Freddy Fresh Presents The Rap Records (2nd Edition Revised)
by Freddy Fresh

Still talkin’ all that jazz? Clock this

The hip-hop book market is in a sorry state. Incredible photo books aside, if you want to find a decent hip-hop book in Waterstone’s, forget it. If it ain’t Who Killed Tupac? Again or Bling: How To Buy, Wear & Kill For It, it ain’t, as they say, fresh. The second edition of The Rap Records, however, fully revised and doubled in size from its four-year-old parent publication, certainly is. The clue’s in the name, see.

Legendary DJ Freddy Fresh has basically documented all the 12” hip-hop singles he’s come across in 25 years of DJing. It takes in English and American hip-hop, well known labels Tommy Boy and the one-release-only imprints Chill Ville, and pretty much runs to documenting 12,300 12”s, with plenty of images and historical info on some, but not all, of the roughly thousand-odd labels here.

There aren’t hard and fast prices for everything, which is a shame, but there are enough guides from which you can glean some clue as to what’s going on. A section on identifying bootlegs is also hugely welcome. There’s just no other book out there like this, making it truly essential for anyone interested in passing Hip-Hop 801.

ISBN 9781605303673

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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