Hip Hop Family Tree Book 1: 1970s-1981 (Hip Hop Family Tree)
Hip-hop devotee Piskor was one of Harvey Pekar’s last collaborators and here shows himself to be Pekar’s true disciple as a chronicler of popular culture. In fact, he one-ups his famous partner-mentor—Pekar, an avid and knowledgeable fan of bebop, never scripted a whole book on his passion. Moreover, Piskor intends this book to be the first of several tracing the history of what is still, 40 years after its emergence, the most important stylistic development in pop music since rock ’n’ roll. The large-format volume is strictly a chronicle, presenting the major figures in hip-hop as they appear and make their impressions on the music. It’s full of names while barren of explanation, description, analysis, and even, oddly enough, dates (though for fans of hip-hop, that likely won’t be a deterrent). Piskor’s artwork seems equally indebted to the looks of golden-age DC superhero comics and Pekar’s greatest collaborator, R. Crumb. Besides the bibliography, discography, and index expected of a pop-music-history reference work, Piskor provides an appendix-in-comics on his personal understanding of “The Hip Hop/Comic Book Connection.” --Ray Olson