Can't Stop Won't Stop

I'm always a sucker for good hip hop journalism and documentation. I mean I was born in 1980 and I don't think I started listening to MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice until like '88 or something like that, which means there were nearly two decades of bubbling hip hop culture that I missed. Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation by Jeff Chang looks to be the most comprehensive overview of hip hop's existence, starting in 1968 all the way up to 2004. 500+ pages, this is practically a hip hop bible. Essential.