Hip Hop,The Descendant of the African American Liberation Struggle by Khalif ‘Ras’ Williams

When asking a Question in reference to Hip Hop and it’s connections to the African American Liberation struggle one must delve into not just African American history but African history to truly overstand the length of time and genius applied to our struggle for liberation:

Please click the link above to read this important piece of Hip Hop History.

UPDATE: Hip-Hop’s Founding Father Kool Herc No Longer Hospitalized, Still In Dire Need

For all donations to Kool Herc, send to: Kool Herc Productions PO Box 20472 Huntington Station, NY 11746

(AllHipHop News) Hip-Hop pioneer DJ Kool Herc has been released from a medical facility, but remains in need of financial aid to help with an unknown health condition.

“I just spoke to Kool Herc.he’s ok and in good spirits..but needs surgery..THIS TUESDAY at SUTRA..we’re gonna do a collection for him,” DJ Tony Touch tweeted earlier today.

According to Gangstarr’s DJ Premier, Kool Herc’s health is deteriorating and he is in need of monetary assistance, because he doesn’t have health insurance.

“Kool Herc is very sick,” DJ Premier revealed on his XM Satellite radio show Live From Headqcourterz. “For those that know about Hip-Hop, who we call the father of Hip-Hop, Kool Herc, is not doing well. It’s funny how we have a father of a culture that still lives, where as in some cultures they are dead and gone even though they may still be worshiped or reflected on in some kind of way.”

According to DJ Premier, he spoke to Herc, who revealed that he was in need of financial assistance because he didn’t have medical coverage.

Kool Herc, 55, is recognized by music historians as the Founding Father of Hip-Hop for his style of “Break” DJ’ing, which isolates the rhythm of a particular portion of a record.

He is credited for laying the foundation for the most popular genre of music in the world, after a party he hosted at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, in the South Bronx.

DJ Kool Herc is also a community activist who led a multi-year effort to prevent the sale of 1520 Sedgwick to greedy real estate speculators.

In September of 2010, the building received a $5.6 million dollar federal loan that halted the sale of the building, allowing hundreds of tenants to keep their homes.

Additionally, the  building has officially been recognized as the place Hip-Hop music during the party, which took place on August 11th, 1973.

“Being as though he is the man that set this whole culture off, y’all [the fans] should be willing any type of way you can.”

Don;t let a lack of health insurance lead to the loss of another one of our greats!!!! I remember when we lost my man Poetic from the Grave Diggers and Too Poetic fame. We lost J-Dilla and almost lost Phife Dawg as well. Let us come together in the name of those of our elders that need us. That is what Hip Hop Culture is ALL about!!!.

Ras~

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Happy Birthday, Hip-Hop

by Carter Maness

Pinpointing the actual birthday of a musical genre can be an inexact science. Did rock n’ roll really begin with Elvis‘ swinging hips or before that in nondescript blues-oriented jam sessions in the South? Where did the blues itself start? One of the reasons hip-hop is unique is that we basically agree on an exact moment of origin.

While it is sometimes contested, August 11 is widely believed to be hip-hop’s birthday. Today, in 1973, Kool Herc put together one of his famous soundsystems for his sister’s birthday party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. This wasn’t the first time that Herc attempted to DJ, but was certainly the moment that he displayed the genius move of putting the same record on two turntables simultaneously. One housed an original track, which he cut and flipped on rhythm. The other was just used for a song’s break beat — a move that accentuated the vocals on the first turntable and gave them a hard beat to navigate over.

“Kool Herc brought the idea of the Jamaican soundsystem to America,” says Marcus Reeves, a journalist and the author of ‘Somebody Scream! Rap Music’s Rise to Prominence in the Aftershock of Black Power.’ “His innovation was bringing the break beat to the sound of this new movement. He would just kind of drop a needle on the record, and just kind of go back and forth.”

It sounds simple enough, but what Herc did on August 11 was a completely new innovation in sound. It still forms the basis of the hip-hop we listen to, love, party to and argue about to this day.

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This was an editorial  piece I wrote in 2008 about Hip Hop and the Recession.

Hip Hop’s Role in the Recession:

The question on everyone’s mind is: How is Hip Hop doing during the recession? My take is Hip Hop being a culture and art form born from struggle it is struggle music and as such Hip Hop shouldn’t really be hurting too badly from the fiscal issues the country is facing. From the very beginning of the culture’s origins people have used Hip Hop as the sound track to their lives especially when going through tribulation and struggle. From Mel Melle’s White Lines to Black Moon’s Make Munne to Maino’s All the Above. What ever one’s struggle is whether it is the hood struggle to the corporate board room to fighters in the UFC we all have Hip Hop songs that carry us through to our destination mentally and spiritually long before we may get there in actuality. Hip Hop speaks the voice of the people it started with the have nots those considered a burden on the society by virtue of their lot in life, being born into poverty or those still considered undesirable because of their ethnicity or skin color. Today we have a President who is a denizen of the Hip Hop community, we have doctors, lawyers, sports figures, parents, children, soldiers, refugees, criminals, gang bangers, school kids, misguided youth, artists of all kinds and people from every walk of life that has an affinity for Hip Hop or are a part of the culture. The fact that Hip Hop has always been bold, aggressive and outspoken about the struggles of humanity whether self imposed by bad personal choices or society imposed by way of unaddressed issues within it. As it’s predecessors Jazz, Blues, R n B, Rock n Roll, Reggae and indigenous West African musical forms brought here by ancestors of African Americans Hip Hop will always tell the story of the people from the people’s point of view in the most compelling and unadulterated creatively expressive ways possible. So I encourage all to dig in the crates, go through our archives and raid our stash and get out our favorite hot tracks and be inspired from the prophets of our era. We can call this:

The Survival of the Fittest Picks- Background Music to your Daily Grind:

*For those who may be their wits end and coming up from the bottom by all means necessary the Mobb Deep street anthem Survival of the Fittest or Notorious B.I.G.’s Everyday Struggle is the song for your MP3 player.

*If you are in the corporate struggle and need a sound track to the ambition and take no prisoners attitude it takes to nab the top spot in the in the business world the Hip Hop equivalent to the Art of War by Sun Tzu is Road to the Riches by Kool G Rap.

*If you just lost your job and are trying to keep your head on straight in the midst of insurmountable turmoil Just to Get By by Talib Kweli is the song for you listen to. Whenever the pressure of life makes your legs buckle and you want to fall to your knees in desperation Stand Strong by Smif n Wessun is the Hip Hop helping hand to pick your soul back up.

*When the politicians have made decisions that are not to the benefit of the people or the cops have unnecessarily killed a another inner city resident and you are mad as hell then Rebel Without a Pause or Fight the Power by Public Enemy is the song to make you stand up and do something about it.

*If you’re an up and coming MC and need the dope on how to maintain your respect and artistic integrity while playing the game right, then the ATCQ anthem Show Business feat. Brand Nubian and Diamond is the joint to get your hands on.

*For graf artists who live for tagging and putting up modern day hieroglyphics then the music the throw up pieces to is the graf anthem Wrong Side of the Tracks by The Artifacts.

If you’re trying to get that gwap and stack chips and need that track to help you get that grip Gotta Get Mines by MC Breed Featuring Tupac is that one to get poppin.

These are just a few of my picks but each person with their own struggle has that group of Hip Hop gems to shine the light they need to get to the next day. Please feel free to post the Hip Hop songs that give you the tools you need to make everyday worth living.

By

Khalif ‘Ras’ Williams