Ol school: Queens Reign Supreme

I am almost finished reading this excellent book "Queens Reign Supreme;Fat Cat, 50 Cent and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler" This is an awesome book which covers the whole history of the mid 80's drug kingpins and how their enterprising intertwined with the history of hip hop.

This is the untold story which surprised me; sometimes hip hop history books tend to sugar coat the realities of the cities from which hip hop came. For me this whole history was very revealing in that the early 80s hustlers were rubbing elbows with the likes of Kurtis Blow and Russell Simmons.

When you get this book, you get a very detailed history of how RUN DMC started and the birth of Def Jam records. All this leads up to the Irv Gotti and the beginning of Murder Inc. records. Throughout there is a very tangled web where the streets and the hip hop industry intertwine; and its laid out in such a way that puts it all together. You'll be thinking, "I remember reading about this event or hearing about when such and such happened" and this book shows what the ultimate end was. Once you read this book, you'll find out about major players on the NYC streets in the 80's (such as Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff'), why 50 Cent's song "Ghetto Quran" is so controversial, and what started the whole beef between Ja Rule and 50 Cent in the first place.

Without going into too much detail, Id have to say that if you pick this up on Amazon, it will prove to be a very welcome addition to any hip hop library.

Not only that, once you read this book, the recent drama surrounding Kenneth "Supreme" Mcgriff will make much more sense.