Check the Technique Volume 2: More Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies by Brian Coleman

Check the Technique Volume 2: More Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies Reviews

• 
  Byron

  When this came in the mail the other day, my old man asked me if it was a regular book or some sort of reference book. I assured him that I planned to read it straight through as if it were a novel or some shit.
  
  Not only do I know more about rap music, but I think my arms might be stronger as a result of having read it. It may have improved my love life. LOL
  
  It's a heavy, lengthy-ass book, is what I'm saying.
  
  But it actually doesn't read much slower, if at all slower, than a mass-market paperback you can carry in your back pocket. The text is kinda spaced out to make room for some very cool pictures of vintage album art, flyers and what have you, and because anyone who'd be interested in reading about these albums probably can't see as well as they used to in the 1990s. Also, this is ridonkulously high-quality paper. Homeless men have lived in boxes made of cardboard less thick than this book's pages.
  
  It's definitely a thorough book though. A few of these chapters could almost be expanded into books unto themselves, I guess because the interviewees were especially loquacious. Really, you could sell all of these individually, because Amazon will allow you to sell pretty much anything. I've spent pretty much my entire adult life sitting around in my pajamas reading rap music websites, and this book contains all kinds of shit I didn't know. A lot of this shit either no one bothered to document, or they did and I just didn't read it back when these albums came out, because I was like eight.
  
  If there's a problem with this book, it's the albums selected -- but that's actually kind of a gift and a curse. This is the second Check the Technique, following Vol. 1/Rakim Told Me, so a lot of the very best albums have already been covered. And of the albums remaining to be covered, the author probably couldn't track down some of the artists, for whatever reason (including, in at least a few cases, the artists having been shot and killed, this being rap music and all).
  
  Even if you adjust for all those factors, are these the 25 best rap albums that weren't already in the first book? Probably not, but some of these probably make for more interesting stories than better albums that could have been included. A certain kind of brother might have included seven or eight Wu-Tang albums, but what good would that have done?
  
  I was especially glad to see chapters on Company Flow's Funcrusher Plus, Ice Cube's Amerikkka's Most Wanted, Mantronix the Album and Mos Def and Talib Kweli's Black Star album, all four of which are among this book's most detailed chapters, and of which only maybe the Ice Cube album is universally regarded is one of the top rap albums of all time, of ALL TIME.
• 
  Meteorite_cufflink

  Music nerd heaven. Oral histories, hundreds of pages, endless detail - brought old favourites back to life and introduced me to new ones. Kudos, Brian Coleman!
• 
  Troy

  To read some of the artists of my favorite music share what they remember about the making of the classics I still listen to. A must for hip-hop heads.
• 
  Dave Hofer

  Just as good as the first volume. You can read a ton of this at once or sections here and there. Came with a Smif n Wessun 7"!
• 
  Jeff

  An invaluable resource for hip-hop fans -- smartly curated, solidly researched, and compellingly assembled.
• 
  James

  I actually designed this one...