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Critical Raves for “The Big Payback”
Dan Charnas’ The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop (New American Library, December 7, 2010) is already getting big love from critics: Charnas’ “exhaustive, engrossing history of the...
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VIDEO: Jay-Z… REALLY Decoded
In this new installment of my video series for The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, I discuss a vital factor in the Jay-Z-Damon Dash breakup that you won’t find in Jay-Z’s new...
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VIDEO: 5 Hip-Hop Business Tragedies
In the latest installment of The Big Payback video series, I explore five tragedies of the hip-hop business, including: The Eclipse of Sugar Hill Records The Demise of Macola Records Public Enemy’s...
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Going Going, Back Back To Cali, Cali, Cali
Dan Charnas, author of The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, will be appearing this Saturday, April 30, 2011 at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books alongside renowned music...
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Spotted Reading “The Big Payback”…
I told my wife last year that I wouldn’t feel truly fulfilled as a first-time author until I saw a random person on the train reading my book. Last night, it happened. Her name is Ephrat, she’s a...
View ArticleDan On CNN, Discussing Common And Conservatives
There’s a first time for everything. The rapper Common — still smelling of Gap clothing and Erykah Badu’s incense — called “vile,” “misogynist,” and “violent.” The writer Dan Charnas called to talk...
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Honorable Mention From The Dean
Music criticism may be going the way of the CD in the Internet age, as critics no longer have much of a lead on fans in procuring new music, and fans have more platforms than ever to share their...
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Def Jam: The First 25 Years Of The Last Great Record Label
The new book that I co-authored with Bill Adler and Cey Adams — Def Jam: The First 25 Years Of The Last Great Record Label (Rizzoli) — is out this week. (Click HERE to buy the book.) So much more than...
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SxSW 2012 With Steve Stoute And Soul Train
On Friday, I’ll be heading to SxSW in Austin, Texas for two panels. Saturday at 11a, Steve Stoute and I will be having a conversation about America’s multiracial future. And a few hours later, at...
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How I Came To Be Called “Butt Manager.” For Real.
Come have a laugh at my expense tonight: I’ll be telling my personal stories from the “Baby Got Back” era tonight at The Soundtrack Series (alongside luminaries like Maura Johnston and Sasha...
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