Rating: 
Summary: Great Translation!
Review: I highly recommend this book to scholars, parents, and students. From the very beginning of the intro, Westbrook draws you into "the flowering of Negro expression". Turning our attention to our ancestors, which used slave songs to communicate messages, explaining rap is continuing to do the same. It's play on words are in your face, raw and real. As a result, has brought different cultures together to blend and mix. This book brings it all together.
Rating: 
Summary: not fresh
Review: Like most "slang" dictionaries, this one was out-of-date before it hit the presses. Hip-hop terminology evolves quickly, so many of the newer definitions for terms like "tripping" and "fronted" are not included. So unfortunately, this is more of a historical document.
Rating:
Summary: not fresh
Review: Like most "slang" dictionaries, this one was out-of-date before it hit the presses. Hip-hop terminology evolves quickly, so many of the newer definitions for terms like "tripping" and "fronted" are not included. So unfortunately, this is more of a historical document.
Rating: 
Summary: worthwhile - eagerly anticipating the 2nd ed.
Review: Perched atop every person's bookshelves should rest Joyce's "Ulysses", Doestoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov", and Alonzo Westbrook's "Hip Hoptionary". It provides an excellent introduction to hip hop terms and expressions since the genre's inception, along with brief capsules of influential artists and a (quite handy) English to Hip Hop reverse lookup. I do have two minor complaints (or suggestions for the 2nd edition). First point: Westbrook should try delving more into the etymological aspects of hip hop. Sometimes the origins of expressions are many times more interesting than the words themselves. For example, I did not realize that the word "nino", meaning "crime boss", hails from "New Jack City" - all this time, I figured it had only to do with weather phenomena. Second point: an extra section of conversational hip hop (outside of sample sentences, which merely show context) would be great! These additions would easily make the book twice as thick; help preserve older, more obscure terminology; and make Hip Hoptionary feel less like it had been almost produced in a cultural vacuum (which presently belies the tremendous amount of research Westbrook has done.) 4 stars
Rating: 
Summary: Stupid Gooks/Chinks and Porch Monkeys/Coons
Review: They defined asians as "nips". They were supposed to define them as "gooks". Black people weren't even mentioned as "Porch Monkeys" or "Coons" like they should have been. I am extremely disappointed, because this book failed to translate poor grammar used in ebonics. It also failed to mention how asians act black, which by the way, is very stupid. Gooks should get a reality check and act like gooks, because that's how god made them. The gooks start playing the violin when they are 3 years old, and soon the gooks will take over the world. We hit them hard at Hiroshima, but they got payback on us with Pokemon cards, rice burners and Dragonball Z. Now they are stealing our country with their sneakiness, and their entrepreneurship skills.
Rating:
Summary: Racist Book. Get a life.
Review: This book "translates" supposed hip hop lingo into middle American English and vice versa. But there were several racist slang terms included in this book simply for the sake of including them. Asian is defined as "Nip." Arabs are defined as "Camel Jocky." Whites are "Crackers, honkeys," etc. First of all, why are these racist terms included? Second, no one in hip hop even calls Asians "nips." Biggie Smalls (Notorious B.I.G.) called us "chink" and the word "chinky-eyed" is used, but "nips" is not used, even by the loud racist rappers who would spit on us. The Hiphoptionary reveals its intrinsic racism when it defines Black as "nigger (offensive)" The parenthetical was added to the definition to tell people that this word is offensive. Why wasn't the same parenthetical added to the definition of "Asian?" "Nip," after all, is a terribly offensive term, and so are some of the other words used in this racist book. Hip hop is not about racism. I love hip hop, but I hate racism. You should [not buy this book]. Irwin Tang, writer.
Rating:
Summary: Racist Book. Get a life.
Review: This book "translates" supposed hip hop lingo into middle American English and vice versa. But there were several racist slang terms included in this book simply for the sake of including them. Asian is defined as "Nip." Arabs are defined as "Camel Jocky." Whites are "Crackers, honkeys," etc. First of all, why are these racist terms included? Second, no one in hip hop even calls Asians "nips." Biggie Smalls (Notorious B.I.G.) called us "chink" and the word "chinky-eyed" is used, but "nips" is not used, even by the loud racist rappers who would spit on us. The Hiphoptionary reveals its intrinsic racism when it defines Black as "nigger (offensive)" The parenthetical was added to the definition to tell people that this word is offensive. Why wasn't the same parenthetical added to the definition of "Asian?" "Nip," after all, is a terribly offensive term, and so are some of the other words used in this racist book. Hip hop is not about racism. I love hip hop, but I hate racism. You should [not buy this book]. Irwin Tang, writer.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing book for the Hip Hop culture
Review: This book is excellent and I enjoyed reading it from front to back. A book for all cultures and races. I look forward to more books by this author.
Rating:
Summary: I thoroughly and immensely enjoyed it!
Review: This book is sooooooo ganxxtah, i used to be illiterate to the "hip hoption" lingo, but since i bought this book, i have join the conversations of my fellow brothas. Hip Hoptionary has changed my life for the better. Good Job, Alonzo, and I thank you
Rating:
Summary: Hip Hoptionary
Review: This is a great reference book. It's format is friendly to the eye and shows some ceativity on the part of itis contributors. Off the ropes and awful dope, so go copp that thang youngin!
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