"I can imagine no better way to learn about Contemporary Black Urban Music: The Revolution of Hip-Hop than from Ron Westray's masterful book. Aimed at the uninitiated, students would gain more from this text through its thorough, concentrated, conversational approach than from any one or any way else. Masterful teaching through which students will become initiates and scholars" — Jerred Metz, author, The Last Eleven Days of Earl Durand, poet, Jackdaw: A Phantasmagoria; faculty, Strayer University and Coker College, USA.

Preface; Acknowledgments; 1 Learning Objectives: Introduction; 2 Characteristics of Music and Musical Terminology; 3 Evolution of Early African American Music; 4 Bebop: Afro Modernism via the African Diaspora; 5 Rhythm and Blues: The Proto-Rock and Roll; 6 Memphis Soul-Chicago Soul; 7 Motown; 8 Transition to Funk; 9 Funk Jazz; 10 Hyper Funk; 11 Dub; 12 Origins of East Coast Hip-Hop; 13 The Arrival of Hip-Hop; 14 Early Sneaker Culture; 15 Electro-Funk; 16 Earlier Styles versus Later Styles; 17 Turntablism: The Early Years; 18 Battle Royale: Dissing on Record; 19 The British Invasion: Proto-Neo-Soul; 20 The Golden Age of Hip-Hop; 21 Miami Bass: 2 Live Crew/East Coast Dirty Rap; 22 The New Divas; 23 WHAT’S BEEF?—Not Meat ; 24 East Coast Mafioso Rap; 25 Origins of West Coast Hip-Hop; 26 West Coast ‘Gangsta’ and the Midwest; BEEF: PART II; 27 Beats and Rhymes and Beyond; 28 Neo-Soul; 29 Underground Hip-Hop; 30 Conscious Commercial; 31 Southern Exposure: “Street Fame”; 32 Alternative Hip-Hop; 33 The Neo Cannabis Crew; 34 The Mainstream; 35 Globalization: The Revolution of Hip-Hop; 36 Lamont Coleman: ‘BIG L’—In Memoriam; Appendix: Assessment Index; Appendix: Quizzes