HARLEM WORLD

An attempt to capture the heady early days of hip-hop.

The subject matter is unquestionably compelling. However, like an up-and-coming rapper battling too hard too soon, Mael, a reporter and high school teacher, bites off more than he can chew. It’s clear from the subtitle that the author had grand ambitions. The showdown refers to the rap battle between the Cold Crush Brothers and the Fantastic Romantic Five at Harlem World nightclub on July 3, 1981. Mael offers plenty of fascinating details about the night, both groups, and how the beef, which pales in comparison to contemporary battles, developed between them. The Cold Crush Brothers—which included Grandmaster Caz, whose pioneering rhymes were used by another rapper on the first hip-hop hit, Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”—were known to be “tough, thoughtful, uncompromising, and slick all at the same time.” The Fantastic Romantic Five, which included standout DJ Grand Wizzard Theodore, were more about improvisation and pleasing the crowd. “For Fantastic, the party was key to a successful routine,” Mael writes. “They knew who was judging that night and understood that the trick to winning the battle would be getting them to dance and scream and make out and have a good time.” That reporting and those insights into one of hip-hop’s legendary evenings are important for what they add to the history of the genre. However, it takes more than half the book to reach that night, as Mael takes readers through lengthy tangents into the history of Malcolm X, the formation of the Sugarhill Gang, and how looting during a 1977 blackout in the Bronx helped supply a lot of new DJs with equipment. The interesting detours don’t quite explain how music was irrevocably changed, however; it’s a little too much hype to be believed.

Mael promises a weighty concept album of insight into a legendary concert, but he manages only an uneven mixtape.