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The story of how hip-hop created, and came to dominate, the twenty-first century.
In Dead Precedents, Roy Christopher traces the story of how hip-hop invented the twenty-first century.
Emerging alongside cyberpunk in the 1980s, the hallmarks of hip-hop - allusion, self-reference, the use of new technologies, sampling, the cutting and splicing of language and sound - would come to define the culture of the new millennium.
Taking in the groundbreaking work of DJs and MCs, alongside writers like Dick and Gibson, as well as graffiti and DIY culture, Dead Precedents is a counter-culture history of the twentieth century, showcasing hip-hop's role in the creation of the world we now live in.
Roy Christopher
ROY CHRISTOPHER is an aging BMX and skateboarding zine kid. That’s where he learned to turn events and interviews into pages with staples. His books include Dead Precedents: How Hip-Hop Defines the Future; Boogie Down Predictions: Hip-Hop, Time, and Afrofuturism; and Post-Self: Journeys beyond the Human Body. He holds a PhD in communication studies from the University of Texas at Austin and writes regularly at roychristopher.com.
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