Brian Coleman - Check The Technique available now.
Controller_7
4,052 Posts
I did a search and there was an earlier post about this coming out soon, but the post went off an IP/fake name tangent, so I am starting this new one. http://www.waxfacts.com/index.htmBrian Coleman is a super nice guy. When he wrote the first book "Rakim Told Me" I went to his website and ended up ordering the book directly from him. He ended up being super nice and down to earth. I am down to support anyone who is doing their thing and is extremely nice about it too. Besides being a nice guy, the book is an excellent read. You get to hear the actual artists talk about the albums they recorded and tell funny stories and interesting anecdotes. Some examples include:-KRS One talking about sampling the drums straight off of Eric B Is President for The Bridge is Over-Schooly D talking about the reverb on PSK and how they did it in a classical studio and scared the engineer.-Slick Rick talking about all the songs that he hated and thought were filler on Great Adventures.-Biz talking about Goin' Off and not understanding why Marley Marl changed the singles on the LP.-De La discussing many of the songs off 3 Feet High and Rising.there's lots of good stuff. The new book adds on to what was in Rakim Told Me and includes a whole bunch of new albums I'm looking forward to reading about. Sorry for what seems like an ad, but he's been a really cool guy to me and I appreciate his work and want to share this so people will support the book. 
Comments
Chapter list:
2 Live Crew - As Nasty As They Wanna Be
Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
Big Daddy Kane - Long Live the Kane
Black Moon - Enta Da Stage
Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded
Brand Nubian - One for All
Common - Resurrection
Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
Das Efx - Dead Serious
De La Soul - 3 Feet High And Rising
Digable Planets - Reachin??? (A New Refutation of Time and Space)
Digital Underground - Sex Packets
EPMD - Strictly Business
Eric B & Rakim - Paid In Full
Fugees - The Score
Geto Boys - We Can???t Be Stopped
Ice-T - Power
Biz Markie - Goin??? Off
Marley Marl & Various - In Control Volume 1
MC Lyte - Lyte As A Rock
Mobb Deep - The Infamous
M.O.P. - Firing Squad
Onyx - Bacdafucup
Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde
Poor Righteous Teachers - Holy Intellect
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Redman - Whut? Thee Album
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Mecca & The Soul Brother
The Roots - Do You Want More??!!??
Run-DMC - Raising Hell
Schoolly D - Saturday Night: The Album
Slick Rick - The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
Too $hort - Life Is??? Too $hort
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers
X-Clan - To the East, Blackwards
you're in philly, right? borders should have it, if i remember correctly
Just searched the borders site, they don't seem to carry either book.
p.s. If i was gonna write a book these are the books I'd write. So he stole my books. Now I can't write a book.
the borders at broad & chestnut should have it. saw it there about a week ago
I'm still bugging out that Coleman was one of the OG breaks LP dudes. I'd mention the series but
Interesting. I did not know that.
If you're a fan of vague sensationalistic generalisations that add no new insight to topics that have been beaten into the ground, then this is your kind of book. A lot of chapters in Odub's book were able to much more seriously and intelligently critique and analyze many of the same records in about half the words.
Dude, they're two totally different books. I love Brian's books - they're just straight up, from-the-horse's-mouth accounts on what it was like to put together all the albums that get discussed. It's not meant to be critically frame those albums (that'd be my book) - they're meant to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at what, say, Evil Dee and Walt were tossing around in order to produce "Enta Da Stage."
Seriously, for any hip-hop fan for whom these albums meant anything, you'll like a lot of these stories. Period.
Seriously, for any hip-hop fan for whom these albums meant anything, you'll like a lot of these stories. Period.
Why anybody would not want to hear the story from the artists mouth is baffling.
I like his music too.
First the ass-hurt in the Just Blaze thread and now this foolishness.
Why is it that SoulStrut dudes struggle with the concept of primary sources?
Huh?
Liner notes are primary sources. Press releases are primary sources. Soundscan numbers are primary sources. Saigon airing out Just Blaze is a primary source.
Artist interviews are primary sources.
Brian Coleman telling me seventeen times that Ultramagnetic MCs are 'lyrically ahead of their time' is not a primary source. I would be much more excited about the book if it were simply transcripts of the interviews he had with all the rappers / producers / exectuives / stepfathers.
I'm glad you all enjoy it; it's just not for me, I guess.
Dude, you obviously haven't seen the book. Here's a brief description of what it is:
Jeezus.
Sample page:
Maybe you're thinking of this one:
The track by tracks are pretty much the book's only redeeming qualities.
I'm talking about the 12 other pages on Too $hort that Coleman himself writes.
Not trying to be petty, just sayin'...
I'm sure dude wants people other than the small percentage of folks who already know the history of damn near every one of these artists to buy and understand this as well. Gotta give the people SOME kind of background.
It's right about now that I wish my copy wasn't stored away in a box for moving.
This book was very much written for rap nerds -- that's the reason so many strutters cosign it (or at least aren't incredibly bored by it). It's not marketed or even immediately appealing to a crowd that wouldn't at least be vaguely familiar with most of the titles discussed. Unfortunately, for the most part the author resorts to tired cliches to describe the music, and I'm not trying to read that.
b/w
We're alowed to hate on music here, but not on books?
I really don't see why you find the comments with which Coleman framed his interviews so objectionable, though we must all concede that for eye-gouging use of tired cliche they pale in comparison to the likes of the below meditation on Field Mob:
The books aren't meant to be read in linear fashion so jumping from transcript to transcript isn't going to mar the experience.
Saying - not liking Coleman's writing style or opinions is one thing but shitting on the book as a whole is classic "baby with the bathwater" short-sightedness.
Had never read Rakim Told Me so am just soaking it all in at the moment.
Exactly. I can understand his point to some degree (if Dave Tompkins wrote a book like this it would take some serious willpower to sit through
I bought the first book directly from him and I gotta say the same thing as Controller 7, dude was incredibly nice and took the time to talk about the book as well.
That is PRECISELY who the book is written for. It's not meant for general audiences who want an "introduction" to hip hop. It's strictly for nerds and based on how well "Rakim Told Me" did, that audience is cleaerly out there. Morever, that audience isn't caught up on issues or prose or diction.
Bottomline: if you don't like the book or the writing - fine. But it is very appealing to a wide segment of hip hop fanatics.
That shit was kinda crazy to me. Rick was pretty down on a good portion of Great Adventures and was constantly saying, "Oh, that song was stupid...that song was pure filler...I only did that one because we needed another song on the album."
If you are a rap nerd, you will like this book. A lot.