Random House/Villard to release “epic” hip-hop book
Hip-hop fans, mark your calendars for the June 12 release of Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies (Random House/Villard) by veteran music journalist Brian Coleman.
Presenting never-before-told, behind-the-scenes histories ranging from De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising and Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back to the Fugees’ The Score and the Beastie Boys’ Check Your Head, the book’s approach is one Coleman calls “Invisible Liner Notes” – retracing the story of an album step by step, in collaboration with the artists themselves.
Weighing in at over 500 pages, the 36-chapter book includes lively, in-depth, provocative interviews with 75 artists, DJs, producers and industry insiders.
Coleman says: “My goal with Check the Technique is to let people eavesdrop on some amazing conversations I’ve had with hip-hop legends over the years.
“To me, the most important thing about the book is that the facts, stories and opinions come from the artists themselves. Hip-hop artists have a certain image on video screens and in press-junket interviews, but Check the Technique does its best to strip all of that away and talk to these innovators as people, with respect and fan-fueled curiosity.
“My hope is that readers will walk away feeling that it was one of the most entertaining music guidebooks they’ve ever read.”
