"A lot of the people at the forefront at that time in the Bronx and in Harlem they didn't really imagine this being something you could capture on record." "Hip-hop at that time was a spontaneous thing," Shad said. In the early days of hip-hop, it was all about the DJ. The person with the microphone - the emcee - was just there to hype up the crowd. That soon evolved into couplets and short rhymes, expanding in to crews of multiple emcees with increasingly elaborate routines. But hip-hop was still considered spontaneous and ephemeral - to be experienced in the moment. stop it. I said to myself, 'I have absolute control of the record.'" It’d be totally sloppy, off beat. I knew there has to be a better way, and after trying many different things, I placed my fingers on the vinyl. I let it go. In the documentary, Grandmaster Flash said, "Most DJs concentrated their efforts on the tone arm. Then there’s Grandmaster Flash, who Shad describes as "The real technical innovator, because what he did, was he made that whole looping thing with the break beats super smooth." Herc is part of an accepted trinity of early DJs credited with the birth of hip-hop, which also includes Afrika Bambaataa, who’s credited with "bringing this sort of ethos of hip-hop being about unity, knowledge and empowerment," Shad said. The records were funk, soul and reggae, providing an alternative to the dominance of disco. As Shad explained, "You could call James Brown really a godfather of hip-hop, because his break beats are so fundamental, foundational to the music." The innovation came from Herc having two copies of the records he played. He’d pick the needle up and place it back at the beginning of the "break" on one record as the other continued to play, creating a repeating loop of music Herc called the "merry-go-round." " He was playing the sections of records that they called 'breaks ' a breakdown of drums and bass, some funky kind of percussion," Shad said. in the Bronx, which is considered hip-hop’s "Big Bang" moment. That human element is front and center as Shad explores the evolution of the uniquely American genre and traces its timeline all the way back to August 1973. A teenage Clive " DJ Kool Herc" Campbell threw a party for his sister in their apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Ave. "But, the cool thing is, I don’t feel like I have to hide my inner fanboy, because they’re human beings too and they’re also amazed and surprised and delighted to do such special things," he said. But there's also the dirty south and so many more things, that as a rap fan you may have heard about or are at least interesting enough for those who did not live back then to experience now.As host of the Peabody Award-winning Netflix documentary series, " Hip-Hop Evolution," Shad Kabango has had conversations with the architects, innovators, luminaries and legends of hip-hop.Īn award-winning emcee himself, he confesses to WPR’s " BETA" that he’s a bit star-struck when sitting down to interview his hip-hop idols. You can feel the love through the screen Edit 2: even more seasons and maybe no end in sight? I wouldn't mind, because the quality is there and the interviewer as someone in the game himself, knows what he talks and asks others about! Even if the Biggie and Pac thing has to be condensed it finally gets spoken about to here. In-Depth and a lot of interviews and background information. And while I didn't expect one to come (2 years after the initial season was made), it is as good as one would imagine. So while this may not be definitive and you may not find your favorite artist in this, it is one of the best looks inside and beyond Hip Hop Edit: Just watched the second season. It's more broad in that way, which it has to be, because if covers not just one style. There are quite a few artists who get to say how it was for them and there is a lot of trivia shared. And it's really nice that the whole thing has a time-line and starts from the beginning, going towards the the newer age of hip hop. It's not just an evolution, but also a revolution at times. Though even that running time cannot cover everything, it does cover really interesting points in the history of how this became a cultural phenomenon. So if you are here for the longer run (it's almost 3 hours long, split into 4 episodes), you are in for a treat. I imagine it still is good, but hopefully some people who mixed those two up, will not confuse others. The movie played at some festivals and has a condensed view. Some have mistaken the movie that was compiled and cut together from this series as the actual series.
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