When Rock Met Hip-Hop
One of the most important events in modern music remains the late 80s cross-collision of rock and hip hop. Aerosmith/Run DMC, Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique, Public Enemy and Anthrax, Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, De La Soul and Third Bass, and the 318 hip hop records that sampled Billy Squier’s “The Big Beat exemplify the era. Rap records sampled rock bands, elevating sampling into an art form, while influencing all other forms of popular music. One of the themes this book will explore is the way the fusion of rap and rock gave hope to a sense of interracial harmony.
In keeping with When Rock Met Disco and When Rock Met Reggae, this title relates the musical cross collision, and cultural fallout that changed music for the better, and remains an influence through today.
STEVEN BLUSH has written seven books about rock and pop culture including: American Hardcore (2001), American Hair Metal (2006), 45 Dangerous Minds (2005), Lost Rockers (2015), and New York Rock (2016), the upcoming When Rock Met Disco (Backbeat, 2023), and When Rock Met Reggae (2024) — as well as about Billie Jean King’s rebel tennis league, Bustin’ Balls (2020) currently in television development by Billie Jean and Hannah Storm. He wrote and produced the theatrically released Sundance Film Festival-premiered doc film American Hardcore (Sony Pictures Classics, 2006), followed by an expanded Second Edition of the American Hardcore book, now available in four languages.