Jeff Chang unleashes Total Chaos.

One of my favorite authors, Jeff Chang, is coming out with a bookend to his acclaimed "Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation" with "Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop".

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Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, is preparing the release of his latest book, the companion to Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Total Chaos.

“Total Chaos has been a labor of love for two reasons,” Chang tells HipHopGame. “When I was writing Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, I felt that there were so many aspects of the hip-hop arts movement that I didn’t get to talk about. So Total Chaos fills in some gaps. One person can never represent the entirety of hip-hop. So I love this book because it’s as diverse and dizzying as hip-hop arts is at its best, with everyone speaking in their own amazing voice.”

Total Chaos is an in-depth look at the hip-hop arts as told by the art’s pioneers. Contributors to Total Chaos include, among , DOZE of the Rock Steady Crew and Suheir Hammad from Def Poetry Jam as well as cultural critics Greg Tate, Mark Anthony Neal, Brian “B+” Cross and Vijay Prashad.

Chang hopes Total Chaos will bring more awareness to the diverse forms of art in hip-hop. “The arts establishment doesn’t recognize hip-hop arts if it’s not in the form that we saw during the early ‘80’s – emceeing, DJ’ing, graffiti and b-boying/b-girling,” Chang says. “But for anyone who has grown up with hip-hop, it’s obvious that the hip-hop arts movement is one of the most vibrant and transformative of our time. So I think the time has come for us to claim with pride all the hip-hop being made in places people wouldn’t expect – in literature, photography, graphic design and more. The list goes on and on.”

Total Chaos is also filling a void Chang feels is missing in most of hip-hop journalism today. “A lot of hip-hop journalism outlets have come to focus primarily on rap,” Chang says. “It’s like being handed the universe and focusing on a blade of grass. It’s not wrong and it’s not unproductive, it’s just that there’s so much more to see. Hopefully, this book will help broaden the discussion.”

There will also be a Total Chaos Hip-Hop Forum Series, a panel talk on the hip-hop arts, taking place across the U.S. to accompany the release of the book.

Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop will be released in February, 2007 on Basic Civitas Books and will be available at all major book retailers.

-hiphopgame.com