Old-school hip hop is the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music. It typically refers to music created around 1979 to 1983.
Fred Brathwaite, more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, and hip hop pioneer. He emerged in New York's downtown underground creative scene in the late 1970s as a camera operator and a regular guest on Glenn O'Brien's public access cable show TV Party. There he met Chris Stein and Debbie Harry. He was immortalized in 1981 when Harry rapped on the Blondie song "Rapture" that "Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly." In the late 1980s, Fab 5 Freddy became the first host of the groundbreaking and first internationally telecast hip-hop music video show Yo! MTV Raps.
Theodore Livingston, better known as Grand Wizzard Theodore, is an American hip hop DJ. He is widely credited as the inventor of the scratching technique. In addition to scratching, he gained credibility for his mastery of needle drops and other techniques which he invented or perfected.
Brand Nubian is an American hip hop group from New Rochelle, New York, composed of three emcees: Grand Puba, Sadat X and Lord Jamar, and formerly two DJs: DJ Alamo and DJ Sincere. Their debut studio album, One for All (1990), is one of the most popular and acclaimed alternative hip hop albums of the 1990s, known for socially conscious and political lyrics inspired by the teachings of The Nation of Gods and Earths. In 2008, About.com placed the group on its list of the 25 Greatest Rap Groups of All Time.
Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two records simultaneously.
Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating new music, sound effects, mixes and other creative sounds and beats, typically by using two or more turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into a PA system for live events and/or broadcasting equipment so that a wider audience can hear the turntablist's music. Turntablists manipulate records on a turntable by moving the record with their hand to cue the stylus to exact points on a record, and by touching or moving the platter or record to stop, slow down, speed up or, spin the record backwards, or moving the turntable platter back and forth, all while using a DJ mixer's crossfader control and the mixer's gain and equalization controls to adjust the sound and level of each turntable. Turntablists typically use two or more turntables and headphones to cue up desired start points on different records.
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece. A break is usually interpolated between sections of a song, to provide a sense of anticipation, signal the start of a new section, or create variety in the arrangement.
Wild Style is a 1982 American hip hop film directed and produced by Charlie Ahearn. Released theatrically first in the United States on September 17, 1982 and in West Germany on November 4, 1983 by First Run Features, Wild Style regarded as the first hip hop motion picture. The film included seminal figures such as Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, The Rock Steady Crew, The Cold Crush Brothers, Queen Lisa Lee of Zulu Nation, Grandmaster Flash and ZEPHYR. The protagonist "Zoro" is played by New York graffiti artist "Lee" George Quiñones. The film was later released on home video by Rhino Home Video in 1997. In 2007, it was released on DVD for the 25th anniversary. A 30th anniversary collector's edition was released on Blu-ray in 2012.
The Cold Crush Brothers are an American hip hop group that formed in 1978 in the Bronx, New York City. They were especially known for their memorable routines which included harmonies, melodies and stage-stomping performances. The Cold Crush Brothers still perform across the United States.
Scratch is a 2001 documentary film, directed and edited by Doug Pray. The film explores the world of the hip-hop DJ from the birth of hip-hop when pioneering DJs began extending breaks on records, to the invention of scratching and beat juggling, to the more recent explosion of turntablism. Throughout the documentary, many artists explain how they were introduced to hip-hop while providing stories of their personal experiences.
Hideaki Ishi, better known by his stage name DJ Krush, is a record producer and DJ. He is known for his atmospheric instrumental production which incorporates sound elements from nature and extensive use of jazz and soul samples.
"No Exit" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie. It was the title track from their seventh studio album in 1999 and was released as a single in Europe, but not the US.
Neighborhood Watch is the third album from West Coast hip hop group Dilated Peoples and was released in 2004. The album was not as acclaimed as their past releases, The Platform and Expansion Team, and was not able to push a significant number of units, despite having the group's first Billboard Hot 100 hit in the Kanye West-assisted "This Way". The album also features the singles "Marathon" and "Poisonous", as well as the DJ showcase "DJ Babu in Deep Concentration", an ode to Gang Starr's 1989 track "DJ Premier in Deep Concentration". "Who's Who" was used in two video games SSX 3 and Need for Speed: Underground.
Scratch is the soundtrack to the 2001 documentary Scratch directed by Doug Pray. Scratch examines cultural and historical perspectives on the birth and evolution of hip-hop disc jockeys (DJs), scratching and turntablism and includes interviews with some of hip-hop's most famous and respected DJs.
Afrika Bambaataa is an American disc jockey, rapper, songwriter and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing. Through his co-opting of the street gang the Black Spades into the music and culture-oriented Universal Zulu Nation, he has helped spread hip hop culture throughout the world. On May 6, 2016, Bambaataa left his position as head of The Zulu Nation due to multiple child sexual abuse allegations dating as far back as the 1970s.
Joseph Saddler, popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is an American DJ and rapper. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of hip hop DJing, cutting, scratching and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first hip hop act to be honored. In 2019 he won the Polar Music Prize.
Curtis Brown, better known by the stage name Grandmaster Caz or Casanova Fly, is an American rapper, songwriter, and DJ. He currently works as a celebrity tour guide for Hush Hip Hop Tours, a hip-hop cultural sightseeing tour company in New York City, and is a board member of The Kennedy Center's Hip-Hop Council, Hip-Hop Ambassador and board member for Windows of HipHop and CEO of GMC Entertainment Inc.
5 Deadly Venoms of Brooklyn is a mixtape created by five New York City DJs, P.F. Cuttin', Mister Cee, Tony Touch, DJ Premier and Evil Dee. The mixtape was recorded in 1997 and released by Tape Kingz on cassette tape. The name of the album is a reference to a well-known kung-fu movie Five Deadly Venoms.
"Erase Racism" is the second single from American hip hop duo Kool G Rap & DJ Polo's 1990 album Wanted: Dead or Alive, featuring Big Daddy Kane and Biz Markie. Released as a single with "Wanted: Dead or Alive" as a B-side, it was later also featured on the compilation albums The Best of Cold Chillin' (2000) and Street Stories: The Best of Kool G Rap & DJ Polo (2013).
The music of the Samurai Champloo anime series was created by a group of producers: Japanese hip-hop producer Tsutchie of the rap group Shakkazombie, American hip-hop producer & emcee Fat Jon of the rap group Five Deez, Japanese hip-hop producer Nujabes, and Japanese DJ & production duo FORCE OF NATURE. The music genre is primarily instrumental hip-hop.
[1]