-hop DJ that books such as Last Night a DJ Saved My Life (1999), Yes Yes Ya’ll (2002) and Can’t Stop Won’t Stop (2005) have already covered in various amounts of detail, makes Katz –an Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, appear, well, repetitive in many respects.

But I digress, where other books simply told tales of those early years of hip-hop in the 1970′s, to include talks on, with and about the emcee, graffiti, b-boys and the DJ, Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ uses web 2.0 technology to showcase the culture in 2012.

Digital technology is the major difference with this book. Though Katz still covers the humble start of a culture that’s now massively appealing –he also incorporates a companion website that includes an extensive collection of audio, video and interview clips by many of the greatest DJs in hip-hop history. Think: Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Grandmaster Caz, Flash, Grand Wizzard Theodore, Grandmixer D.ST, Q-Bert, Shadow, A-Trak, Jazzy Jeff, Questlove –you name them, they’re a part of Groove Music.

As a music historian, Katz’s research does come off highly academic at times but the passion, dedication and detail for which he has written Groove Music, makes it a worthwhile read for any hip-hop head or general music lover alike. Mark Katz is also a violinist, radio DJ and aspiring turntablist.

(Original review posted at shortandsweetNYC)