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Podcast: New Books in Popular Culture
Episode: Jonathan Mael, "Harlem World: How Hip Hop's Super Showdown Changed Music Forever" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023)
Description: July 3, 1981, was a pivotal night for the future of America's newest art form: hip hop. In New York's Harlem World Club, the Fantastic Romantic Five and the Cold Crush Brothers competed, with an unprecedented $1,000--and their reputations--on the line in a highly anticipated rap battle. The show drew hundreds of fans to settle a question that still dominates hip hop circles: Who's the best?In Harlem World: How Hip Hop's Super Showdown Changed Music Forever (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023), journalist Jonathan Mael chronicles this fateful night of hip hop rivalry and shares a new look at how Harlem he...