Take the best part of what might otherwise be a mundane piece of music and add vocal rhythms, white noise, live instrumentation, and any number of other elements to the mix. The result is something fresh, something new. Hip hop takes music history apart in order to build a better-sounding future. Despite these futurist tendencies, this is a genre deeply respectful of its own past. Artist and writer Ed Piskor details that past in the excellent HIP HOP FAMILY TREE, BOOK 3: 198-1984.

In this installment of Piskor’s ongoing series, he illustrates how the audience for hip hop expanded in the 1980s via the introduction of acts like Whodini, the rise of Run DMC, and the continued success of Kurtis Blow. The influence of early acts like the Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five have taken root in a new generation here, and their music has crossed color lines to influence up-and-comers like the Beastie Boys and future music mogul Rick Rubin. Despite this expansion, the music’s mainstream success was still marginal, thanks in part to the ongoing juggernaut that was Michael Jackson’s 1982 release, Thriller. 

This is the kind of book that’s designed to be spread out on the floor while resting on your belly, the stereo turned up as loud as you can stand it. 

Piskor’s work doesn’t just capture the mood of old school hip hop. It taps into the feel of school comics as well. You can see it in its digital form via semi-regular installments on BoingBoing.com, but you can feel it when you hold Fantagraphics’ print version. This is the kind of book that’s designed to be spread out on the floor while resting on your belly, the stereo turned up as loud as you can stand it. 

Piskor’s mastery of the comics page is like a DJ’s best breakbeat record --- no matter where you drop the needle, you’re going to find something good. Everything about the book, from Piskor’s recreation of old school graffiti to the color palette and even the paper stock, transports the reader to the world of New York’s early hip hop scene. This is not a nostalgic trip down memory lane, however. While not exactly academic, HIP HOP FAMILY TREE is still a serious study of the history and evolution of the artform. He captures the intricacies of hip hop’s history the way artist Joe Sacco chronicled the war in Bosnia, giving life to what might otherwise be facts on paper.  

There are wheels within wheels here, with different musicians, DJs, promoters and label executives crossing paths throughout the pages. Cousins, little brothers and neighbors end up in the rap game as artists or just as fans, and Piskor depicts the closeness of the scene without nudging or haranguing the reader. The world he shows us is small, but the scope of the project is large. The dialogue is peppered with rap lyrics and samples familiar to listeners, and there’s a great visual gag of a young KRS-One being arrested by cops who look like they stepped out of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” video. 

As in the previous two volumes, there are pin-ups of hip hop stars of the past and present by artists like Miss Lasko-Gross, Jonny Negron, Jim Rugg, and even underground comics legend R. Crumb. This fall the series will become a monthly title from Fantagraphics, a move which will give grateful readers something to hold onto until the next book is released. 

History moves like a piece of music. It’s composed of complementary melodic lines which weave their way through time. Various themes are repeated, augmented and resolved. It’s a beautiful thing to see, especially when we have a talent like Ed Piskor to conduct it, his story bouncing to breakbeats, the pages pulsing with percussive energy.