Dan Charnas

Daniel Louis Charnas^[1] (born August 30, 1967)^[2] 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.

Charnas on a panel at the 2010 Brooklyn Book Festival with Kristin Hersh.

A native of New York City, Charnas graduated with honors from Boston University in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in communications.^[3][4] In 2007, Charnas earned a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.^[1][3] His master's thesis was titled Shocked: Birthright Unplugged challenges Birthright Israel in an epic battle for the hearts and minds of American Jews.^[5]

As a radio personality, Charnas hosted a segment on KPWR in Los Angeles.^[6] As a journalist he was a writer for the hip-hop magazine The Source.^[7] 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.^[6][7]

In 2010 he wrote the book The Big Payback about the history of the hip-hop business.^[6][7]

In 2022 his book Dilla Time, on the life and works of hip-hop producer J Dilla, was published.^[8]

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.^[9][10]

Charnas received the Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism from the ASCAP Foundation in 2025.^[11]