The third volume of the popular webcomic tells the true story of hip-hoppers The Beastie Boys, Run DMC, The Fat Boys, and many more.
Ed Piskor’s acclaimed graphic novel series continues! Book 3 highlights Run DMC’s rise to fame and introduces unassailable acts like Whodini, The Fat Boys, Slick Rick, and Doug E Fresh. The Beastie Boys become a rap group. Rick Rubin meets Russell Simmons to form Def Jam. The famous TV pilot to the dance show Graffiti Rock and the documentaries Style Wars and Breakin’ and Enterin’ are all highlighted in this comprehensive volume spanning 1983-1984. Ed Piskor continues to deliver the goods in this comprehensive history of hip hop.
About the Author
Ed Piskor (1982) lives and draws out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His New York Times Best-Selling series Hip Hop Family Tree, which was originally serialized on Boing Boing, has gone back to print numerous times, and won the 2015 Eisner Award for "Best Reality-Based Work." His series for Marvel, X-Men: Grand Design, was released in 2017 to wide acclaim.
Praise For…
The third gathering of Piskor’s smash webcomic... affords as much amusement and well-researched history as its two predecessors. ... Piskor’s art style, somewhere between Jack Kirby and R. Crumb, looks as good as, maybe better than, ever. — Ray Olson
Hip Hop Family Tree… [is] …an exhaustive, lovingly-rendered portrayal of the movement's explosive early moments.
— Nathan Reese
Marvel at hip-hop greatness. — Andres Tardio
Richly detailed and thoroughly researched. — Abel Charrow
Ed Piskor's stylish, funny, assiduously researched history of hip-hop is hugely engaging and enlightening. — Glen Weldon
The amount of research he’s done sets a rather terrifying new standard for anyone else inclined to study the birth of hip-hop…. No less brilliant than Piskor’s journalism is his graphical skill. — Etelka Lehoczky
When cartoonist Ed Piskor decided to unspool the labyrinth history of one of America’s greatest artistic accomplishments, he spared no effort to immerse his readers in the era of jump suits and scarred vinyl. Everything in Hip Hop Family Tree screams nostalgia: the Ben-Day dots, the sepia discoloration…even the print feels course and pulpy, like a priceless cultural artifact unearthed in a garage sale or your dad’s basement. Flipping through the oversized pages, you can almost hear the slap bass, horn swells, and ricocheting rhymes of hip-hop’s inaugural years.
— Sean Edgar
The cartoonist’s encyclopedic love for his subject matter – and his energetic depiction of its beefs, battle-raps and gradual rags-to-riches rise to fame – makes Hip Hop Family Tree a rigorous, scholarly work of pop culture history, masquerading as great comics.
— Sean Rogers
Pittsburgh cartoonist Piskor continues his authoritative and highly entertaining graphic history of hip-hop, with tales of the early days of Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys, and the Fat Boys. — Dan DeLuca
Comic book writer and illustrator Ed Piskor is working to preserve a sense of hip-hop’s early history through the widely acclaimed Hip-Hop Family Tree comic series from Fantagraphics, an expansive look at the early ’80s formative hip-hop scene and the young pioneers that poured the foundation.
— Jason Tabrys
If you love hip-hop culture or comics, you have to get these books immediately. If you hate hip-hip culture or comics, then these books will convert you into a lover of both. — Nick Gazin
He’s not just doin’ a comic book, he’s doin' a piece of history. — Darryl “DMC” McDaniels
These are dookie-gold-chain d-o-p-e. — Darcy MacDonald
Piskor’s work doesn’t just capture the mood of old school hip hop. It taps into the feel of school comics as well. ... This is the kind of book that’s designed to be spread out on the floor while resting on your belly, the stereo turned up as loud as you can stand it. Piskor’s mastery of the comics page is like a DJ’s best breakbeat record -- no matter where you drop the needle, you’re going to find something good. — Jeremy Estes
Retelling the history of hip hop in the style of '80s Marvel comics, wasn't necessarily a good idea… it was the best idea. ...HHFT [is] an incredible achievement, as well as one of comics' greatest nonfiction works.
— Rob Bricken
Extraordinary effort. Even if you are not a hip-hop fan, you need to read this. — Jatin Varma
Acclaimed comic book artist Ed Piskor’s Hip Hop Family Tree series is as fresh and electric as the music it salutes.
— Jamie Blaine
Whether you were there when it was happening or not, [Hip Hop Family Tree] will unfold a rich universe of music history and all the knock-on effects of it too. With the warmth and immediacy only a true fan could impart, Piskor tells the ongoing history of Hip Hop in these lovingly crafted volumes.
— Sonia Harris
...[Hip Hop Family Tree] gets better and better as its core cast of characters gets fully established and we get a bit more in-depth with them. ... Piskor’s style and design choices push the quality of this history of hip-hop over the top.
