The begining - 1968 to 1972
What would eventually become to be known as Hip hop began in Rosedale park, Bronxdale community parties called “jams” between 1968 to 1972 in the Soundview area of the Bronx, New York. DJ's were borrowing and blending a predominantly Afro-American, hispanic disco, mambo and funksoul sound into music for people to dance to and feel part of a community. The world of TV was showing a disco culture from clubs such as studio 54, but on the streets and in the parks of NY, block parties were creating a new free sub-culture where everybody in the community was involved in some way and authorities would turn a blind eye as everyone was in one place and happy.
Organised and hosted by Disco king Mario (July 1 1956-1994) considered 1 of the 1st DJ's and Original founding fathers of the culture of what would eventually become hip hop, he was also a member of the black spades who was the biggest gang in the 1970's with members all over NY. Mario put on many early shows in the Rosedale park, 'Big Park', in The Bronx with his crew known as Chuck Chuck City members included Kool DJ Dee, DJ Tex Hollywood, spanky and his proteges busy bee starski and DJ Jazzy-Jay and they played largely up-tempo street disco, funk, soul music, Mario was concerned with a specific style of music that would excite the crowd, get dancers dancing and people to the parties.
They also had the protection of the black spades enabling them to be able to perform outside, but as the equipment got better his style changed to suit the b-boys. Afrika Bambaataa started out as an assistant to Mario, and Mario loaned Bambaataa the technical equipment for his first appearances as DJ, and Bambaataas first DJ-Battle took place in 1976 in the New York junior High School 123 against Mario. DJ Jazzy Jay had his first appearances as well with Mario. Together with Bambaataa, Mario controlled essentially the entire southeast Bronx and DJs had to either get permission from Bambaataas Zulu nation or from Mario, before they could safely DJ publicly. As other DJs came and went, Mario remained popular until the rise of the Zulu Nation. Until that point, according to Cholly Rock, DJ Mario was like a Hip Hop impresario, nurturing many DJs that would eventually become part of the Zulu Nation. Mario was able to serve in this capacity because he had the hook-up and controlled access to the schools, especially JHS 123, which was the main place where they threw parties in the Bronxdale projects. Anybody that played in neighborhood schools had to come through Mario. Initially, DJ Mario's sound system was less than top notch. It was a system he had pieced together over the years. In fact, Mario was probably more famous for his Traffic lights, snake dance and his mic shout-outs using an echo effect than the quality of his system and set.
In traditional discussions of hip-hop forebearers, the names that never really come up in discussion are The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron. But according to Priest Forever, a hip-hop historian and one half of rap duo The Gecko Brothers, the connection between The Last Poets and hip-hop wasn't really made in the media until the rise of Public Enemy. While there's no denying The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron helped popularize rhyming as a means of social communication, there's debate as to how much influence they had on those early 1970s block parties.
Mario was using black spades members and DJ's who started with disco but eventually started doing jams for the B-Boys such as DJ Breakout, Kool DJ Dee, Tyrone the mixologist and DJ Plumbers equipment who 1st used a crossfader the GLI Disco mixer in 1973, they rocked block parties at Rosedale park, Lafayette, Monroe, Lollipop St, The Carriage Room and Soundview Centers. He would also play at skating rinks and bowling alleys. As far as outside jams and block parties go, Bronxdale was the Garden of Eden and Mecca. Mario obtained a permit that allowed him to play music outside for three weeks. It was called the 21 Days of Summer in the summer of 1973.
It is a heavy and crucial contribution nonetheless and therefore does not change Kool Herc's Godfathership. However The chuck chuck city crew of Bronxdale, Bronx river, and Soundview are the seed people of the culture, the organized jam and outside jam of Hip-Hop history. Block parties were used as a way to get people dancing and unite the local poor black and hispanic communities who felt isolated and separated by the gentrification, segregation and the building of the Bruckner and Cross Bronx expressway roads straight through the heart of the Bronx a decade earlier which misplaced and divided the community as well as the decimating effects of the Bronx fire epidemic caused by gangs and property owners seeking insurance, no fiscal spending in these areas and gang drug wars happening all over the city.
This is where gangs such as the black spades, savage nomads and many more would control certain blocks and areas with their martial arts, strict power and had decisions wether or not people could play jams during their area. Most of the gangs at the start were banishing drug dealers, bent police officers who were involved in corruption, rascist drug dealing gangs and controlling their territory, teaching the youngsters in their area martial arts, knowledge and spreading music. These gangs eventually would either be killed off one by one by the corrupt police, other gangs or they started growing up and getting jobs, the gangs were dispersing or power was changing hands and certain gangs wanted to start making money from sales of drugs, women and many other crimes that were availanble in 1970's NY.
Map of the Bronx between 1973 to 1978 - The black spades, baby spades and spade divisions spread out all over the Bronx allowing DJ Kool herc to dominate the parks and clubs in the West of the Bronx, Grandmaster flash controlled the centre, DJ Breakout in the North and Afrika Bambatta the South Bronx
Setting the standards - 1972 to 1975
Then between 1972 to 1975 Dj’s who were originally disco DJ's and actually avoided hip hop in the begining eventually started switching over as it was growing in popularity, DJ's like:
Grandmaster flowers (Brooklyn) the Original Grandmaster
Grandmixer DST (Manhattan) reguarded as the 1st turntablist and 1st person to establish the turntable as a fully performable and improvisational musical instrument
Grandwizard theodore (Bronx) inventor of the 'scratch'. In addition to scratching, he achieved renown for his mastery of needle drops and other techniques which he invented or perfected.
Dance master donnie (Queens)
DJ Hollywood (Harlem) the person who came up with the shoutouts such as "clap your hands everybody", and "throw your hands in the air".
Pete DJ Jones (Bronx) the person who set the DJ standard and was "extending breaks" long before Kool herc.
The person who named “hip hop” and really crossed disco over into hip hop was love bug starsky (Uptown and the Bronx)
All these pioneers all came along with the next faze starting up their own parties around NY with new unheard records such as love is the message that no one else had, but eventually became the NY anthem and was played at every party all around the city. Long before the MC came along everyone wanted to be a DJ, compete hard and come along with their own sound, better promotion, better speakers and sound systems it was a must and an art.
DJ Kool herc’s “merry-go-round” started late 1973, his was another "1 of the many" new parties popping up and around New York. He started by playing West-Indian and reggae music at his 1st party that immegrants from Jamaica and the other West-indian countries had brought over with them to the USA in the early 1950's, but most people hated it. There was no overnight fairytale success story portrayed by teachers such as KRS1, hip hop documentaries and regurgitated inforamation all over the internet, it took a few years until at least 1975 before Kool herc not only had 2 turntables but crafted his own style as he 1st started imitating African-American culture until he eventually distinguished himself from the rest with his new “breaks style". He also came with his own party "The merry-go-round" and his own crew " The herculiods". For around 4 to 5 years Kool herc dominated the clubs, parks and parties in the West side of the Bronx and influenced a new gerneration of people, DJ's, MC's and other artists for years to come.
Summer 1974, you could say the torch was passed from Bronxdale on to Bronx river where was the 1st of hundreds of big party's where everyone knew about, all the gangs, all big DJ’s and dancers were there and featured not only Disco king Mario vs Grandmaster flash in one of the 1st DJ battles or Kool moe dee vs busy bee but it also featured the 1st MC, Coke la rock alongside DJ Kool herc. From this point the culture was unifying, exploding and was being introduced to all the 5 boroughs of New York spread around by people like Green eye genie, travelling b-boys, MC's and DJ's or anyone looking to have a party. On a friday night there could be upto 25 block parties happening in NY but usually everybody would end up at the one that continued into the night or featured the best DJ's, and each Borough had its own special DJ at the time.
Pioneering the culture of hip hop - 1975 to 1985
The 3rd faze of hip hop now underway and progressing as technology was slowly being introduced. The culture was seeing new youngsters such as DJ Grandmaster flash, Disco twins, coldcrush brothers, jazzy jay and at the time the biggest new crew, Africa bambaataa and zulu nation who was borrowing Disco king Mario's equipment and they were all taking it to another level with new techniques such as cueing, fazing and cutting along with Master D, Infinity sounds, King Charles and 127 park's Nu-sounds with their earthquake speakers and the place-to-be the 123 that started the "biggest sound system war" between Brooklyn and Queens about who had the best sound systems at the time.
At this time the culture was spreading like wildfire and out of NY city. They were not only spreading the culture of hip hop out of New York and across the country, excelling it into the clubs and other cultures, but eventually paved the way to form the 1st record label the sugar hill records which all the 1st artists started recorded on, many other labels and crews then followed. The 1st track on the label, world renouned "rappers delight" by the sugar hill gang in 1979. Curtis blow acheived the 1st Gold single (1 million sales) in 1981. 1983 Saw the 1st and possibly best film based on hip hop called "beat street". Then in 1984 Grandmaster DST's "The home of hip hop" was considered the 1st song to record a turntable as an instrument on a song. Whodini's "Escape" album in 1984 was the 1st ever hip hop certified Gold album (1 million sales) and possibly the most famous of all of these tracks was Grandmaster flash and the furious 5's the message.
Then thanks to Blondie in 1981 who had already had made a name for themselves across the city in CBGB's, pioneering punk rock and a string of number 1 hits in pop, punk and rock, were now looking to the other culture in the city, hip hop. After going to some of the block parties themselves in the late 70's they had met many of the big people and eventually linked with fab Freddy five. Together they made a clasic chart hit ’rapture’, which helped spread the culture in more ways across world and into other countries on a more marketable level, for anyone to listen to. Records were being pressed and circulating and some even making it into the charts now thanks to those that had paved the way for them, but the major record labels were still not interested in the street culture.
B-boys and Graffiti
The introduction of the B-boy or Breakdancing, is an athletic style of street dance. While diverse in the amount of variation available in the dance, breakdancing mainly consists of four kinds of movement: toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes. Breakdancing is typically set to hip-hop, funk, and breakbeat music, although modern trends allow for much wider varieties of music along certain ranges of tempo and beat patterns. Eventually different forms of street dance came along too and became the focus point, the DJ would spin the tunes and everyone would stand round in a circle whilst 2 B-Boy crews battled out dancing.
Whilst many Bronx teenagers were doing mainstream type dances (the twist, the jerk) The teenage Black Spades created their own sub culture, their own dance 1967-1975 mimicking james brown's song soul power, the Black Spades would shout "Spade Power" … While forming a circle in the middle of a party. The Black Spades would then start to stomp the floors and do wild flips and spins during the breakdown parts of songs….Doing innovative dance moves during the breakdown parts of songs became a trend around the Bronx. As an immigrant to the USA kool herc analyzed this new bronx street dance culture and began to play only the breakdown parts of songs, extending the breakdown parts of the songs for hours making the breakdown longer. The younger generations, 1974-1978... teenagers like the "nigga twins", clark kent, james bond, sah sah and tricksy began to drop down and do dance moves on the floor, soon this became a trend as teenagers would focus on floor moves while the breakdown parts of the song was playing…These teenagers focusing on floor moves became known as "break boys" (b-boys)..Evolving from the Spades wild stomp dance, "Breakdance" was born 1974/1975
Also the 2000 year old art style graffiti from Roman Europe, reintroduced in Philidelphia with artists cornbread in 1967, eventualy blended into the hip hop culture of New York on the trains, walls, backdrops and just about everywhere in New York, Walls, shops doors, tunnels, Bridges and many more. The new cultural object took form in press articles, performance shows and, in particular, in movies, some of which had wide international distribution. Because of this, the public began to believe as it still does so today that graffiti in the New York tradition is from its very inception and by its own nature, a part of hip hop. This conception is so widespread that the term hip-hop graffiti is often used to differentiate this type of graffiti from others. However, this link is in fact a myth the phenomenon of New York graffiti appeared in 1968 and was mature by 1973, years before Richard Goldstein would link it with rap for the first time in a 1980 article in the Village Voice.1 An influential journalist and cultural critic, Goldstein had published, seven years earlier, the first mainstream article to speak favourably of graffiti. The cultural and musical backgrounds of the graffiti writers of the seventies were as diverse as those of the local youths and spanned from psychedelic rock to music with ethnic roots.
The golden age of hip hop - 1985 to 1995
The 4th faze of hip hop now was in full swing, The golden age is noted for its innovation – a time "when it seemed that every new single reinvented the genre," according to Rolling Stone. Referring to "hip-hop in its golden age", Spin's editor-in-chief Sia Michel said, "there were so many important, groundbreaking albums coming out right about that time", and MTV's Sway Calloway added: "The thing that made that era so great is that nothing was contrived. Everything was still being discovered and everything was still innovative and new". Writer William Jelani Cobb said, "what made the era they inaugurated worthy of the term golden was the sheer number of stylistic innovations that came into existence... in these golden years, a critical mass of mic prodigies were literally creating themselves and their art form at the same time".
LL Cool J, Run–D.M.C., Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, KRS-One, Eric B. & Rakim, De La Soul, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, A Tribe Called Quest, Slick Rick, Ultramagnetic MC's and the Jungle Brothers. Releases by these acts co-existed in this period with, Melle Mel and the furious five were all coming up and spreading their words eventhough there were subcultural undercurrents running through both rap music and graffiti during the early 1980's and that this probably represented an authentic cultural movement that had not been acknowledged in the mass media. Around this time all the previous DJ’s and MC’s started hitting the charts, featuring in clubs, recording videos and influencing people into the culture all around the world.
The age of the Producer began in the late 1980's too with names like J-Dilla, Dj Premier, 9th wonder, Apollo Brown, Marley Marl, Large proffessor, Eric Serman, Dr dre and Pete Rock to name a few, were starting to set a new standard with producing and bring new techniques, pushing artists and mc's further.
During the golden age of hip hop, samples were heavily used. The ability to sample different beats, riffs and patterns from a wide variety of sources such as from record gave birth to a new breed of producers and DJs who did not necessarily need formal musical training or instruments, just a good ear for sound collages. These samples were derived from a number of genres, ranging from jazz, funk and soul to rock and roll. For example, Paul's Boutique, the Beastie Boys' second studio album, drew from over 200 individual samples, 24 of which were featured on the last track of the album. Samples and sound bites were not limited to just music. RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, a hip hop collective formed in the 1990s, sampled sound clips from his own collection of 1970s kung-fu films to bolster and frame the group's gritty lyrical content. Many of the sample-laden albums released during this time would not be able to receive legal clearance today.
Why did rap's emergence seem so sudden on the charts? And why did this all happen in 1991?
After all, "Rapper's Delight," by Sugar Hill Gang, the first radio hit that contemporaries considered hip-hop, was released 12 years prior, in 1979. Rick Rubin founded Def Jam Records in 1982. Run-D.M.C. released King of Rock and performed in Live Aid in 1985, and the Beastie Boys came out with Licensed to Ill in late 1986. The first music show dedicated to rap, the perfectly-named "Yo! MTV Raps," debuted in 1989, and some historians look back on the program as the baptism of hip-hop as a mainstream genre. Hip-hop did not just appear out of the blue in 1991. But for chart-watchers and Top 40 radio listeners, rap clung to the fringes until the early 1990s. It might have gotten its critical boost from an unlikely ally: Billboard's statistical method. It was also not just New york rappers who were the best at it, West coast rappers such as DR dre and N.W.A would release their 1st album in 1991 too
Dr dre, NWA and West coast hip hop
In 1986, Crenshaw-based Ice T released the song "6 in the Mornin'." It is considered by many critics as the very first gangsta rap song. The LA gangsta rap scene exploded afterward. With the help of friend Jerry Heller, Eazy-E founded Ruthless Records on March 3, 1986. Shortly afterwards, his group N.W.A released the Panic Zone EP. It contained the title track Arabian Prince, "8 Ball" (Eazy-E), and the well-known "Dope Man" (Ice Cube). As for Dr dre Inspired by the Grandmaster Flash song "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel", he often attended a club owned by Lonzo Williams one of the 1st hip hop DJ's on the west coast called Eve After Dark to watch many DJs and rappers performing live. He subsequently became a DJ in the club, initially under the name "Dr. J", based on the nickname of Julius Erving, his favorite basketball player. At the club, he met aspiring rapper Antoine Carraby, later to become member DJ Yella of N.W.A. Soon afterwards he adopted the moniker Dr. Dre, a mix of previous alias Dr. J and his first name, referring to himself as the "Master of Mixology". Eve After Dark had a back room with a small four-track studio. In this studio, Dre and Yella recorded several demos. In their first recording session, they recorded a song entitled "Surgery", with the lyrics "calling Dr. Dre to surgery" serving as the chorus to the song. He later joined the musical group World Class Wreckin' Cru under the independent Kru-Cut Records in 1984. The group would become stars of the electro-hop scene that dominated early 1980s West Coast hip hop. "Surgery", which was officially released after being recorded prior to the group's official formation, would prominently feature Dr. Dre on the turntable.
In 1986, Dr. Dre met rapper O'Shea Jackson—nicknamed Ice Cube—who collaborated with Dr. Dre to record songs for Ruthless Records, a rap record label run by local rapper Eazy-E. N.W.A and fellow West Coast rapper Ice-T are widely credited as seminal artists of the gangsta rap genre, a profanity-heavy subgenre of hip hop, replete with gritty depictions of urban crime and gang lifestyle. Not feeling constricted to racially charged political issues pioneered by rap artists such as Public Enemy or Boogie Down Productions, N.W.A favored themes and uncompromising lyrics, offering stark descriptions of violent, inner-city streets. Propelled by the hit "Fuck tha Police", the group's first full album Straight Outta Compton became a major success, despite an almost complete absence of radio airplay or major concert tours. The Federal Bureau of Investigation sent Ruthless Records a warning letter in response to the song's content. After Ice Cube left N.W.A in 1989 over financial disputes, Dr. Dre produced and performed for much of the group's second album Efil4zaggin. He also produced tracks for a number of other acts on Ruthless Records, including Eazy-E's 1988 solo debut Eazy-Duz-It, Above the Law's 1990 debut Livin' Like Hustlers, Michel'le's 1989 self title'd debut, The D.O.C.'s 1989 debut No One Can Do It Better, J.J. Fad's 1988 debut Supersonic and funk rock musician Jimmy Z's 1991 album Muzical Madness[10][11]A disagreement over money saw Arabian Prince leave N.W.A just before the release of their ground-breaking Straight Outta Compton. Eazy-E's friend MC Ren filled his place. Backed by hit singles such as "Fuck tha Police" and "Gangsta Gangsta", the album redefined hip hop genre and cemented the West Coast's presence in the nation's rap scene. Financial issues led to the break up of the group. Eazy-E remained the wealthy owner/manager of his Ruthless label. Ice Cube released a string of successful albums that included AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and Death Certificate. Dr Dre would go on to co-own Death Row Records with Suge Knight.
After a dispute with Eazy-E, Dre left the group at the peak of its popularity in 1991 under the advice of friend, and N.W.A lyricist, The D.O.C. and his bodyguard at the time, Suge Knight. Knight, a notorious strongman and intimidator, was able to have Eazy-E release Young from his contract and, using Dr. Dre as his flagship artist, founded Death Row Records. In 1992 Young released his first single, the title track to the film Deep Cover, a collaboration with rapper Snoop Dogg, whom he met through Warren G.Dr. Dre's debut solo album was The Chronic, released under Death Row Records with Suge Knight as executive producer. Young ushered in a new style of rap, both in terms of musical style and lyrical content, including introducing a number of artists to the industry including Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Daz Dillinger, RBX, The Lady of Rage, Nate Dogg and Jewell.
The turning point for Dr dre was when Death row records bankrupted and ended in 1996. Many police charges and dramas surrounding Suge Knight, Easy-E and 2pac. Then free from contracts, a back catalogue of hits and support from certain close friends Dr dre created his own label Aftermath in 1998, but didnt really release anything until when Jimmy Iovine the head of Aftermath's parent label Interscope, suggested that Dr. Dre sign Eminem, a white rapper from Detroit. Dre produced three songs and provided vocals for two on Eminem's successful and controversial debut album The Slim Shady LP, released in 1999. The Dr. Dre-produced lead single from that album, "My Name Is", brought Eminem to world attention for the first time and the success of The Slim Shady LP – it reached number two on the Billboard 200 and received general acclaim from critics – revived the label's commercial ambitions and viability. In 2006 Jimmy Iovine and dr dre created "Beats by dre" a subsidy of Apple inc which sells audio equipment. also making dr dre hip hops richest person in history with an estimated wealth of $800 million and growing.
2000 to the present day - World wide
The 2000s kicked off with the fiasco that was the Bush 2000 presidential election, then 9/11 happened, then the war in Iraq. By the time Katrina hit, five years in, the cruel decade closed with the entire global economy crashing in 2008. Every decade has its ebbs and flows. In every decade, artists rise to the occasion to put on for their culture. In this regard, the 2000s were no different. However, different things did happen in the 2000s. With the rise of the mixtape scene, artists produced previously unheard-of amounts of music and being able to put it on the internet within minutes for anyone across the world to listen to. Meanwhile, older rappers proved that it was possible to have a career in hip-hop that lasted more than five years. In fact, that this would become the norm. Perhaps most significantly, hip-hop saw its powerbase shift, with Southern rappers becoming the dominant voice of the genre while the West Coast failed to produce many new stars (Peace to the Game, though) and New York became less and less relevant.
New cultures, sub-cultures and new genres or types of music spawned off from hip hop such as US trap and UK grime which rendered hip hop obsolete so it would seem to many and on the charts, they would dominate the decade to come but slowly would die off as hip hop has and will probably never die until all of the great artists and fans of those artists have passed away in years to come. Underground hip hop had a massive following, more followers of any genre of music and still to this day, they may not have 2 billion views but have more people seeking a certain type of underground music away from the main stream music charts. New artists such as Atmosphere and the rhymesayers record label, Big L, Cage, Gang star, Sage Francis, eyedea, Rass kass, Kool keith, cunning linguests, common to name a small few
The UK during the early 1980's began making their own hip hop. Rodney P and the London posse, Black Twang, DJ supreme and the Hijack crew, Roots manuva, Lewis Parker, Demon Boyz, mc duke, silverbullet, Chester P and Derek b are considered some of the 1st artists.
The elements of hip hop
1. Martial arts
2. DJing
3. Break dancing
4. MCing
5. Graffiti
6. Beatboxing
7. Fashion
8. Knowledge
9. Entrepreneurialism
10. Language
I have listened to 1000's of accounts, sources and video's from many reliable people to do with hip hop not just the Bronx or New York but the world. After stumbling across a video, another thing led to another and eventually it changed my mind on the official story. I didnt learn it all through watching a 1 hour documentary on youtube, the BBC, through hearsay or from mainly what KRS1 (The teacha) and Bambatta the Liar has been teaching for many years which is where I originally leant my hip hop knowledge from. After spending many months looking into it all again and properly I have found that the official "kool herc, Sedgewick ave" story is a bit of a fairytale, has no evidence other than 1 flyer and has been told by people who wasn't there during a time in the 1970's when it wasn't documented or accounted. Many people have taken the Aug 11th 1973 party as a major starting point in the history of hip hop, its been regurgitated by news sources such as the BBC, ABC and New York times in documentaries, then repeated again by the hip hop communities of the world with the creation of the internet. Im not here in no way to try to offend, take away, re-write the history, take credit or try to push my account of it all on people but there are 100's of people coming forward between (2008 to 2018) with new spoken accounts, flyers, evidence and videos of a different history that dates back at least 5 years before 1973 and were not talking about European club disco. The majority of the Bronx community young and old know how Disco king Mario, the black spades and street disco has not only been writen out of the history, but their roles have been misinterpreted in the creation of what led to the culture and music of hip hop. I believe Kool herc had witnessed one of the park parties which was pieced together barely with Mario on the decks wires everywhere, the baby spade b-boys throwing a few early dance moves in and some old funk, disco and breaks records put on but it got everyone in the hood partying and talking as most of them couldn't afford to party uptown in the clubs. I also believe Pete DJ Jones who ruled the Bronx night clubs with disco during 1970 to 1975 with his 2 sometimes 3 decks influenced Herc hugely. He then went and perfected it, took it to a more profesional organised level that no one had taken it too with the Herculiods, the merry-go-round and breaks. Then Granmaster flash followed taking it to even greater heights than what Kool herc did by creating actual hip hop music with songs and videos to follow.
In a way you could say Mario and the black spades pioneered and created the culture of hip hop and built the basic foundations of the music for Kool herc to improve on the culture and music helping to inspire a new generation of young poor people. Then Grandmaster flash finalised and pushed the music futher, to new levels and helped it explode the world over. That is the account which I believe should be taught to everyone and be in the new "Universal hip hop museum" opening in the Bronx point area early 2022 - http://www.uhhm.org/
Top 25 Hip hop films
http://www.complex.com/music/2014/10/best-hip-hop-movies/baller-blockin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_music
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_in_hip_hop_music
http://www.vh1.com/news/827/vh1-40-greatest-hip-hop-songs-of-the-90s-complete-list/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_age_hip_hop