On the recognized birthdate of Hip Hop this year,Hip Hop will officially turn 40.
Which means one Where did all the time go? and two All of yall are just as old as me,haha.
In anycase, I was wondering if you would like to share your thoughts on things within the 40 years of HipHop that you would have extended longer or things that you would have rather Hip Hop have lived without.Off the top...

1.The Park Era - Would have loved to put this era in a bottle and ship it to every Hip Hop follower for the whole 40.
Before the money,before the fame,before it even became a culture.Just two turntables a microphone,some Bambaataa breakbeats and some scuffed up knees.

2.Turntablism - I know a lot of you many love it,but scratchin and spinning back was just originally to add spice to the flow of the record.It wasn't intended to be the full meal.I believe it is an art in the sense of making the turntable itself a musical instrument,but I enjoy the beats and breaks too much for the music to be distorted like that,so IMHO I wish we could have did without it.

Have at it,if you would like..

Fat Laces/Thick Laces.....man, i loved the way the look in a fresh pair of Puma Suedes...shIt even in My Air Jordan I's. the color coordination and patterns were pretty ill and creative.

Heavy, Sample based production (circa the Golden Era and mid-school era) - yeah the Gilbert O'Sullivan vs. Biz Markie thing kinda killed sampling (from the not having to pay royalties) and record labels was not trying to pay crazy-high clearance fees, after that. yeah - producers had no chice but to be creative and sample only x-seconds of a break or a piece of a smapled song...or, learn how to chop stuff up to the point where sometimes you had a hard time figuring what they used. but...thre was a lot of good stuff coming out pre-sample clearance day - kind kept alot of the oder, orginial songs alive, after they were forgotten - or, even heard of, for that matter.


Boom-Boxes - this kid keep a boom boxes on him at all times up until Boomboxes started to fizzle out in the early-mid 90's. Like LL said, "i turn my volume way past 10!"


Video Music Box & Rap City (circa '89-'94) and Yo! MTV Rap - I think the reason is obovius on this one.




peace.

Not too much stuff can match VJ Ralph McDaniels in the hey day.If there ever was a point where Hip Hop took off toward the sky it was that!

Loved them laces!They was most critical for the expansion of flyness in the Hip Hop realm.The possibilities were endless.
Especially the checkerbox. took a long time to do but got alot a looks when you was finished.
I came from the ankle breakin' Chuck Taylor era, so I was happy as hell to finally rock a fresh set of Red Puma suedes.
Rocked with checkerbox Red/White fat laces.(Took a summer youth job to get them,pops wasn't coming off no cash for them,grades wasn't correct.haha)Definitely in the Top Ten of all time Hip Hop things to rock..right up there with Gazelles.

Peace.

Good read gents.

I can't add much right now, but since you are being passionate about it I can add what grabbed me about it from day one...

The Beats - The whole mentality of recycling music to create something fatter, realer... The sound of early drum machines crunching and thumping. The real sound of the streets, of youth, the energy...

To this very day, I will go out on any dance floor, in any small townie bar in the world, even if people with cowboy hats are line dancing, and I will do the backspin for a free shot of Jägermeister.

Happy B-day Hip Hop

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“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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yeah, BM - i rocked the checkerbox steez (on the laces every once in a while)...you're right ALOT of work.


you didn't really get into rap music until your college days, right, rchecka?





peace.