It's 2023. We've entered the 50th year of hip-hop culture.
Or have we? Is it more appropriate to say, “We've entered the 50th year of hip-hop commodity?”
Like many of you, since childhood, I've embraced the narrative that DJing, MCing, breaking and graffiti were born out of the tenets of peace, love, unity and having fun.
But, today, as a grown man who's well-read, who has cultivated the power of discernment, and who thinks his own thoughts, I question if that old narrative was merely a marketing strategy; one which was sold to me, and that I "bought," as a young, impressionable kid, growing up in Queens, NY.
I raise this question, because much of the culture today, while designed to look authentic, seems to merely be an aspect of one, or another, marketing strategy.
Let me explain what I mean, via my own story:
I was born on May 14, 1972. I'm one year older than the culture. Of course, I wasn’t there, watching Kool Herc at the first “Back To School Jam," on Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx, on August 11, 1973.
But thanks to my older brother, John, by the age of 5, my hip-hop education had begun. Granted, what I was learning about through my bro's tutelage actually had no name in 1977. It was just this thing some of us called "Getting Down," or "Going Off," or "Jamming."
But, in fact, it was an art renaissance, taking place in the Bronx, and spilling over into the surrounding boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.
By 1979, at age 7, I was all in.
"Robert: You hear that sound? Ziggaziggazigga? That's GrandWizzard Theodore scratching the record. Papi doesn't get back from work for another couple of hours. Let's turn on his turntables so I can teach you how to scratch before he gets home."
Or "Robert, I'm taking you with me to Saint Joan of Arc Church. The head priest is gonna let us break inside their recreation room."
I was learning about this creative phenomenon, exclusive to New York, taking place inside my city, my community, my neighborhood, and with my friends.
Thanks to programs like HOT TRACKS — which played music videos from artists like RUN DMC and Malcolm McClaren feat. The World's Famous Supreme Team — by 1982, the rest of America got exposed. People outside of NYC began seeing the faces and hearing the voices of my ghetto heroes.
“Ghetto,” because Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, GrandWizzard Theodore, Grand Mixer DST, Tony Tone, Charlie Chase, etc., didn't look like the Six Million Dollar Man or the Lone Ranger. They looked like my brother. They looked like my brother's friends. They looked like my friends. They looked like my family — people who lived in a one-bedroom, tenement building apartment, infested with mice and roaches. They looked like me!
By 1983, documentaries like Style Wars aired on PBS. The news media began to chronicle what inner-city Black and Latino kids were doing — DJing, rapping, breaking, graffiti — on any given NYC block. The film industry was even intrigued: Movies like Wild Style and Beat Street were made available for people to experience inside air-conditioned, downtown theaters. This was far away from the warzone, benign-neglect aesthetic of hip-hop’s epicenter, The Bronx, NY.
They even had a name for it, by now. They were calling the union of these four forces, “hip-hop.” This thing that low-income, underprivileged youth had created as an alternative to crime and violence — gangs ran NYC during the 1970s — finally had an official name. However, that meant it could also, now, be packaged in a proverbial box, gift-wrapped, complete with bow, and sold for mass consumption.
Enter, 1984: The Year Hip-Hop Culture Became Hip-Hop Commodity.
Graffiti was washed away from its home, the NYC subway system, and transposed to art galleries. There, wealthy collectors would buy canvases to hang inside their multi-million-dollar luxury apartments. Breaking got so played out, you’d be laughed out of a house party if you attempted a windmill.
Even DJs, the very people credited for creating hip-hop, were coerced into subordinate positions to their counterparts, as hip-hop's principal, gold and platinum ornament became The Rapper. Soon, DJs were replaced in live performance by “backing tracks.” But it wasn’t the audiences that asked for this change. It was the larger, business infrastructure, dominating hip-hop, which brought it about.
Thus, if you're Gen Z, you may not be aware that during the 1990s, my Gen X generation of DJs waged a rebellion, and reclaimed its ownership of hip-hop. Therefore, that time is now considered hip-hop's "Golden Era."
Players like the X-ecutioners, Invisibl Skratch Piklz, and the Beat Junkies regained control of the distribution and monetization of hip-hop, at least within DJing. We started our own record labels, promotion companies, and played an integral role in booking one-off shows and tours; events that put the focus back on other neglected elements like breaking and graffiti as well. In the simplest terms: Between 1990 and 2000, DJ culture revitalized hip-hop.
It's the 2000s now. The generation of DJs who stepped into the forefront after mine, have, once again relinquished power to outsiders. But the difference in 2023, when compared to 1983, is, today, business and marketing experts will go as far as disguising themselves as DJs, in order to capitalize on the stock of hip-hop culture.
Here’s how it works: They'll join a DJ school, and take a few lessons on dropping, mixing and scratching. The next thing you know, they're influencers, telling aspiring DJs — who genuinely want to learn the art form — what kind of gear to buy, and what apps to run while DJing. If an economically challenged kid from the Bronx can't afford that $3,000 laptop, or can’t drop $2,000 on the latest mixer, well, they inform them, they'll just be "left in the dust."
The indecency of it all is this: People who listen to these influencers have no awareness they are, effectively, being colonized. They do not know the very worldview being pushed upon them — that they will be banished if they can’t keep up economically — serves the function of making their ultimate elimination look benign. They do not know these are outsiders, who've successfully infiltrated hip-hop, specifically DJ culture, bearing gifts; ones who are, at every second, exploiting it, and them, for monetary gain.
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So, here we are. It’s the opening month of the year marking hip-hop's 50th anniversary; another year overgrown with "DJs" turned influencers. These are the ones who don't respect hip-hop’s legacy of economic inclusion, this being a philosophy embedded in the culture by the pioneers on whose shoulders we stand.
At this point, what am I saying should be done?
I’m suggesting the following two (2) action steps.
If you're going to become a DJ, or teach DJing:
• Examine our culture first. Interact with it. Learn its history, document it, and teach it correctly, to others. Name its great artists and tell what they did to advance the art form. Don’t merely and unethically profiteer off hip-hop's resources for "LIKES", "FOLLOWS," and Benjamins.
• Refrain from using fear-mongering tactics to attract students, or to cash in on DJing, and the greater culture of hip-hop.
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In closing:
This essay grew out of a social media conflict I’ve been having over specific forms of marketing, aimed at students of the culture. As should be clear, I strongly object to these practices.
This is not a statement against any person, or group of persons. Further, this is not a statement against the people who follow my work, or, especially, the ones who don’t.
If you are a true supporter of hip-hop culture — not the rah-rah around it, but the science and history of it — I thank you. I particularly thank you if that interest has led you to give an ear to what I have ever said or done.
I stand on all the above. If, because of what I’ve said, I lose colleagues, followers, students, sponsorships or should I be slandered, vilified, shunned or become abject, while it would be unfortunate, I do not care. I am aligned with a much Higher Power, and higher values, than those with which the current DJ world aligns itself.
I stand firm in the truth of my words, even if they are disconcerting, because I understand the following: There is an economic and creative war, happening in plain sight, for the control of how people think and interact, not only with DJ art and technology, but with themselves, and with their own minds.
For that reason, I'll never go along with fake shit, to get along with fake shit. Instead, I dig in my heels for what I see as right and just.
Regardless of the circumstances, I will always stay, and reside, in truth and in respect. That is the legacy of the pioneers, and, as far as my part is concerned, understand: I’m just trying to help this art form get to the next generation, intact.
Happy 50th, hip-hop.
I appreciate what you are attempting to do. I hope that whomever takes the time to read your blog post will be positively changed to dig a little deeper with any proposals offered to them. Older folks use to tell me every now, and then it’s good to be left behind. Sometimes rolling with the get it fast crowd will leave you holding the bag. Not the one everybody is claiming to chase, but the one with the penalties of taking shortcuts the first time.
Well articulated my Brother! HipHop til I die! Peace
Salute ????
Right on!
Very well said. And for me all the Bs around it turned me off as time went on. I saw first hand on how it was whored out as far as companies getting involved to Milk it with gear the the digital side of it. I know I can never relive the good ol days but I am glad I grew up in it. The journey of digging made my day when searching for sounds on vinyl. Now a days since in my field is production rentals I work with a lot of djs from all eras. And I see first hand and the difference from djs who came from back then and now. Only thing I can say is that the new comers focus on business rather than the music and culture of it. Meanwhile these new generation has been spoon feed the library of music but yet don’t understand it. I hope this culture doesn’t get swept under the rug or forgotten, yet it makes me feel that way at times but time will tell once we are not around anymore. Hope there are folks who will keep it through and keep it going. This culture is like jazz as time went on it got smaller to world. I may not be expressing myself correctly but it seems like you have to look harder now a days to see great talent that is not manipulated by business to destroy the art form.
Well said sir. I was born 1968 and seen the many changes (some are for the bad) in the culture. Social media has a big hand (or grip) on the way the art is supposed to be done. But I teach the new Djs that the root of the culture is there for you to learn and embrace. Bars and clubs are too busy with followers and distractions that the Artist is not able to preform to do their job. Even pick the music they are playing for the night. Hopefully the of the younger generation get to learn the roots before they plant the seed (musically speaking)
Peace and fortitude. In a crush to fame, the lame let the legacy lapse. Facts: The true wizards of future generations will shine the light, i.e. TL Cross. That dude is the lantern in the dark. The Hip Hop Museum is an unspeakable beauty. I have faith that the Culture will find its way. I have faith that a percentage of the lost and misinformed generation will be reclaimed. It’s always going to be a “Spit” in the movement, moving with ulterior motives. As long as WE, the overseers stay vigilant, it should be easy to expose those who exploit US!
100% Agree. Especially that last part about if your going to teach/ preach get your knowledge and teach n preach some of the foundational HISTORY. I have seen some influences give not so good advice about advanced scratching techniques while completing missing the rhythm of the beat. Like its being taught and widely accepted that in order to be “good” you have to be fast. Within my own personal journey I’m looking as to what I can do to give back to the culture. Not just djn, but hip-hop itself. Your work and teachings help steer me in the right direction. I’ve always felt EVERYONE should be able to experience the joy of scratching at least if not full on mixing. So how can I come up with an acoustic SKRATCH PAD For those in 3rd world countries that are curious. Cheap easy woth popsicle sitcks, tape, glue & sand paper with a fader to practice cuts n stabs. I have my prototype and just want to give it to the world to have once it’s finished. Not for sale, but for free knowledge. Thanks for being a beacon throughout this all!
100% Agree. Especially that last part about if your going to teach/ preach get your knowledge and teach n preach some of the foundational HISTORY. I have seen some influences give not so good advice about advanced scratching techniques while completing missing the rhythm of the beat. Like its being taught and widely accepted that in order to be “good” you have to be fast. Within my own personal journey I’m looking as to what I can do to give back to the culture. Not just djn, but hip-hop itself. Your work and teachings help steer me in the right direction. I’ve always felt EVERYONE should be able to experience the joy of scratching at least if not full on mixing. So how can I come up with an acoustic SKRATCH PAD For those in 3rd world countries that are curious. Cheap easy woth popsicle sitcks, tape, glue & sand paper with a fader to practice cuts n stabs. I have my prototype and just want to give it to the world to have once it’s finished. Not for sale, but for free knowledge. Thanks for being a beacon throughout this all!
You by far have been my hero and the one who has impacted me the most in Hip Hop and Turntablism, “As The Technic Spins” is more than a catch phrase to me. I appreciate your transparency and integrity in your words as sincere, truthful and genuine.
You have thru philosophy, practical application and practice by exploring new concepts and interpreting what you do is ground breaking!
Whenever you’re in top, the devil will come for you. How you choose to stand refines your character! Love you to life my brother and someday we will sit and chat so I can learn more from you, God willing…
X-Men Eternal! -1986-Present Day Student of Diamond Jay of EPMD
I sincerely appreciate the love you showed in our comment. Thank you!
Good, quick 5 minute read. Stay true to authentic self.
Always!
I remember as an 11 year old kid stealing meat from the grocery store to get a tape of a battle between Tony Tone and Cold Crush vs Grand Wizard Theodore and the Fantastic 5, from these dudes hanging out in the supermarket parking lot.
I started DJn in 1980 in Boston. There were crews with high tech equipment that weren’t as good as those of us who would push a shopping cart with a receiver and 10 house speakers to a battle. Then there were the rappers who said they weren’t rapping for money vs those who were accused of it.
Somewhere along the way There has been a migration from Underground to mainstream. I now own high tech equipment and everybody wants to get paid. Is it evolution of the culture or is it status quo? In any event, some maintain the essence of the culture and get paid while others have completely fell victim to the pursuit of a pay day. Peace to the ones who remain true.
Happy 50th to my first love, HIP HOP
Extremely well said! I would have to say that each day/week/month I get flooded with email after email of “DJs” emailing me something to sell me on how to improve my business, get more followers, book more events, etc. At first I was definitely intrigued, so I would check things out from time to time. But along my journey I started to wonder WHY would I listen to these guys, what are they really trying to do here…I’m not necessarily a better DJ than ALL of them I certainly still have a long way to go and that is one of the reasons I’m here but Rob you hit this out of the park when you said these guys are Influencers. So in my opinion, most of these guys could care less about the history of DJing (which I’ve learned a ton from Rob in these lessons btw), I would venture to say they aren’t concerned with doing things the right way but rather the fast way that gets them PAID and I know without paying an added fee they aren’t concerned with how I’m doing or progressing either. They are Influencers pretending to be DJ’s who are just looking to capitalize on others who are either want to be DJ’s, are new to DJing or come up with some new gimmick every month to sell them that will “help” them grow…So I stand with Rob…do it the right way…learn the history…if you understand where the art form came from it will help you on your path to becoming your own individual with your own style. So in a way it’s time for me to destroy and rebuild because if I focus on building the blocks the right way not the fast way I won’t sound like 90% of the other DJ’s out there who pattern themselves off these “DJ’s” and will set myself apart. Thanks Rob for what you do, what you teach and for shining light on things that need to be addressed!
When I think about it. They didn’t have every technical move and obviously didn’t have the technology that’s out today. But that feeling of doing something new and creative. Challenging their minds to get what they wanted to see happen in front of them. Working out the mistakes or what they didn’t know. The feeling of being natural and original. I feel that way more personally. Thanks Rob for keeping that feeling and teaching us.
This attitude the new gen has now bleeds over into everything. DJing, and even how beatmakers dig for samples. They feel if you don’t do it how the thousand of new gen people do it, you’re old school or behind on the times. Everything is so cookie cutter from the way beats are made, to the MCs, and now even the DJs that it’s very disheartening. No one wants to stand on their own 2, and stand out. They’d rather do what everyone else is doing…