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Latinos Have Played A Critical Role In Hip-Hop History. There’s No Debate

Last Friday (August 26) Fat Joe posted a video online that celebrated the contributions of Latino Hip-Hop pioneers. The slideshow acknowledged figures ranging from the Cold Crush Brothers' DJ Charlie Chase to DJ Disco Wiz to early producer/musician Pumpkin to The Fearless Four's Master O.C. and Tito. With the video,... Read more

Many Of Hip-Hop’s Greatest Rappers Name Their Top 5 MCs

Note: Jadakiss recently appeared on ESPN’s Jalen & Jacoby podcast and was asked who his top 5 Hip-Hop groups of all-time were. This article has been updated below with his response, as well as The Game’s top 5 LA Rap albums. A few days ago, during a podcast appearance, Ice... Read more

The Top MCs Of The 80s & 90s Were Graded By Kool Moe Dee

Kool Moe Dee cemented a reputation during the 1980s as one of Hip-Hop's elite MCs who said what he felt without concern. After putting in work with The Treacherous Three group, Moe Doe pivoted to the scene as a feared battle rapper. He took on Busy Bee at the Harlem... Read more

This Fast-Paced Documentary On 1977 NYC Shows Hip-Hop’s Playground (Video)

From The Get Down to The Deuce, 1970s New York City has become a recent beacon of pop culture inspiration. At the time, the Big Apple seemed defined by countercultures. Within the five boroughs, politics, sex, crime, and the fight for equal rights would help shape critical advancements in music,... Read more

One Train Operator Gives New Meaning To “South Bronx Subway Rap” (Video)

In the film soundtrack to Wild Style, Cold Crush Brothers MC Grandmaster Caz famously spit the "South Bronx Rap." That classic track was later used for Nas' Illmatic intro and countless other places. While much has changed in New York City since the early 1980s, the relationship between subway trains... Read more

Bumpy Knuckles Salutes ’70s & Early ’80s Rap Pioneers On A Nottz Track (Audio)

Bumpy Knuckles (aka Freddie Foxxx) released his first music in 1986. At the time, "Freddie C." was part of the Supreme Force. In that year, Hip-Hop and Rap music were transitioning. Run-D.M.C., Fat Boys, Whodini, and the Beastie Boys had stepped out bringing the album format and music videos to... Read more

The Story Of Hip-Hop’s Earliest Days Is Told By Its Pioneers (Video)

Fifteen years after the onset of Hip-Hop culture (August of 1973 is credited by many historians), Eric B. & Rakim's Paid In Full album took the elements of skillful rapping and DJ'ing and applied them to a materialistic, ambition-driven lifestyle that featured fashion, jewelry, and luxury cars. Even in that... Read more

Hear One Of The Earliest Rap Battles Ever Recorded From 1981 (Audio)

The Rap Battle has become a pop culture institution. The sport of two (or more MCs) competing has excited Hip-Hop culture since the art of rapping stepped to the front. Some of the most successful and acclaimed MCs began their careers through battling, and distinguished their legacies with combative moments... Read more

Melle Mel & Big Daddy Kane Vouch For Macklemore & Say Other Rappers Should “Hang Their Heads”

Throughout the last 10 days, a lot of attention has fallen upon Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Downtown." Already a video single from the Seattle, Washington, Grammy Award-winning, platinum act, the pair performed the song to open the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards two Sundays ago (August 30). Perhaps most pertinently,... Read more

Big Daddy Kane Defends Macklemore, Praises Inclusion Of Rap Pioneers

In 1994, Big Daddy Kane—a major label, gold-certified artist, appeared on the Treacherous Three's first album in a decade, Old School Flava. "We Wit' It" featured Kane, alongside Chuck D, Grandmaster Caz, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Heavy D, Tito, and the Treacherous Three lineup of Kool Moe Dee, Special K, and... Read more

The Cold Crush Brothers Defined MC’ing As We Know It. Hear Them Rock A 1982 Set (Audio)

The Cold Crush Brothers (a/k/a The Cold Crush IV) are an iconic Hip-Hop group. In the era leading up to first 12" singles, and later, full-length albums, founder DJ Tony Tone, Almighty Kay Gee, Dot-A-Rock, Grandmaster Caz, Supreme Easy A.D., Whipper Whip, DJ Charlie Chase, and other members in and... Read more

From Beats To Rhymes, Breakin’ To Graffiti, The Latino Contribution To Hip-Hop Is Explored (Audio)

One of the more anticipated pieces of Hip-Hop coverage over the last week was Latino USA's (an NPR-backed podcast show) "A Latino History Of Hip-Hop." As promised by video trailer, part 1 premiered yesterday (March 20), with part 2 reportedly coming online by late April. Producers Daisy Rosario and Marlon... Read more

This Is Real-Time Rap History: Grandmaster Caz Makes Peace With Big Bank Hank

Earlier this month, The Sugarhill Gang's Henry "Big Bank Hank" Jackson died after a bout with cancer. At 57 years old, Hank carried the honor of rapping on one of the genre's breakthrough records, 1979's "Rapper's Delight." However, Heads know that Hank was never a writer, and even down to... Read more

Rest In Peace To Sugarhill Gang’s Big Bank Hank

Henry Jackson, better known as Big Bank Hank of Rap pioneering group The Sugarhill Gang has died today (November 11). TMZ.com has reported that Hank's band-mates, Wonder Mike and Master Gee confirmed the news to the publication. Reports state that Hank died from complications of cancer, though details are limited.... Read more

Black Sheep’s Dres Claims Skills Ownership Alongside Some Hip-Hop Founding Fathers (Video)

Dres, of Black Sheep, who is now going by "Black Sheep Dres" gives the visual treatment to an all new cut from his solo efforts, "We Can All Share." Dres hosts a crew of cameos from Hip-Hop's Godfather, Kool Herc, as well as MC pioneers Grandmaster Caz (Cold Crush Brothers),... Read more

Episode 1 of The Message Documentary Speaks on Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, Run-D.M.C., LL Coo J & Much More (Full Video)

Episode 1 of BET's Hip-Hop documentary, The Message, covers roughly the first decade of Hip-Hop. It addresses pioneers like Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, LL Cool J, Run-D.M.C., Cold Crush Brothers and more. It also features several luminaries including Doug E Fresh, Fab 5 Freddy, Ice Cube, DJ Premier,... Read more

Everything That’s Great About The ’80s Comes To New Life In R.A. The Rugged Man’s Ill New Visual (Video)

Coming up in the mid-1980s New York City Hip-Hop era, R.A. The Rugged Man traveled from Long Island to Brooklyn to experience his favorite MCs. The friend of The Notorious B.I.G. and longtime collaborator of Havoc and Sadat X loved Hip-Hop's history, and collected tapes and studied flows. The 20-plus-year... Read more

Ever see the movie Wildstyle? It was the first hip-hop film ever.

While it was fiction, it plays almost like a documentary, transporting you back to 1983 for a look at the early days of hip-hop culture.  It covers all 4 elements of hip-hop culture, from DJing to MCing to Breaking and Graffiti, and features many of hip-hop's pioneers, including Busy Bee,... Read more