Check The Technique: Liner Notes For Hip-Hop Junkies
by Brian Coleman

The untold stories behind a stack of killer wax

Like its predecessor, Rakim Told Me, Check The Technique is blessed with a great angle, that all important X-factor that separates a great book from the ranks of the also-rans. Digging beneath the surface and drawing on an extensive archive of interviews, Coleman uncovers the untold stories behind 36 hand-picked hip-hop classics drawn from the genre’s mid-80s to mid-90s golden age.  The format is simple: one chapter, one artist, one album, with each chapter detailing where each artist was in terms of their career before they recorded their magnum opus, the actual recording process itself and a track-by-track breakdown. Of the 36 albums, milestones such as Beastie Boys’ Check Your Head, Boogie Down Productions’ Criminal Minded, De La Soul’s 3 Feet High & Rising, Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back and Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) are all fully dissected. Prefaced with an introduction by ?uestlove of The Roots, illustrated with images from the archives of acclaimed hip-hop photographer B+ and crammed with the sort of detail you won’t find elsewhere, Check The Technique is a must read for any hip-hop head keen to dig a little deeper.

ISBN 9780812977752   

Reviewed by Grahame Bent
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