Dead Precedents: How Hip-Hop Defines the Future

"Emerging alongside cyberpunk in the 1980s, the hallmarks of hip-hop--allusion, self-reference, the use of new technologies, sampling, the cutting and splicing of language and sound--would come to define the culture of the new millennium. Taking in the the ground-breaking work of DJs and MCs, alongside science-fiction writers like Dick and Gibson, as well as graffiti and DIY culture, Dead Precedents is a counter-cultural history of the twenty-first century, showcasing hip-hop's role in the creation of the world in which we now live"--Back cover.