Good morning to all!
For an eternal Hip Hop fan, meeting the pioneers who laid the groundwork for Hip Hop was a revealing experience, because I began to understand the incredible innovation that drove this music.
Hip Hop today is so much more than DJ’s and Mc’s playing in Bronx parks.
It is an entertainment giant that dominates the internet, television and radio, and fills stadiums all over the world.
So clearly, creative innovation isn’t the only thing that built Hip Hop.
What brought you to the top? How did Hip Hop go from underground to popular?
New York City could have more rappers than streets today.
But in the late '70s, there was only one group to admire:
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five.
Flash and the Mcs were the first group to leave North New York and travel the world.
Their success was inspired by all the young B-boys in the Bronx and Harlem, but getting to the microphone was another story.
Creating a team was expensive.
You needed microphones, mixers, trays and speakers.
But hip hop was based on overcoming limitations.
Sometimes I needed a little push.
"It was crazy. They all went to the electronics stores.
There’s a place called the Sound Room, and they were knocking down doors.
So I came over and helped them break down the bars.
We knocked it down, broke the window and went in.
And then the police came and they had flashlights and they all said: [Down, down, down].
Everyone stayed on the floor until the flashlights disappeared, then we got up and ran away. And I had a Club M2 mixer, right? And that’s what I took
The mentality of the neighborhood is that as soon as there is an opportunity to capitalize on something, we take it". Grandmaster Caz
"When the blackout happens.
If you’re a DJ or you want to be a DJ, you’ll steal trays for sure.
This guy had nothing, but in the week he showed up at the park: [Where did you get all this? ]. Hey! Nobody says anything". Kool Moe Dee
"It was like Christmas. I saw the craziest things that night". Disco Wiz
"Everyone I knew had equipment.
The summary is that there was plenty of equipment available for all the local Djs". Grandmaster Caz
"After that summer, everything was saturated with Dj’s using sound systems and groups began to form.
Suddenly everyone was Mc’s". Grandmixer DXT
"At that time, it was pandemonium because there were so many groups.
There was Funky 4, Busy Bee Starski. There was DXT and these guys... Spoonie Gee, the Treacherous Three, Fillers 4, Master Don and The Def Committee, Crash Crew.
There were lots of bands coming out of Harlem and the Bronx.
You had to fight for people to know you.
The important thing was to be competitive.
It made you want to be two, three steps ahead of everyone else". Grand Wizzard Theodore
In the next post I will continue with this, thanks for the attention.
Photography: @redrum_shooting (Instagram)
Model: Valentina.
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The best energy for all, see you in the next post.
