Sometimes it's not what your saying but how. I don't dispute any of the ideas set forth in this clip. Chuck D was popping off way back in a 2000 interview with the UK's P Brothers that LI had sound systems before the Bronx. This documentary takes the same aim to deconstruct history.
But were any of these DJ crews catching breaks, scratching and rapping? That's the difference between a fly disco DJ set by Grandmaster Flowers and Flash cutting up "Funky Chicken" while Melle Mel rapped endlessly. Kool Herc brought the culture of sound clash and toasting to America which dated back to the mid to late 1950s. What's a founding father need more to do?
It's funny, when I defended my master's thesis on the origins of Hip Hop, this was the first question asked of me: "How do you know Hip Hop didn't start in Cleveland?" Find me a b-boy from Toledo with a flyer saying come to the park jam on October 22nd 1972 and I will testify. But otherwise dudes are just sour grapes.
But were any of these DJ crews catching breaks, scratching and rapping? That's the difference between a fly disco DJ set by Grandmaster Flowers and Flash cutting up "Funky Chicken" while Melle Mel rapped endlessly. Kool Herc brought the culture of sound clash and toasting to America which dated back to the mid to late 1950s. What's a founding father need more to do?
It's funny, when I defended my master's thesis on the origins of Hip Hop, this was the first question asked of me: "How do you know Hip Hop didn't start in Cleveland?" Find me a b-boy from Toledo with a flyer saying come to the park jam on October 22nd 1972 and I will testify. But otherwise dudes are just sour grapes.
4 comments:
Ha, what's up with your man at 2:05? He looks like Tricky 68yrs old. Respect! Nobody saying Brooklyn didn't have soundsystems - they had Jamaicans didn't they!?
But the Bronx jumped off what would become the brand, and overall technique...and I was born in Brooklyn!
Brooklyn Queens is the home of production tho'- whatchoo know about that!! Besides BDP boom-bap and the awesome Diamond D ( who sounds like a lost BKLYN head ), BQ always had the sound that would be king.
Hard to argue that. Bronx sound has always been really elemental (Buckwild & Diamond seem to be the exception) BK and (especially) Queens have always pushed the creative envelope.
I love these constant disputes!! They never end and no one is giving in. After a while they seem like such a waste of time even though I still enjoy hearing old school heads tell their stories and seeing archive footage of girls dancing and the crazy styles they were rocking.
What will be the great outcome if it discovered someday that the BX, QNS, BK, L.I., or Cleveland was the birthplace of Hip Hop?? Kanye will still consider himself the most influential rapper of the decade.
Don't we all know by now that Sylvia Robinson and Hank didn't write the words to Rapper's Delight? It's not like it's made Caz a megasuperstar or has even remotely changed the flavor of hip hop in 2008.
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