HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED MUSIC BOOK, BRIAN COLEMAN’S “CHECK THE TECHNIQUE VOLUME 2: MORE LINER NOTES FOR HIP-HOP JUNKIES,” TO BE RELEASED OCTOBER 14
544 PAGES, 25 CHAPTERS, 80+ INTERVIEWS, AND OVER 350 IMAGES. FEATURING INTERVIEWS WITH: ICE CUBE, 3RD BASS, STETSASONIC, MANTRONIX, NAUGHTY BY NATURE, RAEKWON, MF DOOM, DR. OCTAGON, DJ JAZZY JEFF, THE COUP, EDO G, LORD FINESSE, YASIIN BEY (MOS DEF) & TALIB KWELI, KOOL G RAP, BLACK SHEEP, COMPANY FLOW AND DOZENS MORE
Foreword by Adam Mansbach (Go The F*ck To Sleep & Rage Is Back). Cover artwork by Romanowski.
DIGITAL PRESS ADVANCES AVAILABLE NOW, PRINT REVIEW COPIES AVAILABLE SOON. CHAPTERS LIST BELOW.
“My circle of liner notes junkies runs deep, and we spend many hours dissecting the chapters in Brian Coleman’s Check the Technique series. FINALLY someone has put in perspective the stuff I have been DYING to know about!!!! I can’t get enough.”
– Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
“A fantastic guide for all we do.”
– Chuck D
Check the Technique Volume 2: More Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies (Wax Facts Press), by veteran Boston-based music journalist Brian Coleman, will be released on October 14, 2014. It is the follow-up to 2007’s acclaimed Check the Technique (Villard / Random House), which has sold more than 11,000 copies to date. For background and information on Coleman and the series, visit: http://www.BrianColemanBooks.com.
Presenting never-before-told, behind-the-scenes histories ranging from influential ‘80s masterpieces like DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince’s He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper and 3rd Bass’ The Cactus Album to ‘90s classics like Ice Cube’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, Mos Def’s and Talib Kweli’s Are Black Star and Dr. Octagon’s Dr. Octagonecologyst, the book’s approach is one that Coleman calls Invisible Liner Notes – retracing the story of an album step by step, in collaboration with the artists themselves.
Weighing in at 544 pages, the 25-chapter book includes lively, in-depth, provocative interviews with more than 80 artists, DJs, producers and industry insiders. All in all, 325 hip-hop songs are discussed and dissected, by the artists who made them.
As Coleman explains, “This third edition of my Check the Technique / Rakim Told Me series is the one that I am proudest of, by far. The interviews are deeper than ever before, the chapters are longer and more in-depth, and I spent months gathering the 350-plus images that are included in the pages which really bring the stories of these amazing albums to life.”
Coleman’s past two books have sold more than 13,000 copies worldwide and received worldwide acclaim amongst both music and literary / cultural critics.
“Brian Coleman gets props for the exhaustive effort it took to interview the writers and producers of three dozen seminal hip-hop albums for Check the Technique. He doesn’t merely compile fresh liner notes and anecdotes from stars like Q-Tip, Chuck D and Too $hort. He captures hip-hop’s spirit from the ‘80s to the mid-‘90s, when inner-city kids discovered music through samples crammed into SP-1200 drum machines, learned the biz from shady contracts, and built their personae from their stage names up. Most admirably, Coleman sits back and lets these born storytellers talk.”
– Entertainment Weekly, Neil Drumming
“Rock historiography is full of lore about the making of canonical albums, but there hasn’t been much like that for the rap world – until now.”
– Village Voice, Michaelangelo Matos
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:
Brian Coleman is a music journalist and historian who has previously authored two acclaimed, nonfiction music books: Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies (Villard / Random House, 2007; Shinko [Japan], 2008) and Rakim Told Me: Hip-Hop Wax Facts, Straight From the Original Artists. The ‘80s (Wax Facts Press, 2005). Before that, he promoted avant garde jazz and moonlighted as a hip-hop journalist for more than a decade, contributing hundreds of articles and reviews to publications including XXL, Scratch, Wax Poetics, URB, CMJ, the Boston Herald, Metro Newspapers, and many more.
Coleman resides in Boston and runs Good Road, which encompasses a PR agency, apparel brand and record label. For more information, visit http://www.BrianColemanBooks.com and http://www.Good-Road.net.
CHAPTERS:
3rd Bass The Cactus Album (1989, Def Jam / CBS)
The Beatnuts Intoxicated Demons: The EP (1993, Relativity / Violator)
Black Sheep A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing (1991, Mercury / PolyGram)
Company Flow Funcrusher Plus (1997, Official / Rawkus)
The Coup Steal This Album (1998, Dogday / Polemic)
Diamond and the Psychotic Neurotics Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop (1992, Chemistry / Mercury)
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper (1988, Jive / RCA)
Dr. Octagon Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996, Bulk Recordings)
ED O.G & Da Bulldogs Life Of A Kid In The Ghetto (1991, PWL America / Mercury)
Gravediggaz Niggamortis [aka 6 Feet Deep] (1994, Gee Street / Island)
Ice Cube AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted & Kill At Will (1990, Priority)
Jeru The Damaja The Sun Rises In The East (1994, Payday / FFRR)
KMD Black Bastards ([1994] / 2000, [Elektra] / Readyrock / Sub Verse)
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo Wanted: Dead Or Alive (1990, Cold Chillin’ / Warner Bros.)
Kwamé The Boy Genius Featuring A New Beginning (1989, Atlantic)
Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth Funky Technician (1990, Wild Pitch)
Mantronix The Album (1985, Sleeping Bag)
Masta Ace Incorporated SlaughtaHouse (1993, Delicious Vinyl / Atlantic)
Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998, Rawkus)
Naughty By Nature Naughty By Nature (1991, Tommy Boy)
Nice & Smooth Ain’t A Damn Thing Changed (1991, RAL / PolyGram)
Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995, Loud / RCA)
Smif-N-Wessun Dah Shinin’ (1995, Wreck / Nervous)
Stetsasonic In Full Gear (1988, Tommy Boy)
Various Wild Style Breakbeats ([1981] / 2014, Kay-Dee / Get On Down)
[Digital versions (Apple and Kindle) of Check the Technique Volume 2, to be released in October 2014, will include five additional chapters which have never been released in Ebook form.]
RETAILERS: for information regarding Check the Technique Volume 2 stocking / orders, please contact Traffic Entertainment (mikeq@trafficent.com, 617-845-0088) or Gingko Press (orders@gingkopress.com, 510-898 1195).
Four sample chapters from the book are online now (for a limited time):
3rd Bass: https://medium.com/@briancoleman/3rd-bass-9ecff0fd3fb9
Smif-N-Wessun: https://medium.com/@briancoleman/smif-n-wessun-9967b4a33711
Gravediggaz: http://www.egotripland.com/gravediggaz-6-feet-deep-niggamortis-brian-coleman-check-the-technique-vol-2/
Masta Ace Incorporated: http://www.egotripland.com/brian-coleman-check-the-technique-vol-2-masta-ace-slaughtahouse/
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