What the rap game can teach us about ebooks

To understand the forces controlling the burgeoning ebook industry, which is projected to pull in more than $3.5 billion in 2012, we must first travel back to the roots of rap music.

The year: 1978 The place: Pasadena, California

Damon G. Riddick spent his early years DJing at parties in Pasadena while the west coast music scene erupted out of the galactic stardust that was B-Boying, beatboxing, DJing, graffiti art, and MCing. By the time Uncle Jamm’s Army put out “Dial-a-Freak”, the cities of Compton, Watts, and South Central had become strongholds of west coast rap.