Yes Yes Y'all: The Experience Music Project Oral History Of Hip-hop's First Decade

The first and only account of hip-hop's birth, told in the never-before-published words of its founders and stars, highlighted by hundreds of vintage photos and flyers.Hip-hop today is ubiquitous, not only ruling the music industry but also influencing popular culture worldwide. Like rock and roll before it, it has permanently transformed music, art, dance, and fashion while capturing millions of listeners. The true story of hip-hop's birth -- a cultural innovation that rose from the creativity and vision of street kids surviving in the bombed-out Bronx of the 1970s -- has never been told. Until now.Yes Yes Y'all tells its stories in voices that bristle with vitality, humor, authenticity, and menace. Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn weave an electric narrative from never-before-heard primary source accounts of over fifty of hip-hop's stars and trail-blazers, including Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Herc, Melle Mel, Busy Bee, Grand Wizard Theodore, Grandmaster Caz, Rahiem, Fab 5 Freddy, Tony Tone, and DMC.An extraordinary chorous of voice and visions, Yes Yes Y'all is the most authoritative documentation of the genesis of b-boys, graffiti, rap, and all aspects of hip-hop culture -- the ultimate history of an urban American revolution.Jim Fricke is Senior Curator at the Experience Music Project (EMP) in Seattle. He was curator of the Hip-Hop Nation exhibit.Charlie Ahearn is a filmmaker whose 1982 landmark film Wild Style has become a hip-hop classic. He lives in New York City.