Harlem World: How Hip Hop’s Super Showdown Changed Music Forever

Journalist Mael’s debut book uses personal and archived interviews and articles to chronicle the event on July 3, 1981, when two of the era’s most respected acts in hip-hop competed at the Harlem World Cultural and Entertainment Complex in New York for $1,000 and bragging rights. The Cold Crush Brothers, a four-man rap group, came in with beats and bravado. Their opponents, the Fantastic Romantic Five, had a bit more name recognition and were popular with women. Although the rap battle was for one night, it would live on with the advent of cassette tapes and listeners debating the end result. Mael tells the story like a sports play-by-play, allowing readers to get a glimpse of events that led up to that night and through the battle’s conclusion. Unfortunately, the performances take a backseat to a plethora of information, some helpful—mini-biographies of both groups—and some unnecessary, such as a chapter on the 1983 movie Wild Style. More details about the evolution of hip-hop would have been appreciated.