Publishers Weekly
06/05/2023
Journalist Mael chronicles hip-hop’s emergence in late 1970s and ’80s New York City in his rollicking debut. Focusing on a pivotal rap battle between the Cold Crush Brothers and the Fantastic Romantic Five on July 3, 1981, at the Harlem World club, Mael unpacks how lyrical flair, and such new techniques as record-scratching, elevated hip hop from the city’s streets to airwaves across the world. Groups like the two that faced off at Harlem World “weren’t mass-marketed and packaged by record companies to look a certain way or deliver a certain message. They were the message,” says Mael, and though the Fantastic Romantic Five took home the grand prize of $1,000 that night, the true “winners... were hip hop fans in general,” who witnessed the beginnings of what “remains a massive cultural force.” Based on interviews with some of hip-hop’s early players, who offer behind-the-scenes insight into the infamous battle, and contextualized by incisive discussions of demographic shifts in Harlem and the Bronx and other historical details, this gives welcome due to the underground culture and cast of characters that gave hip-hop its wild style. Readers curious about the genre’s roots will want to take it for a spin. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
"Journalist Mael chronicles hip-hop's emergence in late 1970s and '80s New York City in his rollicking debut. . . . Readers curious about the genre's roots will want to take it for a spin."—Publishers Weekly
Library Journal
09/01/2023
Journalist Mael's debut book uses personal and archived interviews and articles to chronicle the event on July 3, 1981, when two of the era's most respected acts in hip-hop competed at the Harlem World Cultural and Entertainment Complex in New York for $1,000 and bragging rights. The Cold Crush Brothers, a four-man rap group, came in with beats and bravado. Their opponents, the Fantastic Romantic Five, had a bit more name recognition and were popular with women. Although the rap battle was for one night, it would live on with the advent of cassette tapes and listeners debating the end result. Mael tells the story like a sports play-by-play, allowing readers to get a glimpse of events that led up to that night and through the battle's conclusion. Unfortunately, the performances take a backseat to a plethora of information, some helpful—mini-biographies of both groups—and some unnecessary, such as a chapter on the 1983 movie Wild Style. More details about the evolution of hip-hop would have been appreciated. VERDICT Readers looking for perspectives on the July 1981 rap battle might enjoy this. Readers looking for more information on hip-hop's history and development will find it in Jonathan Abrams's The Come Up.—Anjelica Rufus-Barnes
Kirkus Reviews
2023-05-27
An attempt to capture the heady early days of hip-hop.
The subject matter is unquestionably compelling. However, like an up-and-coming rapper battling too hard too soon, Mael, a reporter and high school teacher, bites off more than he can chew. It’s clear from the subtitle that the author had grand ambitions. The showdown refers to the rap battle between the Cold Crush Brothers and the Fantastic Romantic Five at Harlem World nightclub on July 3, 1981. Mael offers plenty of fascinating details about the night, both groups, and how the beef, which pales in comparison to contemporary battles, developed between them. The Cold Crush Brothers—which included Grandmaster Caz, whose pioneering rhymes were used by another rapper on the first hip-hop hit, Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”—were known to be “tough, thoughtful, uncompromising, and slick all at the same time.” The Fantastic Romantic Five, which included standout DJ Grand Wizzard Theodore, were more about improvisation and pleasing the crowd. “For Fantastic, the party was key to a successful routine,” Mael writes. “They knew who was judging that night and understood that the trick to winning the battle would be getting them to dance and scream and make out and have a good time.” That reporting and those insights into one of hip-hop’s legendary evenings are important for what they add to the history of the genre. However, it takes more than half the book to reach that night, as Mael takes readers through lengthy tangents into the history of Malcolm X, the formation of the Sugarhill Gang, and how looting during a 1977 blackout in the Bronx helped supply a lot of new DJs with equipment. The interesting detours don’t quite explain how music was irrevocably changed, however; it’s a little too much hype to be believed.
Mael promises a weighty concept album of insight into a legendary concert, but he manages only an uneven mixtape.
