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Insight | 08.23.23

My Ode to Hip Hop – 50 Fabulous Years

If you were an 80’s kid, you may have missed the birth of Hip Hop in the 70’s because you were too young, but you didn’t miss out on the RISE of Hip Hop, and its Golden Era of the 80’s. The world was exposed to a mind-bending, rapidly-expanding genre of music and culture emerging from the urban core of New York City.  New York City was already the mecca for basketball (Madison Square Garden and Rucker Park). But now there was a new soundtrack accompanying the sport of basketball and its athletes. Hip Hop was an amazing confluence of style, art, dance, music, storytelling, and lyricism. Put it in the blender and out came this vivid, vibrant, and powerful new culture. It was exciting. It was fresh (and yes it was ‘fresh’). It was ‘off-the-grid’, especially for the rest of America, especially suburban and rural America. The beats and scratching, the stories, the sneakers and track suites, the graffiti, and breakdancing gave kids like me in suburban Ohio a new canvas to imagine the world upon.

I remember hearing Hip Hop for the first time. It was 1984 and rap was exploding, I just didn’t know it yet. My friend and neighbor from across the street ran over to my house on a Saturday night and dragged me to his house. His stereo was on, and he had somehow picked up an FM station from Detroit that night. It was the Saturday Night Mix Party. They were playing a mash up of rap tunes from NYC. The sounds and voices we heard blew our minds, literally. This new fantastic thing was so far off the grid of what we usually heard and what we knew. We started recording it every Saturday night on his double tape deck, with 2 double-sided Maxell 90-minute tapes (that is 6 hours of music!), front to back, the entire show. We would listen to those tapes all week, wearing them out. We couldn’t get enough. We loved every beat, rap, rhyme, story we heard. It became a weekly ritual for a long time. We got indoctrinated to Kurtis Blow, Whodini, The Fat Boys, Whistle, The Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and of course Run DMC that year in 1984. Somehow, I was able to convince my parents (I was 14 at the time) to let my buddy (he was 16) drive us to Cleveland for the Fresh Fest II. It was the congregation of the biggest rap acts at the time. It was to be my first concert ever. That night we witnessed Matronix, Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys, Whodini, and Run DMC. I smelled weed for the first time. I had my first ever concert tee snatched right out of my hand. And I loved every second of it. I am sure we looked like 2 fish out of water (2 ‘burb kids – 1 white, 1 Asian) in a sea of black folks, but we rapped and danced right along with everyone else because we knew every lyric. 

I jumped in with both feet into the Hip Hop culture. Boom box, check. Adidas sneakers, check. Track suits (and eventually Starter jackets), check. Gold chain, check (still wear it every day). Turntable, check. Stacks of 12 inch vinyl singles, check. Heavy bass, check. The only thing I didn’t buy was the Kangol hat because I couldn’t pull it off. We took weekly trips to the local record shop to get the latest records, hot off the streets of NYC. More records, more tapes. I am proud to say that I still have all of my original rap vinyls from the 80’s. Public Enemy’s eponymous first album, literally one of the greatest recordings of all time. Run DMC’s first 3 albums. Multiple Fat Boys’ 12 inches. The Beastie Boys first album. N.W.A’s first EP (before they even had a full album). To name a few, and keepers for sure. 

Since the 70’s, Hip Hop has exploded. The music, the art, the fashion, and the culture; Hip Hop is now global. Over the 50 years of Hip Hop, the new artists have continued to push the boundaries every year, continuing to tell their stories, expanding the art form. We have many Hip Hop fans in our Yalo Tribe. One is even a lyricist himself (in his spare time).  Here are a few of the Tribe’s favorites in no particular order:

Arrested Development, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, 3rd Bass, Drake, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (shout out to the 216!), Wu-Tang Clan, Fugees, Dr Dre, Lil Wayne, 2Chainz, Pharcyde, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Aesop Rock, Jurassic 5, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Killer Mike, Childish Gambino, Royce da 5’9”, J Cole, TI, Mos Def, Planet Asia, Nipsy Hustle, 50 Cent, Snoop, Biggie, Tupac, EPMD, Jay-Z, OutKast, Eminem, Ludacris (the 404!), Missy Elliott, Eric B & Rakim, De La Soul and of course A Tribe Called Quest

My musical tastes have expanded over the years, but Hip Hop will always be my first true music love. Hip Hop launched me on a lifelong journey with music. It ignited a passion within me for music and for culture, of all genres. My playlists now include reggae, classic rock, punk, grunge, R&B, Prince (yes Prince is his own genre – that’s whole other blog to be written), Delta blues, alternative, metal, oldies, Americana, Yacht rock, and even certain types of country (think more Wilco). Hip Hop did that for me. 

Most importantly, Hip Hop taught me to be my own person, to be an individual, to be myself, during the coming-of-age point in my life, in a town that only listed to Led Zeppelin. And for that, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Hip Hip. If DJ Kool Herc and his sister didn’t throw that party on August 11th in 1973 (known as the official birthdate of Hip Hop), who knows how I would have turned out or what I would be? I thank you, DJ Kool Herc, for putting me on this path. Thank you for creating a whole new culture with just a couple of speakers, a turntable and some records.

What did Hip Hop teach you? We’re all ears and would love to hear. Drop us a line and let us know. While we’re at it, we’d love to help you with your brand as well. That’s what we do as our day job. See our creative services here.

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