I’m excited to announce that my book MPC IMPACT! – HIP HOP DECODED THROUGH TECHNOLOGY has been released by Rittor Music, Inc.  The book breaks down how American innovation and Japanese technology have supported hip hop throughout the world and the history of hip hop through the lens of technology.

This book is a work of creative nonfiction based on exclusive interviews with many figures who have been indispensable to hip hop, including a former Akai Electric engineer who produced the Akai MPC; Roger Linn, the father of the sampling drum machine and the designer of the MPC; Marley Marl, the progenitor of beat making through sampling; Bob Power, who built the foundation for the sound of A Tribe Called Quest and global hip hop; and Pete Rock, the greatest producer of the nineties. It is a unique book comprising interviews with the legends who contributed to the making of hip hop.

The book started as my thesis for the master’s program in Media Studies at The New School in New York City, and was compiled over ten years of research. It’s a book that I hope will be enjoyed a wide audience, including music lovers, hip hop fans, those interested in the connections between technology and culture, students interested in media theory, comparative culture, and cultural studies, and documentary enthusiasts.

I started graduate school pursuing a theme of technological determinism: How does technology shape society and culture? Hip hop was born in New York City in 1973 from two turntables and one microphone as the fusion of disco (which originated in France under the Nazi occupation) and reggae (Jamaican music culture). It subsequently developed along with digital sampling, which appeared in the eighties. I flew around the United States to interview many fascinating personalities about how Caribbean immigrants to New York City, African Americans, inventor musicians of the seventies, and Japanese monozukuri, or craftsmanship, during the high-growth period of the Japanese economy interacted to shape hip hop technology, and compiled the episodes they recounted in biographical form.

Chapters

1. NEW YORK AND HIP HOP

2. YOUNG TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTIONARIES WHO CHANGED THE WORLD

3. HIP HOP IS BORN OF DISCO

4. FROM LIVE SHOWS TO BEAT MAKING

5. AKAI PROFESSIONAL IS FOUNDED

6. THE AKAI MPC ENTERS THE SCENE

7. THE MPC BEAT REVOLUTION

8. HIP HOP – FROM THE GOLDEN AGE TO A SOCIAL PHENOMENON

9. THE MPC CONCEPT AS HANDED DOWN

Upcoming developments

MPC Impact! has only been published in Japanese at present, but due to requests for an English version that have been received from around the world via social media, an English translation is underway. Furthermore, all of the interviews have been recorded on video, so video adaptation is also under consideration. The author gives lectures from time to time using video and audio derived from this video footage and the recreation of famous tracks using samplers.