Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRELUDE 

Tale of the (Cassette) Tape

INTRODUCTION 

Check the Rhime

CHAPTER 1 

Streets Is Watching

CHAPTER 2 

Brooklyn Go Hard

CHAPTER 3 

Let the Rhythm Hit ’Em

CHAPTER 4 

Walk This Way

CHAPTER 5 

Welcome to the Terrordome

CHAPTER 6 

Me Against the World

CHAPTER 7 

Ambitionz Az a Ridah

CHAPTER 8 

Dirty South

CHAPTER 9 

Y’all Must’ve Forgot

CHAPTER 10 

Lean Back

CHAPTER 11 

Get Money

CHAPTER 12 

Get Rich or Die Tryin’

CHAPTER 13 

What’s Beef?

CHAPTER 14 

Hate It or Love It

CHAPTER 15 

Watch the Throne

CHAPTER 16 

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

AFTERWORD 

Don’t Call It a Comeback

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

APPENDIXES : A COMPILATION OF HIP-HOP & BOXING SONGS

APPENDIX A 

Songs that Reference Boxing Personalities

APPENDIX B 

Noteworthy Hip-Hop Collaborations with Boxers

APPENDIX C 

Noteworthy Hip-Hop Songs Specifically Crafted for Boxing

APPENDIX D 

Noteworthy Hip-Hop Songs by Boxers

NOTES

WORKS REFERENCED

About the Author

Dr. Todd D. Snyder is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing at Siena College in Albany, New York. He received a B.A. and an M.A. in English from Marshall University (2004, 2006) and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition from Ohio University (2011). Snyder is the author of Beatboxing: How Hip-hop Changed the Fight Game, Bundini: Don't Believe The Hype, The Rhetoric of Appalachian Identity and 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym: Boxing and Manhood in Appalachia. His scholarly research draws from a variety of fields: rhetoric and composition, community literacy studies, communications studies, cultural studies, and critical theory. Snyder also teaches a course at Siena College in hip-hop studies and contributed a chapter to The Oxford Handbook of Hip-Hop Studies. The son of a West Virginia boxing trainer, Snyder’s work is also intimately connected to his life experience, the theme of working class masculinity serving as primary focus of his writing projects.

Reviews

“I love how Todd Snyder's brain works. Like him, I love hip hop, and I love boxing. But I've never seen someone tie them together so well, detailing their shared history, the way each impacted the other and the personalities involved. Beatboxing is written with such tethering, with that kind of impact and insight. It might be my favorite sports book—since the last one Snyder wrote.” —Greg Bishop, Sports Illustrated