The Vibe History of Hip Hop

438 Pages·58.991 MB·English

by  Alan Light

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Three Rivers Press new york
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Frontcoverphotographs: clockwisefrom upperlefttoright: Marc Baptiste/CorbisOutline;Shawn Mortensen/CorbisOutline; MarthaCooper;
Dana Lixenberg/CorbisOutline;JohnCarluccio; KristinCallahan/London Features;GeorgeDuBose/LondonFeatures;JohnCarluccio.
Backcoverphotographs,clockwisefromupperlefttoright:Michael Lavine/Edge;ChrisWalter/Retna;MarthaCooper;
SteveRapport/London Features;AnthonyCutajar/MCARecords;CorbisOutline.
Spinephotograph:TracyFunches
Acompletelistofpermissionsappearsonpage403.
Copyright 6 1999byVIBEVentures
All rightsreserved. Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,including
photocopying,recording,orbyanyinformationstorageandretrieval system,withoutpermissioninwritingfrom thepublisher.
PublishedbyThree RiversPress,201 East50thStreet,NewYork, NewYork10022. MemberoftheCrownPublishingGroup.
RandomHouse,Inc.NewYork,Toronto,London,Sydney,Auckland
www.randomhouse.com
THREERIVERSPRESSandcolophonaretrademarksofCrownPublishers,Inc.
DesignbyLynneAmft
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
TheVibehistoryofhiphop/editedbyAlanLight.-isted.
p. cm.
1. Rap(Music)-Historyandcriticism. I. Light,Alan. II. Vibe.
ML3531.V53 1999
782.42i649'o9-dc2i 99-36003
CIP
ISBN0-609-80503-7
10987654321
FirstEdition
Contents
Vll FOreWOrd GrandmasterFlash 101 The JUiCe CreW: Beyond the Boogie
PPGT3C6 DanyelSmith Down MichaelA. Gonzales
Introduction AianUght 111 Early Los Angeles Hip Hop Ben
XI
Higa
3 The Real Old School j im f szwed 121 POP Rap MattDiehl
i3 Back in the Day: 1975-1979 s.h. 126 The Beastie Boys MihRubm
Fernando
Jr.
16 DJ KOOl HerC HavebckNelson 135 Hip HOP VideO Josh Tyrangiel
23 Sligar Hill ReCOrdS Steve Greenberg 145 Knb'One CharlesAaron
153 The Big Willies / d. consume
35 Graffiti! Graphic Scenes, Spray Fiends,
and Millionaires SachaJenkins 156 Money, Power, Respect: Hip
HOP ECOnOllliCS BillStephney
The Second Wave: 1980—1983
43
Tom Terrell 165 Public Enemy AianUght
53 Breaking It All Down: The Rise and 170 BJs vs. Samplers suzanm
Fall and Rise ofthe B-Boy Kingdom McElfresh
Cristina Verdn
177 LaUieS rlPSI LauraJamison
61 RUn~D.M.C. SashaFrere-Jones
187 Native Tongues: A Family Affair
69 You Spin Me Round (Like a Joe Wood
Record, Raby): Last Night a dj
192 The Pinnacle: 1988 joimieiand
Saved Hip Hop ChairmanMao
201 Hip Hop in the Movies a/nD^//in
72 Hip HOP RadiO Bobbito Garcia
209 Salt-N-Pepa MimiVaides
81 L.L. COOl J SiaMichel
217 BegiOnal SCeneS MarcusReeves
84 Battle Rhymes shanisaxon
220 TOO ShOrt BillyJam
91 WOrd AnthonyDeCurtis
229 MC Hammer DanyelSmith
Microphone Fiends: ehc b and
94
Rakim/Slick Rick BonzMalone 239 Bap and Bock Neiistmms
242 HaPd Lett: Hip Hop's Forgotten 344 MiXed CUtS: How Remixes
Visionaries Vernon Reid ComPliment and Complicate The
W Blackspot
251 II. .A Cheo Hodari Coker
DanCehall RobKenner
351
254 L3ZV'L CarterHarris
361 Planet ROCk: HiP HoP SuPa National
265 The DiPtlf SOUth Tony Green Mark Schwartz
268 2 Live Crew Trial Anthony 366 Future Shock: Trip hop and
DeCurtis
Beyond Andrea M. Duncan
277 Great Aspirations: HiP hop and Na Nas, Goddesses, and Drama
373 III
Fashion Dress for Excess and Success MamaS Karen R. Good
Emil Wilbekin
378 The FUgeeS MartineBury
285 Gangsta Rap in the '90s Gabnei
Alvarez 385 15 Arguments in Favor of the
FUtUre Of HiP HOP Greg Tate
288 "Cop Killer" and Sister
SOUljah: Hip HoP Under Fire 390 MaSter P JamesHunter
MartinJohnson
Contributors
395
297 TUpaC ShakUr DanyelSmith
401 Credits
307 HiP HOP SOUl Elysa Gardner
404 Index
319 Gangsta, Gangsta: The sad, violent
Parable ofDeath Row Records Robert
Marriott
327 New York State of Mind: The
Resurgence ofEast Coast Hip> Hop>
DavidBry
332 The Wu-Tang Clan cimsNoms
339 BaU BOy dream hampton
Foreword
by Grandmaster Flash
Hip hop is the only genre of music that allows us to talk
about almost anything. Musically it allows us to sample and play and create poetry to
the beat ofmusic. It's highly controversial, but that's the way the game is.
In the pioneer days, we were blazing the trail ofsomething brand-new, and along
that trail there were pitfalls—there were some peaks, some valleys. The knowledge from
back then can help anyperson in the game now. Alot did workforus, but some ofthe
things that didn't work, a newer artist could look at and say, "I won't do that." Even
some ofthe negative aspects are extremely important from a historical point ofview.
Not enough people have been told the details ofthe story ofhip hop. Ifyouwere
to hear how I came up with the idea oftaking one piece ofmusic and repeating it over
and over again, you'd look at me like, "So?" But ifI told you how I did it, how many
times I stayed in my room and how many needles I broke, how many times the wire
popped or how many times I might have got a beatin' for taking apart an electrical ap-
pliancejustto see howitworks orto extractapartfrom it, the storymight sound a little
bit more interesting. More detail has to be told to the newer crop. There's not enough
literature outthere, notenough on thebigscreen orthe small screen to reallytalkabout
what it tookto do this-the blood, the sweat, and the tears.
In rock and jazz, they go into the archives. I consider myselfan expert in most
music, but I can still look at a jazz historical program and say, "Wow, I didn't know
that," and "Why did he blowthe horn like that, how did he slip the finger like that and
come up with the sound?" I watched a concertwith the Rolling Stones, and 70 percent
ofthe audience was kids! Somebody must've told them that these people were incredi-
ble before they were even born, and they went to go look. We need to do that for
hip hop.
But until now nobody has put in the tunc to really do it because it is time-
consuming, it's a lot of history, a lot oftalking about a lot ofpeople's lives. In this world,
when things have to be done yesterday, there aren'tenough people thatwant to do it the
old fashioned way-one page at a time, one life at a time, and one story at a time. If we
just took that time, hip hop would be even larger.
If you measure hip hop as a whole, there's no one book that can really coverevery
facet of this culture. But this book does a good job ofcovering enough of the eras, the
people and places and things that helped to make hip hop what it is.
God says, ifyou remain humble, all your blessings will come to you. If I think
about what I did, I might not be so grounded, so I look at myselfas an individual who
was given a gift, and I shared it. But never in my wildest dreams—never ever—did I think
hip hop would grow to what it is now. I thank God I'm here to see it and—with a new
album on the way-that I'm still making a contribution to the art form.