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The Big Payback (book)

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The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop[1]
AuthorDan Charnas
SubjectBusiness & Economics, Industries, Entertainment
PublisherNew American Library
Publication date
2011
Pages672
ISBN1101568119

The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop is a book by Dan Charnas chronicling the business history of the hip hop industry.

Reception

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The book was generally well-received. The Village Voice described it as "epic."[2] Evelyn McDonnell of the Los Angeles Times named it a "must-read...character-driven narrative" for anyone interested in "the music business or hip-hop."[3] Dan Charnas revealed that his research for The Big Payback included interviewing "over 300 people: record executives, entrepreneurs, artists, managers, producers, DJs, journalists,"[4] research which McDonnell praised as "meticulous." She also wrote that the book has a "fine sense of both the macro and the micro," calling out in particular how it highlighted the "intertwining of commerce and art." However, McDonnell also wrote that despite its "ambitious scope," the book was "not always balanced...largely ignoring Atlanta, Houston, Miami, etc." while focusing on hip-hop mostly from an East and West Coast perspective.[3]

Publishers Weekly called the book a "stylish, lavishly detailed love letter to the genre and the industry," and praised it for its "nuanced treatment of the impresarios behind signature sounds."[5]

Work

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  • Charnas, D. (2011). The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-hop. Penguin.

References

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  1. ^ Charnas, Dan (1 November 2011). The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop. Penguin. ISBN 9781101568118. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  2. ^ Serwer, Jesse (2010-12-10). "Q&A: Dan Charnas, Author Of The Big Payback: The History Of The Business Of Hip-Hop, On Industry Rule #4080, Hot 97, And Lyor Cohen's CD Collection". Village Voice. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  3. ^ a b McDonnell, Evelyn (2011-01-04). "Book review: 'The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop' by Dan Charnas". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  4. ^ Dan Charnas (2010-12-01), Dan Charnas: "Why I Wrote 'The Big Payback'", retrieved 2016-12-07
  5. ^ "The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 1 February 2022.