The Anthology of Rap

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It’s election day. But we’re going to take a little break from politics to talk about rap. Our guest is CU English professor Adam Bradley, whose new book is called “The Anthology of Rap.” It compiles the lyrics to hundreds of influential songs, along with biographies of the artists. It's like a hip-hop text book. Bradley told us about one song that was influential in his own life.

Adam Bradley: The rap song that I was particularly obsessed with as a kid was Eric B and Rakim’s “Paid in Full.” I would just listen to those lyrics over and over, “thinking of a master plan; cause there ain’t nothin’ but sweat inside my hands." Those rhymes would just be in my head, just captured my attention.

You’ll find the lyrics to this song in Bradley’s new book. He sat down with us to talk about some of the others.