From underground roots to mainstream popularity, hip-hop's influence on music and entertainment around the world has been nothing short of extraordinary. Ode to Hip-Hop chronicles the journey with profiles of fifty albums that have defined, expanded, and ultimately transformed the genre into what it is today. From 2 Live Crew's groundbreaking As Nasty As They Wanna Be in 1989 to Cardi B's similarly provocative Invasion of Privacy almost thirty years later, and more, Kiana Fitzgerald's book Ode to Hip-Hop: 50 Albums That Define 50 Years of Trailblazing Music (Running Press Adult, 2023) covers hip-hop from coast to coast. Organized by decade and with sidebars on fashion, mixtapes, and key players throughout, the result is a comprehensive homage to hip-hop, published just in time for the fiftieth anniversary. Enjoyed in the club, at a party, through speakers or headphones–the albums in this book deserve to be listened to again and again, for the next fifty years and beyond.

Katrina Anderson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Delaware.

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