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In July 2019, eleven years after Jay-Z became the first hip-hop artist to headline Glastonbury, Stormzy became the first English rapper to follow suit. Wearing a customised stab-proof vest designed by Banksy, the South London rapper delivered an explosive performance and finished by thanking the “legends for paving the way,” name-checking Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, and Giggs. Despite how unlikely it seemed for decades, UK rap was now firmly a part of pop music and the greater hip-hop canon.

Rich, nuanced, and often misunderstood, the history of UK rap is a story of music that refused to stand still. Factoring in socioeconomics, gender, identity, music industry disruption, and innovation, What Do You Call It? charts the artform’s first four decades, beginning when rap landed on our island in the early 1980s. Shaped by sound system culture, inspired by punk, and accelerated by rave, it has evolved from Britcore, UK hip-hop, and trip-hop of the late twentieth century to garage, grime, and drill.

Through cultural theory, historical research, and original interviews with key figures and collaborators in the UK rap scene, from pioneers like Malcolm McLaren, Soul II Soul, Tricky, Roots Manuva, and Roll Deep to modern artists like Dave, CASISDEAD, Little Simz, Loyle Carner, and Skengdo x AM, adds a rich human dimension to the UK rap story — one that helped change British music and culture forever.

Cover design by Trevor Jackson.

“A long overdue exploration of rap music in the UK and its longstanding – albeit overlooked – legacy and influence. In an era when UK rappers dominate the charts, star in major movies and TV shows and front huge advertising campaigns for multi-national corporations, Kane traces back the arduous journey from maligned sub-culture to celebrated mascot of neoliberal capitalism.” Jehst

“David Kane writes with a deft touch and possesses a disarming and deeply insightful interview style. Sparking life, humour, and sorrow across every page of more than three decades of UK rap history.” Charlie Dark MBE

“Kane builds bridges in a rich musical universe full of heroes and villains—and plot twists. With an inimitable style, he merges culture high and low to bring new meaning to the music. What Do You Call It? is a landmark tome for UK rap music.” Brian DiGenti, Wax Poetics

“A mind rich in ideas” Stanley Ledbetter, The New Yorker

Weight: 0.4 kg
Dimensions: 23 × 3 × 17 cm

As a Dutchman living in Belgium, Peter Schouten has an outsider's view on the country that he loves and is fascinated by. As a photographer, he finds Belgium a rewarding subject: its infrastructure, its cities, the diversity of its architecture... In Belgium, it sometimes seems as if everyone just does as he pleases, unbothered by rules or regulations. Peter wanted to find a way to capture the uniqueness of his surroundings, and found the answer one night while looking through his photographs of an original house from the sixties. It wasn't the house itself that grabbed his attention, but the strange letterbox in front of it: it had the shape of a big eagle sitting on a little concrete house, painted in bright colours. Ever since, Peter has been photographing the weirdest, most puzzling letterboxes all over Belgium. Over six years he has built a collection of over 300 photos of the most exceptional examples. Looking at those photos, you'll agree with the photographer that the Belgian letterboxes form a unique little piece of the country's cultural heritage.

From a Los Angeles hospital bed, equipped with little more than a laptop and a stack of records, James “J Dilla” Yancey crafted a set of tracks that would forever change the way beatmakers viewed their artform. The songs on Donuts are not hip hop music as “hip hop music” is typically defined; they careen and crash into each other, in one moment noisy and abrasive, gorgeous and heartbreaking the next. The samples and melodies tell the story of a man coming to terms with his declining health, a final love letter to the family and friends he was leaving behind. As a prolific producer with a voracious appetite for the history and mechanics of the music he loved, J Dilla knew the records that went into constructing Donuts inside and out. He could have taken them all and made a much different, more accessible album. If the widely accepted view is that his final work is a record about dying, the question becomes why did he make this record about dying?

Drawing from philosophy, critical theory and musicology, as well as Dilla’s own musical catalogue, Jordan Ferguson shows that the contradictory, irascible and confrontational music found on Donuts is as much a result of an artist’s declining health as it is an example of what scholars call “late style,” placing the album in a musical tradition that stretches back centuries.

152 pages.

At the outset of summer in 1990, a Houston gangsta rap group called the Geto Boys was poised to debut its self-titled third album under the guidance of hip-hop guru Rick Rubin. What might have been a low-profile remix release from a little-known corner of the rap universe began to make headlines when the album's distributor refused to work with the group, citing its violent and depraved lyrics. When The Geto Boys was finally released, chain stores refused to stock it, concert promoters canceled the group's performances, and veteran rock critic Robert Christgau declared the group "sick motherfuckers."
One quarter of a century later the album is considered a hardcore classic, having left an immutable influence on gangsta rap, horrorcore, and the rise of Southern hip-hop.
Charting the rise of the Geto Boys from the earliest days of Houston's rap scene, Rolf Potts documents a moment in music history when hip-hop was beginning to replace rock as the transgressive sound of American youth. In creating an album that was both sonically innovative and unprecedentedly vulgar, the Geto Boys were accomplishing something that went beyond music. To paraphrase a sentiment from Don DeLillo, this group of young men from Houston's Fifth Ward ghetto had figured out the "language of being noticed" - which is, in the end, the only language America understands.

Two and a half decades on, Jawbreaker's 24 Hour Revenge Therapy (1993-94) is the rare album to have lost none of its original loyalty, affection, and reverence. If anything, today, the cult of Jawbreaker-in their own words, "the little band that could but would probably rather not"-is now many times greater than it was when they broke up in 1996. Like the best work of Fugazi, The Clash, and Operation Ivy, the album is now is a rite of passage and a beloved classic among partisans of intelligent, committed, literary punk music and poetry.

Why, when a thousand other artists came and went in that confounding decade of the 90s, did Jawbreaker somehow come to seem like more than just another band? Why do they persist, today, in meaning so much to so many people? And how did it happen that, two years after releasing their masterpiece, the band that was somehow more than just a band to its fans-closer to equipment for living-was no longer?

Ronen Givony's 24 Hour Revenge Therapy is an extended tribute in the spirit of Nicholson Baker's U & I: a passionate, highly personal, and occasionally obsessive study of one of the great confessional rock albums of the 90s. At the same time, it offers a quizzical look back to the toxic authenticity battles of the decade, ponders what happened to the question of "selling out," and asks whether we today are enriched or impoverished by that debate becoming obsolete.

As a child, Yvon Chouinard moved with his father, a French Canadian blacksmith, to Southern California with little English and less money. Today his company, Patagonia, is approaching $1 billion in sales annually as one of the most environmentally and socially responsible corporations on the planet.

It has been ten years since Chouinard first shared his iconoclastic view of business with the world. Since then, through a global recession and intensifying environmental crisis, Patagonia has become a worldwide corporate leader—demonstrating that the values and philosophies laid out in this book are the best path to profits. This is not another tale of a successful businessman who chooses to do good on the side. It is the story of a businessman who has attained ever-growing success by placing Patagonia’s mission statement at the core of their culture: to build the best product, do no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.

Let My People Go Surfing is the portrait of a young man who found escape by scaling the world’s highest peaks, of an innovator who used his father’s tools to fashion equipment that changed climbing forever, of an entrepreneur who brought doing good to the heart of his business. In addition, it is a blueprint for all facets of responsible business, from design and production, to marketing and human resources.

Paperback edition; language: German; 280 pages; dimensions: approx. 16.5 x 24 cm; printed on 100% post-consumer-waster recycled paper.

Recent winners of Royal Photographic Society Award for Photographic Publishing. All books 36 pages, printed in England, staple bound, 14cm x 20cm. The East End that I found when I arrived in 1970 was a different world to today's bustling, regulated prosperity. Bombsites and tumbledown, near derelict housing were the unremarkable norm. Walking home from my truck driving job to my rented slum room in Chicksand Street I would step carefully over gutters running with blood from the Lewcopak Kosher Chicken slaughterhouse emptying its tanks at the end of each day.

Residents' main source of income had evaporated as the docks and their many supporting trades closed down. Racism festered among the older population of white workers whose community was being destroyed by a lack of jobs and resentment stoked by their crumbling council estates. The area was abandoned, poverty and hopelessness hung in the air. Empty shells of buildings sheltered the most desperate homeless, mostly alcoholics, crazed by drinking meths and surgical spirit. Violence was common.

Tumbledown, leaky old houses made for easy squats or cheap rents and began to attract impoverished students, artists, political activists and young Bangladeshi men working in the rag trade. Slowly a younger, more able population emerged and the little corner shops and cafés became busier. Life started to return to the streets.

These books document aspects of that metamorphosis, capturing the lives that set the scene for what was on the brink of becoming just another anodyne, bustling, gentrified, high value inner-city district.

A daily planner with facts on what happened on this day in hip hop history! The Hip Hop Journal: A Daily Planner provides you with a notebook as well as a daily update on the most important historical events that took place in hip hop culture on each date. Simply turn to today’s page to and find out what classic records were released on this day in the past, and next to it note your schedule, ideas, grocery list, or even your rhymes. Get inspired by what has happened in hip hop’s past and make the most of your day! The journal offers ers a variety of facts, from record releases and movies to important cultural events relating to the development of hip hop culture over the last 45+ years. The Hip Hop Journal is a loving celebration of the rich body of work that builds one of the most influential cultures of our times, and an invaluable help in planning your day-to-day activities. In the Hip Hop Journal you plan your year accompanied by the many events in hip hop history, visualized by hip hop illustrator Mark 563’s illustrations, depicting the most iconic rappers and hip hop personalities from the ‘70s until today. You may not know them all, but if you spend a little time every day, listening and catching up on the classic record releases listed in this book, you will be close to a PhD in hip hop by the end of the year. The Hip Hop Journal is the latest title in Dokument Press’ publications related to hip hop, graffiti and street art, and it is the third release with illustrator Mark 563, following the tremendously popular Hip Hop Coloring Book and Hip Hop Coloring Book: East Coast Edition.

Looking for a fun and unique way to experience the world of street food? Look no further than the Street Food Coloring Book! From the classic fish and chips in London, döner kebap in Berlin and New York City pizza slices to hotteok in Seoul and tunnbrödsrulle in Stockholm. Street Food Coloring Book is packed with all your favorite street food dishes – and much more! Over 50 pages of intricate designs featuring everything from tacos and hot dogs to noodles and falafel, Street Food Coloring Book will transport you to the bustling streets of some of the world's most vibrant and delicious food destinations. Dream away to distant cities and new taste experiences. Plan your next food trip or the next home-cooked dinner while you relax and color the world's delicious street food. Whether you are a well-traveled foodie or have a newly awakened interest in the delicious world of street food, you will discover new things and be inspired by the Street Food Coloring Book. And make sure to treat yourself and have a snack on hand while coloring! Street Food Coloring Book is printed on marker and grease friendly paper, so your felt-tip pens won't bleed through and don’t worry about spilling some hot sauce on the pages. Street Food Coloring Book is illustrated by Alexander Rosso an acclaimed graphic designer and street food fanatic whose resume includes everything from restaurant designs to running a street food establishment himself. Street Food Coloring Book is perfect for anyone who loves food, travel, or art. It makes a great gift for friends, family, or anyone who needs a little bit of creative inspiration in their life. So why wait? Grab your coloring markers and get ready to embark on a colorful journey through the world of street food.

Yo! The Early Days of Hip-Hop 1982-84 is a new book published by Soul Jazz Books/Records that features 300+ pages of stunning photographs documenting the rise of hip hop in the early 1980s, taken by French photographer Sophie Bramly.

Featuring: Fab Five Freddy Futura Afrika Bambaataa Grand Mixer D.ST Beastie Boys Kool Herc Run DMC Cold Crush Brothers Rocksteady Crew Grandmaster Flash and many more!

Introduction BY: Bill Adler

With Additional Text BY: Fab Fab Freddy Grand Mixer D. St Rahiem of The Furious Five Arthur Baker Zephyr Muhamad of The Magnificent Force Lady Pink Mister Freeze of The Rock Steady Crew Patti Astor & Slick Rick

“All these photos speak for a time that is so special, is never coming back and changed the world. It’s pretty much this experience that changed everything for ever. What makes it amazing, is that you hear stories about superheroes that changed the world, and that was us.” Grand Mixer D. St

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Sophie Bramly lived in New York in the early 1980s and became firmly embedded in the emergent scene. The book features many stunning, intimate images of a star-studded roll call of legendary hip hop figures, all of whom were only just getting known or in their ascendency.

These include Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmixer DST, Jazzy Jay, Red Alert, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow, Lisa Lee, the Fat Boys, Run-DMC, Beastie Boys and many more.

Bramly knew that hip hop was becoming a cultural force rather than just a musical fashion, and spent many hours photographing the four essential elements of this new world: the emcees, the deejays, the graffiti artists and the break dancers.

Aside from the musical stars of hip-hop you will also see legendary graffiti artists captured at work and play, such as Keith Haring, Dondi, Futura, Phase One, Zephyr and Lady Pink, and break dancers including members of Magnificent Force, Dynamic Breakers and the Rock Steady Crew

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Sophie Bramly is a French photographer born in 1959. In 1982, she moved from France to New York at age 22 and for two years documented the burgeoning hip-hop scene, taking pictures of everyone from graffiti artists and breakdancers to rappers such as the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. She returned to France in 1984, bringing a number of US hip-hop artists to Europe and then in 1987 moved to London to host and produce MTV’s first ever hip-hop show, Yo! MTV Raps.

She currently lives in Paris and her work is featured extensively at Hip-Hop 360 a six month long exhibition showing at the prestigious Philarmonie de Paris, France (Dec 21–Aug 22)

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“One of the curious facts about hip-hop’s history is how little photographic documentation exists of the culture’s early years. Come the dawn of the Eighties, a handful of talented photographers finally began to pay attention, most notably Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, and Joe Conzo. In retrospect, it’s clear that each of them focused on a particular element or two of the multiform explosion of creativity that came to be called hip-hop. Henry zeroed in on graffiti. Martha devoted herself to graffiti and breakdancing. And the heart of Joe’s work documents the career of the Cold Crush Brothers. Uniquely Sophie Bramly, unlike the others, managed between 1982 and 1984 to put her arms around all four of the hip-hop elements: the emcees, deejays, graffiti artists, and breakdancers.” Bill Adler from the introduction.

Isbn: 978-1-9163598-2-6

Flexibound, 304 pages, Dimensions 224 X 284 mm, Weight 1.75Kg