Son of the City

De: Dante Ross

Narrado por: Dante Ross

Son of the City goes behind the scenes of the golden age of hip-hop with esteemed producer and music industry veteran Dante Ross, one of the top 25 greatest A&Rs as named by Complex Magazine. Ross pulls no punches as he details his time growing up on the pre-gentrification Lower East Side as the child of political activists, his devotion to punk rock, and his eventual discovery of a brand-new art form, which landed him at Tommy Boy Records, where he signed and handled the careers of such artists as De La Soul, Queen Latifah, and Digital Underground. Ross would go on on to work for Elektra records, where he signed Brand Nubian, Grand Puba, Pete Rock & C.L Smooth, KMD, Busta Rhymes, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard. He is currently an SVP of A&R at Warner Music Group, where he recently helped unearth Macklemore to the world.

As a producer, Ross has produced records for artists such as 3rd Bass, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Run-DMC, Santana, Everlast (working on both the multi-platinum album Whitey Ford Sings the Blues and the gold follow-up, Eat at Whitey’s), plus many others. Ross earned a Grammy in 1998 for his production work on Carlos Santana’s Supernatural. Ross’ production work has also appeared on Eminem’s 8 Mile soundtrack, where he produced and cowrote two songs that featured Macy Grey and Young Z. Ross has worked with artists as diverse as Korn, Incubus, Mobb Deep, Ice Cube, ODB, as well as a plethora of others.

©2023 Dante Ross (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

beautiful hip hop generation memoir

thoughtful & compelling. Dante Ross gets raw & vulnerable while still talking shit & giving insight & access to one of the illest record guys there is - salutes!

Phenomenal

A great story about one the most important behind the scenes figures in hip hop history.

Phenomenal

Couldn’t put it down, finished it in 2 days. Well written, witty and sometimes rather emotional. Good job telling the story about the culture and history of New York City and the music industry.

Great all around

Didn’t want it to end, great story and narration. Connects a lot of dots from other stories about NYC and music that I’ve read / heard / listened to.

A long time coming...

I was one of those who hit Dante up on social media asking him to write a book. Thank you, Dante. Some of us grew up reading his name on the liner notes of our favorite music and have always been aware of his talent. This book brings the real-life pieces together to enlighten us on what actually happened behind the scenes. Again, thank you, Dante. Excellent effort!

great read

Dante is a great writer, a must read. Payday playlist was totally on point ,well done old friend

Must Read/Listen for hip-hop fan

Dante Ross is a name you know if you listened to hip-hop in the 90s, he was mentioned in songs and on liner notes.. this book is full of interesting information of the culture of hip-hop & NYC during the golden age.. his story is intriguing and perfectly told through this book.

A thoughtful and heartfelt memoir

This book is insightful, hilarious, honest, and meaningful to me. It’s as opinionated and authentically New York as you can get. This book reminds me of the arduous, enduring and beautiful aspects of life….this perpetual state of gains and losses. Yet, you’re still here to live to tell the story and move forward. This book is also great for illuminating addiction/abuse in a humanizing and real way. Thank you , Dante for waxing poetically a beautiful memoir. I’ll revisit this again! RESPECT!

A good read

Well laid out memoir. If you want a deeper dive on some of the hip hop stuff check out What Had Happened Was podcast.

Great story and narrative

Fascinating biography! I would recommend this to anyone who likes rap and the hip-hop culture.