My new book, Dead Precedents: How Hip-Hop Defines the Future, from Repeater Books is now available! 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 ground-breaking work of DJs and MCs, alongside science-fiction writers like Philip K. Dick and William Gibson, as well as graffiti and DIY culture, Dead Precedents is a counter-cultural history of the – twenty-first century, showcasing hip-hop’s role in the creation of the world in which we now live.
“Dead Precedents shows how hip-hop culture opens new hope for the future by changing our understanding of the past.” — Steven Shaviro, author of Discognition
“This book extracts detail after detail on hip-hop and cyberpunk and gracefully weaves together a clear and fresh perspective on where we are today. Such a refreshing nonstop read!” — M. Sayyid, Antipop Consortium
“An intellectual hornet’s nest, buzzing with ideas. The canon of hip-hop crit welcomes a bold new entry, calculated to blow the doors off the usual moribund academic fare. Theory finds its own uses for things.”— Mark Dery, author of I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts
“A book with so much energy and passion in it… a lively screed.” — Samuel R. Delany, author of Dhalgren
PRESS:
- The Guardian: Dead Precedents by Roy Christopher Review: How Hip-hop and Cyberpunk Hijacked Culture [by Dan Hancox]
- Concrete Islands: Unmoored from the Flow of Time: Roy Christopher’s Dead Precedents [by Stewart Gardiner]
- The Quietus: Dead Precedents: How Hip-Hop Hacked The Future [Exclusive Excerpt]
Get yours now from IndieBound or Amazon!