Empires of New York TV - Style Wars 1983 - Nas - Snoop Dog - Quincey Jones - Russell Simmons - Michael Eric Dyson - Chuck D - Bell Hooks - The Sugarhill Gang - Scratch 2001 - Beat This! A Hip Hop History 1984 - Facing Suge Knight TV - Storyville: The Great Hip Hop Hoax TV - Fear of a Black Hat 1993 - Public Enemy: Prophets of Rage 2011 - Get Rich or Die Tryin’ 2005 - Drugs Inc TV - Black Hollywood: They’ve Gotta Have Us TV -
The ’80s would become known as the Golden Age of Hip-Hop. From its birthplace in the Bronx this new genre would rewrite the rules of music for decades to come. Empires of New York s1e2: Nothing in Their Way, DiscoveryPlus 2020
New York City 1982: They call themselves writers because that’s what they do: they write their names among other things everywhere. Names they’ve been given or have chosen themselves. Most of all they write in and on subway trains which carry their names from one end of the city to the other. It’s called bombing … Graffiti writing in New York is a vocation … to some it’s art. Style Wars, 1983
In the 1970s New York graffiti, rapping and breaking became the prime expression of a new young people’s subculture called hip-hop. Graffiti is the written word. ibid.
Hip-hop is the streets. Hip-hop is a couple of elements that comes from back in the days … that feel of music with urgency that speaks to you. It speaks to your livelihood and it’s not compromised. It’s blunt. It’s raw, straight off the street – from the beat to the voice to the words. Nas
Well, hip-hop is what makes the world go around. Snoop Dogg
I guess hip-hop has been closer to the pulse of the streets than any music we’ve had in a long time. It’s sociology as well as music, which is in keeping with the tradition of black music in America. Quincy Jones
Hip-hop is a voice for voiceless poor people. Russell Simmons
Hip-hop is about the brilliance of pavement poetry. Michael Eric Dyson
Public Enemy is the security of the hip-hop party. Chuck D
While the patriarchal boys in hip-hop crewa may talk about keeping it real, there has been no musical culture with black men at the forefront of its creation that has been steeped in the politics of fantasy and denial as the more popular strands of hip-hop. Bell Hooks, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity
I said a hip-hop
Hippie to the hippie
The hip, hip a hop, and you don’t stop, a rock it out
Bubba to the bang bang boogie, boobie to the boogie
To the rhythm of the boogie the beat.
Now, what you hear is not a test I’m rappin’ to the beat
And me, the groove, and my friends are gonna try to move your feet
See, I am Wonder Mike, and I’d like to say hello
To the black, to the white, the red and the brown
The purple and yellow, but first, I gotta.
Bang bang, the boogie to the boogie
Say up jump the boogie to the bang bang boogie
Let’s rock, you don’t stop
Rock the rhythm that’ll make your body rock
Well so far you’ve heard my voice but I brought two friends along
And the next on the mic is my man Hank
C’mon, Hank, sing that sing, check it out. The Sugarhill Gang, Rapper’s Delight
‘When I was ready I gave a party and that’s when I first introduced the scratch.’ Scratch, Grand Wizard Theodore, 2001
1982: Busy Bee and Grand Wizard Theodore: Wild Style. ibid.
Rapping, scratch and breaking shaking success of hip-hop is in the making. Beat This! A Hip Hop History, DJ, 1984
What McLaren saw was called hip-hop: energy in motion. ibid.
The true story begins in devastation, bad housing, gang wars. ibid.
The adopted father of the hip-hop generation: Izulu Africa Bambaataa. ibid.
To the streets where artists take a chance and the Bronx where young men on the go paint trains and walls like Picasso. ibid.
‘Suge Knight stands in front of me with a gun in his waistband.’ Facing Suge Knight s1e4, National Geographic 2016
‘Accused of a fatal hit and run.’ ibid. news
‘He was a deviant.’ ibid. friend
‘That was basically the demise of our marriage: Suge was out of control.’ ibid. ex-wife
London 2004: ‘Yo, our names Silibil n Brains from Huntington Beach, California. We’re going to rock this show.’ Storyville: The Great Hip Hop Hoax, on stage, BBC 2013
‘The moment we said we’re from California that was it: we had the crowd.’ ibid.
But rest assured the words, phrases and images such as Ass! Booty! Yo, bitch! Bush is a dickhead! Big butt women in tiny bikinis! will not be used without warrant or in any gratuitous manner. Fear of a Black Hat 1993 starring Rusty Cundieff & Larry B Scott & Mark Christopher Lawrence & Kasi Lemmons & Rose Jackson & John Singleton & Spike Lee & M C Hammer & Vanilla Ice & Salt n Pepa & Queen Latifah et al, director Rusty Cundieff
A year in the life of the rap group NWH [Niggaz With Hats]: Tone Def, Tasty Taste & Ice Cold. ibid. caption
The controversial and never released Kill Whitey album. ibid. Nina Blackburn
Ice Cold: My Peanuts. ibid.
‘That’s what NWH is all about: we got a whole hat philosophy.’ ibid.
They released Guerrillas in the Mist uncut. ibid.
They were the biggest rap group on the planet and the most controversial. They sold millions of records preaching pro-black politics in a predominantly white country … The self-proclaimed prophets of rage who opened the eyes of a generation to black struggle. Public Enemy: Prophets of Rage, BBC 2011
The public enemy’ members grew up within a few miles of each other in the small town of Roosevelt … They all grew up in the sixties and shared a passion for politics. ibid.
The Bomb-Squad’s ground-breaking production centred on the sampler. ibid.
‘Terminator X brought to the group a style that no other DJs had.’ ibid.
Bad relations between Flav and Griff were a continuing problem. ibid.
That’s what I do. I kill motherfuckers. Get Rich or Die Tryin’ 2005 starring Curtis 50 Cent Jackson & Marc John Jefferies & Terrence Howard & Joy Bryant & Omar Benson Miller & Bill Duke & Viola Davis et al, director Jim Sheridan, opening scene
Everyone was in love with my mom. So anyone could be my dad. ibid. commentary
After Tupac everybody wanted to be a gangsta/rapper. ibid.
I’m a gangsta, grandpa, and I’m proud of it. ibid. hero moves out
After three hours I gave up my career as a rapper and went back to selling Coke … it was like minimum wage. ibid.
Crack made money, money made power and power made war. We shot the Colombians and they shot us. ibid.
Hip-Hop has exploited its urban roots to create a multi-billion-dollar business. In the process taking advantage of its ties to another industry: drugs. Drugs Inc s7e2: Hip Hop High, National Geographic 2015
Ecstasy has acquired a bad rap among hip-hoppers. ibid.
Syrup = Promethazine & Codeine is an opiate-based cough syrup. ibid.
Do the Right Thing (1989): hip-hop score was in itself revolutionary but the movie was much more than a soundtrack. Black Hollywood: They’ve Gotta Have Us II: Black Film is Not a Genre, Netflix 2018