More trouble for the Anthology of Rap

Early this month, Yale University Press published the Anthology of Rap, a compendium of hip hop lyrics that purportedly showed the evolutions of the genre. But almost immediately critics took issue with the book's philosophy (cf: Kevin Young's piece in Bookforum), as well as its many transcription errors. Paul Devlin at Slate has followed up with questions both for rappers cited in the book, as well as the book's advisory board about how the problems came about, and what can be done to remedy them:

How to improve future editions was on the mind of advisory board member David "Davey D" Cook, a California DJ, writer, and activist whose involvement in hip-hop dates to 1977, when he was an MC in the Bronx. Cook told me he believes the anthology is an important, barrier-breaking step for hip-hop, but that the editors made serious mistakes in compiling it. He's hopeful, though, that those mistakes might provide a teachable moment. "This was an 85 percent book. It needs to be 100 percent," he said. "The book needs a second printing with the first one being used as an example of what not to do." Cook thinks subsequent editions should draw on the knowledge of a wide range of hip-hop "scholars and practitioners" to get the lyrics right. Such an effort, he said, would provide a different kind of example, "of how a community can come together to correct something, to really correct it in a way that all the stake-holders can really celebrate. And we should all want to celebrate this as an accomplishment. But it has to be 100 percent."

I asked the anthology's editors, via e-mail, to discuss the role the advisory board played in the shaping of the book, but they did not respond. I asked the Yale University Press to comment on the book in light of the errors that have been found . . .

For a more playful exegesis, why not try out Rap Genius?