''Foundation: B-boys, B-girls and Hip-Hop Culture in New York'' is a book by Joseph G. Schloss which looks at
b-boying and the culture surrounding it. It features excerpts from interviews the author did with major figures in the
b-boying world such as
Ken Swift of
Rock Steady Crew
Rock Steady Crew is an American breaking and hip hop group which has become a franchise name for multiple groups in other locations. The group's 1983 international hit song " (Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew" (from the group's first studio album ...
, Alien Ness, and Trac 2.
[ ]
Joseph Schloss is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Black and Latino Studies and Sociology at
City University of New York and who also lecturers at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
. Schloss attended every
b-boy event in New York City for five years, learning
b-boying as he researched the book.
The book makes arguments against other hip-hop non-fiction books, mainly saying they do not engage the actual
hip-hop/
b-boy communities enough when doing scholarship of this kind.
Reception
The
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
calls it "the best work ever produced on
b-boying, and one of the finest books yet to emerge from the swiftly proliferating ranks of
hip-hop scholarship".
It has also received positive reviews from Liberator Magazine and
Jeff Chang.
Notes
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foundation (B-Boy Book)
Hip hop books