For a young Black kid growing up in a musical family in 1970s Philadelphia, hip-hop was everything. He stayed up late to hear the newest songs on the radio. He saved his money to buy vinyl as soon as it landed. He even started to make his own songs. That kid was Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson. Now, in this landmark book, Questlove traces the creative, cultural forces that made and shaped hip-hop, highlighting the forgotten influential gems and the chart-topping hits - and weaves it all together with the stories no one else knows. It is at once an intimate, sharply observed story and a sweeping theory of the evolution of the greatest artistic movement of our time. Questlove approaches it with both the encyclopaedic fluency of an obsessive fan and the unique expertise of an innovative participant. Hip-hop is history, and also his history.