Dan Charnas
American journalist
Daniel Louis Charnas (born August 30, 1967) is an American author, radio host and record company executive. He is considered to have played a role in the creation of hip-hop journalism.
A native of New York City, Charnas graduated with honors from Boston University in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in communications. In 2007, Charnas earned a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His master's thesis was titled Shocked: Birthright Unplugged challenges Birthright Israel in an epic battle for the hearts and minds of American Jews.
As a radio personality, Charnas hosted a segment on KPWR in Los Angeles. As a journalist he was a writer for the hip-hop magazine The Source. He became a talent scout for Profile Records and later ran the rap division of American Recordings in a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records.
In 2010 he wrote the book The Big Payback about the history of the hip-hop business.
In 2022 his book Dilla Time, on the life and works of hip-hop producer J Dilla, was published.
Charnas is an associate professor at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and has been a thesis advisor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Charnas received the Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism from the ASCAP Foundation in 2025.
Sources and credits
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Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Kristin Hersh Dan Charnas 2010 BBF.jpg by David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0
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