2015 tome of rap nerdery from Houston writer Shea Serrano! Serrano is doing great work filling the void left wide open since the 1999 publication of the universally-accepted rap nerd bible, Ego Trip’s Book Of Rap Lists. The Rap Year Book is laid out similarly to Ego Trip's joint, rife with colorful illustrations and endless blurbs, infographics and sidebars jumping from each page. Covers the *extended golden era* of hip-hop, starting in 1979 and stopping right around the time most of us threw up our hands and gave up trying: 2003. Serrano writes extended essays on the biggest tracks of each year and muses on what the changing rap climate was like from year to year. Guaranteed to keep even the most marginal rap nerd on the toilet for a good 15-20 minutes longer than they really need to be. Choice infographs include the Houston slang cheat sheet, “Is Your Girl A Gold Digger?”, the Tupac & Biggie timeline, Jay vs. Nas, and the International Players Quiz. Foreward by Ice-T.

• softcover edition
• 240 pages
• foreward by Ice-T
• illustrations by Arturo Torres

reviewed by big dumb man 04/2018