December 01, 2010

Alumnus publishes groundbreaking rap anthology

Adam Bradley BA ’96 sparked dialogue around the country with his groundbreaking publication, The Anthology of Rap.

Adam Bradley BA ’96 asserts the vital poetic tradition of hip-hop music in his groundbreaking publication, The Anthology of Rap, released in November by Yale University Press.

Bradley is the co-editor of the anthology, which collects hundreds of hip-hop lyrics spanning the entire 30-year history of the genre.

A professor of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Bradley is a scholar of African-American literature and a writer on black popular culture. He published Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop, an exploration of America’s least understood poets, in 2009. Also in 2009, Bradley helped bring Ralph Ellison’s long-awaited second novel to life; working with John Callahan, Morgan S. Odell Professor of Humanities, Bradley co-edited Three Days Before the Shooting: The Unfinished Second Novel by Ralph Ellison.

The Anthology of Rap has received media attention from outlets across the country, with Bradley and his co-editor Andrew DuBois receiving praise for compiling the “English major’s hip-hop bible.”

Mother Jones Magazine: Anthology of Rap: The Unofficial Index (11/29/10)

National Public Radio: ‘The Anthology of Rap’: Lyrics as Poetry (11/7/10) 

The Wall Street Journal: Hip-Hop Goes to Harvard (11/5/10)

Slate: Fact-Check the Rhyme (11/4/10)

Colorado Public Radio: The Anthology of Rap (11/2/10)

New York Magazine: Straight Outta Comp 101 (10/31/10)