A collection of essays on archiving the history of hip-hop, featuring a range of official, unofficial, DIY, and community archives. Despite the vast popularity and cultural influence of hip-hop, efforts to archive its history are still in fairly early stages. This book focuses on the cultural and political aspects of those undertakings, and the ideological implications of hip-hop culture's enduring tensions with dominant social values. 

"The variety of voices in Hip-Hop Archives is impressive. The mix of international contexts, especially incorporating the voices of scenes that developed under oppressive regimes, are eye-opening for the central metaphor of knowledge production. Campbell and Forman truly get at the egalitarian and universal form of hip-hop, while acknowledging both African American roots and the varying reasons some founders are left out, closing with beautiful, insightful, and passionate interviews."
Courtney E. Chartier, Columbia University Libraries

"This innovative and accessible collection explores hip-hop practices that attest to its longevity, impact, and value. Of course, even with the global dissemination, adoption, and adaptation of hip-hop, this is also about the politics, community, and culture of Black people as the fount of this vital practice and knowledge, underlining the necessity of recording and archiving this history. Many contributors speak from empirical experience and their role in establishing the culture and its preservation attests to book's authority and authenticity."
Paul Long, Monash University