The first and only account of hip-hop's birth, told in the never-before-published words of its founders and stars, and highlighted by almost 200 photos and flyers. "I always knew that, for those that never heard this music, that if they had a chance to hear it, they would have no choice but to love it." --Grandmaster Flash Hip-hop today is ubiquitous, dominating not only the music industry but also popular culture around the world. Like rock and roll before it, it has permanently transformed music, art, dance, and fashion while capturing millions of listeners-and this vast cultural revolution was all started by a bunch of street kids in the ravaged Bronx of the 1970s. Documenting hip-hop's remarkable genesis for the very first time, this book tells its stories in voices that bristle with vitality, character, humor, and menace, tracing the music from DJ Kool Herc's first parties in 1973 through the release of "Rapper's Delight" in 1979 and the rise of the new school in the mid-'80s. Fricke and Ahearn weave an electric narrative from the never-before-heard accounts of over fifty of hip-hop's founders and stars, old school and new, including Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool Herc, Melle Mel, Grand Wizard Theodore, Grandmaster Caz, Rahiem, Fab 5 Freddy, Tony Tone, and DMC. A wealth of previously unseen photographs, flyers, and posters illustrate the text; noted critic Nelson George introduces it all. Yes Yes Y'All is a chorus of voices, a tale of artistry in the face of extraordinary adversity, and the definitive history of a revolution created with nothing more than a microphone, a turntable, and a dance floor.