When hired to kill Ssowori Rama, a new, unlicensed man-for-hire who is causing havoc even within his own chaotic profession, Muchaca sets out on the grim, futuristic streets of Soul City to seek his mark. Rated for older teens.

The illustrated oral history of the greatest hip-hop hit-making machine in history.

In the early ‘80s, the music industry wrote off hip-hop as a passing fad. Few could or would have predicted that the improvised raps and raw beats busting out of New York City’s urban underclass would one day become a multimillion-dollar business and one of music’s most lucrative genres. Among those few were two visionaries: Russell Simmons, a young black man from Hollis, Queens, and Rick Rubin, a Jewish kid from Long Island. Though the two came from different backgrounds, their all-consuming passion for hip-hop brought them together. Soon they would revolutionize the music industry with their groundbreaking label, Def Jam Records. Def Jam, Inc. traces the company’s incredible rise from the NYU dorm room of nineteen-year-old Rubin (where LL Cool J was discovered on a demo tape) to the powerhouse it is today; from financial struggles and scandals–including The Beastie Boys’s departure from the label and Rubin’s and Simmons’s eventual parting–to revealing anecdotes about artists like Slick Rick, Public Enemy, Foxy Brown, Jay-Z, and DMX. Stacy Gueraseva, former editor in chief of Russell Simmons’s magazine, Oneworld, had access to the biggest players on the scene, and brings you real conversations and a behind-the-scenes look from a decade–and a company–that turned the music world upside down. She takes you back to New York in the ‘80s, when late-night spots such as Danceteria and Nell’s were burning with young, fresh rappers, and Simmons and Rubin had nothing but a hunch that they were on to something huge. Far more than just a biography of the two men who made it happen, Def Jam, Inc. is a journey into the world of rap itself. Both an intriguing business history as well as a gritty narrative, here is the definitive book on Def Jam–a must read for any fan of hip-hop as well as all popular-culture junkies.

"It's where Walt Whitman meets Michael Jackson. It's where Emily Dickinson meets Mary J. Blige. It's Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam, the lyrical, smart, hilarious, and searingly honest new show that has become a true phenomenon on Broadway, earning critical raves and drawing huge cheers nightly. Def Poetry Jam is an experience that's not to be missed: Nine gifted, young poets speaking from the heart about everything from love to sex, politics, and Krispy Kreme donuts. If Langston Hughes or Virginia Woolf were alive today, this is what they'd sound like. The roster includes both well-established and up-and-coming poets -- including Suheir Hammad, author of Born Palestinian, Born Black; Black Ice, a.k.a. Lamar Manson, the first spoken-word artist to be signed to Def Jam Records; Beau Sia, author of A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge, and a two-time National Poetry Slam champion; and Poetri, one of the founders of Da Poetry Lounge in Los Angeles. Essential for every fan of contemporary poetry, Russell Simmons Def Jam on Broadway ... and More is a cutting-edge and constantly surprising volume that takes a fresh, exuberant, sometimes insightful, sometimes comedic look at who we are and where we are today"--Publisher's description.

Bum Rush the Page is a groundbreaking collection, capturing the best new work from the poets who have brought fresh energy, life, and relevance to American poetry. “Here is a democratic orchestration of voices and visions, poets of all ages, ethnicities, and geographic locations coming together to create a dialogue and to jam–not slam. This is our mouth on paper, our hearts on our sleeves, our refusal to shut up and swallow our silence. These poems are tough, honest, astute, perceptive, lyrical, blunt, sad, funny, heartbreaking, and true. They shout, they curse, they whisper, and sing. But most of all, they tell it like it is.” –Tony Medina, from the Introduction

More than any other band, Pearl Jam embodies the alternative style that dominates rock today. From their early days as fame-ducking grunge pioneers, through their headline-making battle with Ticketmaster, to their current status as self-assured survivors, Five Against One brings to life Pearl Jam's tumultuous ascent to superstardom in rich detail. A compelling portrait of the band's elusive leader Eddie Vedder and family photos never seen before by the public make this a must-have for every Pearl Jam fan.

The Def Jam label gave America hip hop. But who gave America Def Jam? Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin did. The Men Behind Def Jam examines the most unlikely history of the legendary label that started life in a student dorm and went on to introduce the world to LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, DMX and Jay-Z. Hustler-incarnate Russell Simmons and ex-punk Rick Rubin, the odd couple, fought and triumphed against all predictions to change the course of popular music forever. Here is an honest appraisal of these rival personalities, the quarrels, the successes and the failures of the spectacular Def Jam adventure. With Rubin and Simmons now pursuing other interests, the label continues with others at the helm, but the story of Def Jam’s birth and coming of age makes for one of pop music’s most feisty and fascinating legends.