Hip Hop's humble beginnings

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benji2

New member
I'm helping a friend with a film on New York's rough streets in the 70's that spawned Hip Hop. Historians tell us Hip Hop was created back in the Bronx in the 70's when Afrika Bambatta dissolved his gang the Black Spades and unified with other Black and Hispanic gangs. I'm finding out that there were other pioneers before Afrika Bambatta. Afrika Bambatta still deserves credit as one of the more important figures because of his appreciation for all types of music and his desire to include all in Hip Hop:


 
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mwandishi said:
What about Kool Herk? I thought the narrative started with the DJs!
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Dude is bitter because Bambatta is the most famous former Black Spade member. He does admit Bambatta was way younger than him and did start Zulu Nation. He even admits Bambatta was into music and he wasn't. DJ Mario played records before Bam but Bam was the one who came up with the idea of a peace treaty between gangs, renaming them Zulu Nation, embracing Puerto Rican gangs and more importantly introducing breakbeats. Herc was a DJ from Jamaica who also played records. Grandmaster Flash said Herc was sloppy and would jsu pick up the needle and play different parts of a record where as Flash only learned how to play the funky part of the record over.
 
Man, I really don't care about all that "back-in-the-day" shit. People be bitter and lying about stuff. None of those old heads are doing nothing now except making revisionist rants about the past. Thank goodness the South took over.
 
Desire Inspires said:
Man, I really don't care about all that "back-in-the-day" shit. People be bitter and lying about stuff. None of those old heads are doing nothing now except making revisionist rants about the past. Thank goodness the South took over.
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I'm opposite. I embrace history for that same reason. Like one person said, you can't go forward without knowing the past. The only way to make progress is to be aware of what occurred in the past. How can one be knowledgeable about any topic without studying past history?
 
Life didn't just start with our generation. Most of the things I enjoy came from the past, movies like Scarface, Belly, Nike Flightposites, Vintage Jordans , Vinyl Lp's etc... I grew up influenced by my father and uncle. They bought excitement to the house and introduced me to the older hip hop generation when I was a kid so I always admired them. That's why by the time I was eleven, I already knew what PCP, 120 lessons, cheeba, old gold meant. (Cheeba is weed, old gold is old English malt liquor, 120 lessons are lessons 5% study.)Others kids in Dallas were sheltered. I felt blessed having younger parents who kept me in tune with the streets. That's why I'm quick to talk to an OG. You can learn from them.
 
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benji2 said:
Life didn't just start with our generation. Most of the things I enjoy came from the past, movies like Scarface, Belly, Nike Flightposites, Vintage Jordans , Vinyl Lp's etc... I grew up influenced by my father and uncle. They bought excitement to the house and introduced me to the older hip hop generation when I was a kid so I always admired them. That's why by the time I was eleven, I already knew what PCP, 120 lessons, cheeba, old gold meant. (Cheeba is weed, old gold is old English malt liquor, 120 lessons are lessons 5% study.)Others kids in Dallas were sheltered. I felt blessed having younger parents who kept me in tune with the streets. That's why I'm quick to talk to an OG. You can learn from them.
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There's some hard gospel right there.
 
Does the name DJ Kool Herc ring a bell... my god our history is being lost.

There have been documentaries on all of this.... but I do agree with... it really doesn't mattter it is what is now.... the present.

Thanks Herc, jail birds and single Moms, NWA, Snoop and all the kids that smoke weed and love the music Yezzir!
 
BiggRome 2.0 said:
Does the name DJ Kool Herc ring a bell... my god our history is being lost.

There have been documentaries on all of this.... but I do agree with... it really doesn't mattter it is what is now.... the present.

Thanks Herc, jail birds and single Moms, NWA, Snoop and all the kids that smoke weed and love the music Yezzir!
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I am helping a friend out on an independent film project. There was a topic about Gangs in New York imitating the Bloods and Crips and I explained that there were gangs in New York in the 70's how Hip Hop was started by a former gang the Black Spades. I explained the story of Bambatta changing the name to Zulu Nation and he decided to do a film on the time period before. Kool Herc is still a pioneer. He wasn't a Black spade. We are all fans of that gang movie the Warriors and thought it would make a great film. Herc and Bam are still ground zero for hip hop


here's a great movie about Black gangs in new York in the 70's



That's Sirius the gang leader from the Warriors movie at 0:16 who the warriors were accused of killing(lol)
Being an independent filmmaker is full of ups& downs, heartaches and insufficient capital. Completing the film itself is an accomplishment. That's what so great about Hip Hop. How something positive came out of a negative situation.
 
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Bambatta is the central character because his story is very interesting. Herc was the pioneer but Bam was the charsimatic gang leader with the eccentric tastes:

 
@benji2

In order to even begin to understand the origins of what is called "Hip Hop" you have to take into consideration what its birthplace New York City was like in the 1970's...the conditions that helped cultivate the culture. This documentary that came out a few years back does a good intro job:

 
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Legal Dollaz said:
@benji2

In order to even begin to understand the origins of what is called "Hip Hop" you have to take into consideration what its birthplace New York City was like in the 1970's...the conditions that helped cultivate the culture. This documentary that came out a few years back does a good intro job:

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Thanks. I don't have to watch the "80 Blocks from Tiffanys" documentary again now. This is very helpful. I love the part where one Puerto Rican Gang member even speaks on the transition from gang member to DJ. DJ's using the lightpole as an electricity source was brilliant. This is a gem!!
 
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I have assumed full responsibility for the independent film project about the conditions that spawned rap. My buddy gave up becaise it's too ambitious a project. It will take at least 1 year and a half to complete the script because I can only work on it in my spare time. This video is some interesting shyt. Makes a great movie. Gang members in the 70's in New York, fighting each other, racism and police then I'll eventually focus on Bambatta being a Gang leader, going to Africa, coming back, forming a truce and changing the name to Zulu nation & then creating what we know as Hip Hop. This will be my 3rd script. It gets a little easier each time out. I'm up for the challenge.

 
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Even Lil Weezie knows the significance of Zulu Nation. He recently joined. We got to get back to embracing the past and respecting the OG's & pioneers.

 
I took a class on hip hop history in college, I remembered that hip hop started with graffiti and then crossed into DJing, Breakdancing, and MCing (aka the four elements of hip hop). Also, the building of the Cross Bronx Expressway is vital towards the creation of hip hop, because it caused many African Americans and Hispanics to lose their homes and businesses. This caused the Bronx to become poor and the government did nothing to rebuild it at that time. The city became a necropolis and basically it was left to die out. Because of this it people started to create graffiti images to express their frustration or to block out their hardships. Additionally block parties were done so that people can have a good time and not think about the struggles they wee going through. The block parties started the DJing and DJ Kool Herc was the one who started the "break" in playing records. This is when he would find a drum pattern in a disco or Motown song and then just loop it continuously, which then lead to breakdancing and rapping. Sorry for the long post you can read all of it in this book by Jeff Chang "Cant Stop Won't Stop".
 
EMPR said:
I took a class on hip hop history in college, I remembered that hip hop started with graffiti and then crossed into DJing, Breakdancing, and MCing (aka the four elements of hip hop). Also, the building of the Cross Bronx Expressway is vital towards the creation of hip hop, because it caused many African Americans and Hispanics to lose their homes and businesses. This caused the Bronx to become poor and the government did nothing to rebuild it at that time. The city became a necropolis and basically it was left to die out. Because of this it people started to create graffiti images to express their frustration or to block out their hardships. Additionally block parties were done so that people can have a good time and not think about the struggles they wee going through. The block parties started the DJing and DJ Kool Herc was the one who started the "break" in playing records. This is when he would find a drum pattern in a disco or Motown song and then just loop it continuously, which then lead to breakdancing and rapping. Sorry for the long post you can read all of it in this book by Jeff Chang "Cant Stop Won't Stop".
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Yeah I saw a doc a few months ago on Robert Moses who built much of NYC as well as the Cross Bronx Expressway. Yeah I read that book "cant stop wont stop. It was crack very addicting. I also recommend Brian Coleman's books;check the technique and Rakim Told me. They're great liner notes about the recording of certain classic albums.
 
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