Hip hop in the U.S. may have hit a lull, but it's far from dead. At home, hip hop fanatics have started to dig deeper for rarer singles from the late 80's and early 90's, and overseas it's still huge. Take Japan for example, There, it's respected to the fullest. So, leave it to them to compile this huge hip hop sample reference book for all your digger needs. They've literally done all your research for you in this huge 241 page dictionary of hip hop artists, organized alphabetically by name, track name and the songs sampled for the track. Includes all big name hip hop artists from 2 Live Crew to Z-Trip, including even hard to find, obscure artists like Siah & Yeshua Dapo to Kartoon Krew. It even has dictionary style printing on the sides for quick flipping by alphabet. Yes it's all here in this one inexhaustible book, because you can't really take the internet with you to records stores(yet). Although it's an awesome reference, I'll warn you that the inside cover does say, "All data are not necessarily accurate." Don't fret though, I feel they threw that in there so some nerd doesn't 'cause a fuss 'cause one sample is wrong. For the most part, it's pretty spot on. Also has a list of the ten commandments of digging on the back, in broken english, "Don't forget to keep turning on your equipments." They do give you some good tips like, "Go through the records stores A-Z, even the boxes on the floor," this has always been a secret of mine. But they forgot the most important rule to digging, "Never bring your girlfriend with you." It's like the girl equivalent of a guy gettin' dragged into Sephora.

reviewed by C'mish