Did you know Jean-Michel Basquiat produced a Hip Hop record? How about Run-DMC first wore leisure suits when they performed? Hip Hop took an opulent form in 1983. You don't know the half of it. The award winning, best selling series continues.

This issue marks a distinct new era in rap music where the Beastie Boys become a rap act, Run DMC become superstars and the introduction of the Fat Boys takes place. Your favorite rapper's favorite rappers are covered in this bold award-winning, best-selling series.

The endlessly quoted graffiti documentary, Style Wars gets lovingly dissected in this issue amongst many other earth-shattering discoveries. Did you know Public Enemy were first the Spectrum City DJs? Did you know Flavor Flav can play a dozen musical instruments? Just to name a few . . .

The earliest phases of the biggest company in rap music, Def Jam Records, are put into place this issue. Get ready to read the origins of rap pioneers like The Fat Boys, Slick Rick, and a 16 year old boy who calls himself LL (ladies love) cool J.

The lore of the early days of hip hop has become the stuff of myth, so what better way to document this fascinating, epic true story than in another great American mythological medium—the comic book? From exciting young talent and self-proclaimed hip hop nerd Ed Piskor, acclaimed for his hacker graphic novel Wizzywig, comes this explosively entertaining, encyclopedic history of the formative years of the music genre that changed global culture. Originally serialized on the hugely popular website Boing Boing, The Hip Hop Family Tree is now collected in a single volume cleverly presented and packaged in a style mimicking the Marvel comics of the same era. Piskor's exuberant yet controlled cartooning takes you from the parks and rec rooms of the South Bronx to the night clubs, recording studios, and radio stations where the scene started to boom, capturing the flavor of late-1970s New York City in panels bursting with obsessively authentic detail. With a painstaking, vigorous and engaging Ken Burns meets- Stan Lee approach, the battles and rivalries, the technical innovations, the triumphs and failures are all thoroughly researched and lovingly depicted. plus the charismatic players behind the scenes like Russell Simmons, Sylvia Robinson and then-punker Rick Rubin. Piskor also traces graffiti master Fab 5 Freddy's rise in the art world, and Debbie Harry, Keith Haring, The Clash, and other luminaries make cameos as the music and culture begin to penetrate downtown Manhattan and the mainstream at large. Like the acclaimed hip hop documentaries Style Wars and Scratch, The Hip Hop Family Tree is an exciting and essential cultural chronicle and a must for hip hop fans, pop-culture addicts, and anyone who wants to know how it went down back in the day.

Too many incredible milestones in this issue to name! LL Cool J makes a record with Rick Rubin and Def Jam. KRS One gets arrested and meets his future DJ. The Fat Boys and Run DMC headline the first national hip hop tours. Just to name a few.

In the latest volume of the history of hip-hop told in graphic novel form, we are introduced to characters such as Dr. Dre, Will Smith, Salt-N-Peppa (some of whom were featured in the hit summer movie, Straight Out of Compton ), and many more. Book 4 charts the rise of Dr. Dre and Def Jam records, and introduces new branches on the "tree": Will Smith, Salt-N-Pepa, Rakim, and Biz Markie. This volume is also jam-packed with films Hollywood released in an attempt to cash in on the phenomenon, like Breakin’, Breakin’ 2 Electric Boogaloo, Beat Street, Krush Groove and more. Full color illustrations throughout