Originally published: New York : St. Martin's Press, 2005.

Includes bibliographical references, discography, filmography, and index.

Introduction / D. J. Kool Herc -- Loop 1. Babylon is burning : 1968-1977 -- 1. Necropolis : the Bronx and the politics of abandonment -- 2. Sipple out deh : Jamaicas roots generation and the cultural turn -- 3. Blood and fire, with occasional music : the gangs of the Bronx -- 4. Making a name : how D. J. Kool Herc lost his accent and started hip-hop -- Loop 2. Planet rock : 1975-1986 -- 5. Soul salvation : the mystery and faith of Afrika Bambaataa -- 6. Furious styles : the evolution of style in the seven-mile world -- 7. The world is ours : the survival and transformation of Bronx style -- 8. Zulus on a time bomb : hip-hop meets the rockers downtown -- 9. 1982 : rapture in Reagans America -- 10. End of innocence : the fall of the old school -- Loop 3. The message : 1984-1992 -- 11. Things fall apart : the rise of the post-civil rights era -- 12. What we got to say : black suburbia, segregation and utopia in the late 1980s -- 13. Follow for now : the question of post-civil rights black leadership -- 14. The culture assassins : geography, generation and gangsta rap -- 15. The real enemy : the cultural riot of Ice Cubes Death certificate -- Loop 4. Stakes is high : 1992-2001 -- 16. Gonna work it out : peace and rebellion in Los Angeles -- 17. All in the same gang : the war on youth and the quest for unity -- 18. Becoming the hip-hop generation : the source, the industry and the big crossover -- 19. New world order : globalization, containment and counterculture at the end of the century -- App. Words, images and sounds : a selected resource guide.