The Big Payback: Hip-Hop, creativity and finding your angle

Dan Charnas, Chino XL & Rick Rubin

If you’re a fan of Hip-Hop or of music in general, and you haven’t read The Big Payback by Dan Charnas, then you are doing yourself a disservice.

It chronicles Hip-Hop from it’s birth behind DJ Hollywood's turn-tables, and follows the tumultuous journey of a marginalized musical genre that exploded in the 90's as a fully-fledged commercial juggernaut.

Like Hip-Hop itself, Charnas is somewhat of a pioneer, as prior to his book there was no definitive chronological history of Hip-Hop.

Charnas is no stranger to Hip-Hop’s creative process, in fact he was running the American Recordings rap department in 1991 and released such notable tracks as Sir Mix-A-Lots ‘Baby Got Back’ and DJ Kool’s ‘Let me clear my throat’.

I asked Charnas about his motivations for writing the book, and whilst his answer was simple, it highlighted a technique that many creative people never consider.

“The book demanded that it be written, and I was the only person who wanted to write it!”

If you’re having trouble kick-starting your creative catalog, think about the things you enjoy. Is there an aspect of those things that’s unique and worth documenting? 

Dan Charnas found a unique angle by tackling a subject that no-one else wanted to.

How will you challenge yourself? 

Order The Big Payback: The History of the business of Hip-Hop at Dan's website HERE