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Kool Herc Old School
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Kool Herc inventor of hip-hop music.
May 4, 2009 3:11 PM
Re: Kool Herc Old School
That's a nice piece of film. I did not know about Kool Herc! In Houston, there was an explosion of hip hop, but I had my nose in deep to the punk scene, and missed a lot of history.
By: pieboldstallion
Re: Kool Herc Old School
There's a lot of history in the film "scratch" check it:
http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/86525/detail/
http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/86525/detail/
Re: Kool Herc Old School
Wow, even the worst parts of NYC look real cozy with a bit of sunlight and music. Weeds as tall as a grown man be damned, and those lovely brown anthills ... By golly, I wonder what rare wildlife lives in there. The walls must be a-cracking and a-crumbling now, with bats flying out in droves around dusk, zipping off to their feeding grounds near the half dozen streetlights operating intermittently for miles around. Moths as big as rats, I say; and broken fire hydrants in which frogs spawn in the spring, when the concrete sidewalks split open some more and make room for birch saplings gently brushed by pink Cadillacs in the hot summer evenings. The pulsating rhythms of primal beats oozing out corner shops ... Hell yeah. W_W would feel right at home, though he might stick out like Clint Eastwood in a town full o' (law-abiding ;-) Mexicans.
I say if someone would offer me a guided tour, I jump right aboard. I do not accept a leash, though.
I say if someone would offer me a guided tour, I jump right aboard. I do not accept a leash, though.
Re: Kool Herc Old School
See "Style Wars" if you want an excellent documentary on the culture of hip hop, contemporary to the 1980s.
http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/96523/detail/
http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/96523/detail/
Re: Kool Herc Old School
I read the book Last Night A DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey. Amazing book, I recommend it to everyone. Kool Herc noticed that certain people would stay off to the sides during the main part of the song, but when the break came in they would enter the dance floor and bust out their moves. He decided to experiment by just playing the breaks and the dancers became break dancers.
However, Kool Herc did not beatmatch. His mixing was quite sloppy. It was Grandmaster Flash who combined the disco beatmatching method with Kool Herc's focus on breaks. Grandmaster Flash took it to the next level is sometimes considered the real father of hip hop. Originally the style was called Wildstyle or the breaks. Afrika Bambaataa's mom was a nurse and had an extensive record collection. Afrika had the best selection of music of the 3 DJs. Later, Grandmaster Flash's protege Grandwizard Theodore invented scratching by accident.
Sylvia Robinson wanted to cash in on the success of hip hop. She formed the Sugar Hill Gand named after her label Sugar Hill Records. Supposedly, the members weren't even big on the scene and the some of the lyrics to Rapper's Delight were stolen from Grandmaster Caz. They sampled Chic's Good Times and the rest is history.
Hip Hop used to be about the DJ and the music, but Rapper's Delight shifted focus to the MCs.
However, Kool Herc did not beatmatch. His mixing was quite sloppy. It was Grandmaster Flash who combined the disco beatmatching method with Kool Herc's focus on breaks. Grandmaster Flash took it to the next level is sometimes considered the real father of hip hop. Originally the style was called Wildstyle or the breaks. Afrika Bambaataa's mom was a nurse and had an extensive record collection. Afrika had the best selection of music of the 3 DJs. Later, Grandmaster Flash's protege Grandwizard Theodore invented scratching by accident.
Sylvia Robinson wanted to cash in on the success of hip hop. She formed the Sugar Hill Gand named after her label Sugar Hill Records. Supposedly, the members weren't even big on the scene and the some of the lyrics to Rapper's Delight were stolen from Grandmaster Caz. They sampled Chic's Good Times and the rest is history.
Hip Hop used to be about the DJ and the music, but Rapper's Delight shifted focus to the MCs.
By: digitalprime
Re: Kool Herc Old School
Urban music has changed. It's great to acknowledge these people who pioneered it, who lived it, who gave America a modern national culture of cultures leading all the way back to Africa and Europe. But capitalism, the free market, and naked self-interest have destroyed what made hip hop special, and that's history. Urban music used to connect the working class. Urban music is cultural music that consoles and empowers. We may owe our lives to the man, but we have our art, and it isn't perfect, and its ours, it will always be ours, until self-interested individuals market and make it accessible.
Germany and many countries used to have a ministry of art. That's a dubious distinction, but so is a "heap of broken images," as T.S. Eliot called American culture. Hip hop had a history, and still has it in some circles that are pushing the beat and pushing the history. But this mainstream bullshit we have is no longer hip hop, has nothing to do with hip hop, and few people can see it, nor care to see it. The same goes for house music, another American musical origination, that, oddly enough has been completely ignored in the mainstream since the 90's.
Germany and many countries used to have a ministry of art. That's a dubious distinction, but so is a "heap of broken images," as T.S. Eliot called American culture. Hip hop had a history, and still has it in some circles that are pushing the beat and pushing the history. But this mainstream bullshit we have is no longer hip hop, has nothing to do with hip hop, and few people can see it, nor care to see it. The same goes for house music, another American musical origination, that, oddly enough has been completely ignored in the mainstream since the 90's.
By: boyblunders
Re: Kool Herc Old School
I stopped listening to hip hop when it went gangster in the 90's. My friends would invite me over and we would laugh at how much swearing was in each song. It really was a gimmick to sell albums. Since then, rap music has deteriorated to garbage it is today. Unfortunately, underground hip hop focus on turntablism too much. I had the attitude that if you can't scratch, you can't DJ. Turntablism attracts too many egotistical DJs. I saw DJ Qbert in Philly once and he did an old school hip hop set. He focused on the music and did very little turntablism. The crowd didn't seem to get it, they just expected him to scratch. Instead of dancing, everyone stood there and watched him.
I'm a house DJ, that's why I bought the History of Disc Jockey book. I couldn't wait to get to the house chapter, but was surprised at how exciting the disco chapters were. I thought the disco chapters would bore me, but they were the best.
I'm a house DJ, that's why I bought the History of Disc Jockey book. I couldn't wait to get to the house chapter, but was surprised at how exciting the disco chapters were. I thought the disco chapters would bore me, but they were the best.
By: digitalprime
Re: Kool Herc Old School
Oops, I hate the attitude that if you can't scratch, you can't DJ. Normally I don't worry about typos, but it changed the meaning.
By: digitalprime
Re: Kool Herc Old School
I think the trend with some underground hip hop is experimenting with swing rhythms, kind of like how New Jack pushed the beat, but now it's really cerebral, using unusual grooves, and overall it's pretty interesting to listen to. Check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCXjL_0Ww9E
That's why I got more into Nu-jazz and house music, and ultimately into house dance. I still love old school hip hop, before it went commercial and "gangster," but the true feel-good party vibe stuck with house more than hip hop or bboying. I look to African cultures as models of what music, dance, art, and community ought to be, and house dance resembles those cultures, although house music definitely has its superstar DJs who portray the genre a certain way, thus affecting the culture drastically. House is supposed to be a music to dance to, like disco, but when me and other dancers hit clubs, its people staring at the DJ or dropping E. It's a strange thing, given that dance is natural - even making music is a dance, with drumming being the clearest example. But in today's mainstream climate, no amount of technical prowess or lyrical expression can reach knuckleheads who have no respect for the music, its history, or the people who nurture the culture and not just the industry.
I'm rambling, but there's a lot to talk about in terms of urban music and dance culture. I think it's dope that you think about what goes in your ears, and try to understand the history and where it's going.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCXjL_0Ww9E
That's why I got more into Nu-jazz and house music, and ultimately into house dance. I still love old school hip hop, before it went commercial and "gangster," but the true feel-good party vibe stuck with house more than hip hop or bboying. I look to African cultures as models of what music, dance, art, and community ought to be, and house dance resembles those cultures, although house music definitely has its superstar DJs who portray the genre a certain way, thus affecting the culture drastically. House is supposed to be a music to dance to, like disco, but when me and other dancers hit clubs, its people staring at the DJ or dropping E. It's a strange thing, given that dance is natural - even making music is a dance, with drumming being the clearest example. But in today's mainstream climate, no amount of technical prowess or lyrical expression can reach knuckleheads who have no respect for the music, its history, or the people who nurture the culture and not just the industry.
I'm rambling, but there's a lot to talk about in terms of urban music and dance culture. I think it's dope that you think about what goes in your ears, and try to understand the history and where it's going.
By: boyblunders
