Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture (Greenwood Icons) Two Volumes

683 Pages·2007·3.36 MB·English

by  Mickey Hess

Icons of Hip Hop:
An Encyclopedia of the
Movement, Music, and
Culture, Volumes 1 & 2
Edited by
Mickey Hess
Greenwood Press
ICONS OF HIP HOP
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ICONS OF HIP HOP
An Encyclopedia of the
Movement, Music, And Culture
VOLUME 1
Edited by Mickey Hess
Greenwood Icons
GREENWOOD PRESS
Westport, Connecticut London
.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Iconsofhiphop:anencyclopediaofthemovement,music,andculture/editedby
MickeyHess
p.cm.–(Greenwoodicons)
Includesbibliographicalreferences,discographies,andindex.
ISBN-13:978-0-313-33902-8(set:alk.paper)
ISBN-13:978-0-313-33903-5(vol1:alk.paper)
ISBN-13:978-0-313-33904-2(vol2:alk.paper)
1. Rapmusicians—Biography. 2. Turntablists—Biography.
3. Rap(Music)—Historyandcriticism. 4. Hip-hop. I. Hess,Mickey,1975–
ML394.I262007
782.421649'03—dc22 2007008194
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
CopyrightÓ2007byMickeyHess
Allrightsreserved. Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:2007008194
ISBN-10:0-313-33902-3(set) ISBN-13:978-0-313-33902-8(set)
0-313-33903-1(vol.1) 978-0-313-33903-5(vol.1)
0-313-33904-X(vol.2) 978-0-313-33904-2(vol.2)
Firstpublishedin2007
GreenwoodPress,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
www.greenwood.com
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Photos vii
Volume One
Foreword, Jeru the Damaja ix
Preface xiii
Introduction xvii
A Timeline of Hip Hop History, Nicole Hodges Persley xxi
Kool Herc, Wayne Marshall 1
Grandmaster Flash, H.C. Williams 27
Roxanne Shante´, Thembisa S. Mshaka 51
Run-DMC, Jeb Aram Middlebrook 69
Beastie Boys, Mickey Hess 91
MC Lyte, Jennifer R. Young 117
Eric B. & Rakim, Shawn Bernardo 141
Public Enemy, George Ciccariello-Maher 169
Salt-N-Pepa, Athena Elafros 193
Queen Latifah, Faiza Hirji 217
The Geto Boys, Jason D. Haugen 243
The Native Tongues, Aine McGlynn 265
Volume Two
Preface ix
Ice Cube, David J. Leonard 293
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, David Diallo 317
vi Contents
Nas, Susan Weinstein 341
Wu-Tang Clan, Jessica Elliott and Mickey Hess 365
Tupac Shakur, Carlos D. Morrison and Celnisha L. Dangerfield 391
Notorious B.I.G., James Peterson 417
Lil’ Kim, Aine McGlynn 439
Outkast, T. Hasan Johnson 457
Eminem, Katherine V. Tsiopos-Wills 481
Missy Elliot, Joi Carr 503
Jay-Z, T. Hasan Johnson 529
Kanye West, Todd Dills 555
Interviews:
Let ’Em In: An Interview with DJ Premier, Shamika Ann Mitchell 579
Word Up: An Interview with DJ Scratch, Shamika Ann Mitchell 591
Afterword: The Twenty-Four Most Overlooked MCs in Hip Hop,
Masta Ace 603
Selected Bibliography 609
Notes on Contributors 613
Index 621
List of Photos
DJ Kool Herc (page 1) speaking at a news conference to launch “Hip-Hop
Won’t Stop: The Beat, The Rhymes, The Life,” the first ever hip-hop
initiative attheSmithsonian’sNationalMuseumofAmericanHistoryin
New York, 2006. Ó AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams.
Grandmaster Flash (page 27) performing live at Wembley Arena in London,
1985. Ó S.I.N / Alamy.
Roxanne Shante (page 51). Ó David Corio.
Run DMC (page 69), ca. 1985. Courtesy of Photofest.
Beastie Boys (page 91), 1998. Courtesy of Photofest.
MC Lyte (page 117). Courtesy of Photofest.
Eric B and Rakim (page 141). Ó Waring Abbott / Alamy.
Public Enemy (page 169). Courtesy of Photofest.
Salt n Pepa (page 193), ca. 1994. Courtesy of Photofest.
Queen Latifah (page 217). Courtesy of Photofest.
TheGeto Boys(page243) arriveat the2004SourceHip-HopMusicAwards
at the James L. Knight Center, October 10, 2004 in Miami, Florida.
Ó Orlando Garcia / Getty Image.
De La Soul (page 265), one of the founding members of the Native Tongues
posse, along with A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, Afrika
Bambaataa, and others. Ó David Corio.
Ice Cube (page 293). Courtesy of Photofest.
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg (page 317), 1993. Courtesy of Photofest.
Nas (page 341), 1994. Courtesy of Photofest.
viii List ofPhotos
Wu Tang Clan (page 365), 2000. Ó Kevin Winter / Getty Images.
Tupac Shakur (page 391), 1996. Courtesy of Photofest.
Notorious B.I.G. (page 417), ca. 1997. Courtesy of Photofest.
Lil’ Kim(page439)in thepressroomat the2006MTVVideoMusicAwards
in New York. Ó AP Photo / Tammie Arroyo.
Big Boi and Andre 3000 (page 457) pose in front of the three awards they
won at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, 2004. Ó AP Photo / Reed
Saxon.
Eminem (page 481), 2000. Courtesy of Photofest.
Missy Elliot (page 503) performs during the 2003 MTV Europe Music
Awards in Edinburgh, Scotland. Courtesy of Photofest.
Jay-Z (page 529) rapper and CEO of Def Jam Records, 2001. Courtesy of
Photofest.
KanyeWest(page555)performs“JesusWalks”atthe47thAnnualGrammy
Awards in Los Angeles, 2005. Ó AP Photo / Kevork Djansezian.
Foreword
I grew up in the seventies and eighties in East New York, Brooklyn, where
summertime meant playing freeze tag, kick the can, and skelly in the streets.
Seventy-nine was the year that changed my life forever. “Rapper’s Delight”
wasplayedsomanytimesonmygrandmother’sstereothatitbecamepartof
me. So much so that I know all the words by heart to this day. It was The
Great Adventures of Super Rhymes, not Slick Rick (that is the generation
followingmine)thathadmehookedlikeBenjifromtheAliceChildressnovel
A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich the first time he tried smack. That
would be the summer that would change the course of my life or rather put
me on the right course. A new family moved onto the block that summer.
There was a young mother named Debbie and her young son. I forget his
name, but the story goes like this.
It was the last block party of the summer and a bunch of dudes we had
neverseenbeforewerestandinginfrontofthebuildingwherethenewfamily
was living, clearly friends and family of the new family. The older guys were
up in arms because in those days a group of young black men on your block
thatdidnotlivethereusuallyendedupinsomesortofphysicalconfrontation.
Dirty looks and ice grills were exchanged and had the block hotter than an
Eskimointhedesert.Butbeforeitcouldescalate,someguythatlookedlikeJJ
from Good Times called several of the kids indoors. Here we go ...
Theblockpartyhadjuststartedanditwasgoingtogetshutdownalready.
A few minutes passed and the door of the building flung open but instead of
sticks,bats,chains,andotherpopulartoolsofdestruction,thestrangerscame
out carrying huge speakers. Speakers? All of a sudden fear had become
curiosity. I was about eight at the time and had never seen speakers so big.
And I grew up in a party house! I wanted to get a better look so I got closer.
Theyoungmenkepttheirfocusonhookingupthespeakers,concentratingon
the task at hand. By this time a pretty decent crowd had gathered but they
seemed not to notice—like they had done this a thousand times. I had heard
stories about block parties with gigantic speakers playing music you could