Hip-hop was born at a party in the Bronx in the summer of 1973. Now, fifty years later, it's the most popular music genre in America. And yet the stories of many hip-hop pioneers in the pre-Internet days of mixtapes and word of mouth are rarely heard-and some are at risk of being lost forever. In more than three hundred interviews, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Abrams has captured the voices of the DJs, executives, producers, and artists who both witnessed and forged the history of hip-hop. And he conveys with singular vividness the drive, the stakes, and the relentless creativity that ignited one of the greatest revolutions in modern music. The most comprehensive account so far of hip-hop's rise, The Corns Up is an "essential, profane, profound" (Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop) contribution to music history.