New York: Day Ten - Hip-hop At 50
I’m only ten days into this trip to New York and I’m already spoiled rotten. On stage at Rapmania in The Bronx is Chuck D and Flavour Flav of Public Enemy, together with Scorpio, Rahiem and Melle Mel of the Furious Five (the other two being Cowboy who is no longer with us and Kidd Creole, currently in jail for manslaughter though as protested by Chuck D here, many believe him to be innocent). I’m right at the front of the crowd and all I can think when they sing the line, “It’s like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going under” is how fitting it feels for the thick impenetrable mass of cameras, both professional and personal, blocking the stage for the community they’ve come here to celebrate. In fact at one point I feel I’ll never reconcile some of my concerns with Hip-hop’s many contradictions in time to actually just enjoy the day’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Thankfully by the end of the day, although mentally and physically exhausted, I’m left feeling eternally grateful for a once in a lifetime experience. There’s no place in the world I would rather be for this day, than right here in The Bronx.
It would take a little while to get that feeling though. I guess it makes sense that on this particular day, I'd be reflecting even more on what Hip hop means and where its at today. As Chuck and Flavor run through tracks like ‘Welcome To The Terrordome’ and ‘Fight The Power’ (backed up by the Furious 5 members, I mean this is pretty unreal stuff happening), I wonder what Chuck makes of the power Hip hop now has, and the many corporations and politicians it had to get into bed with to get there. I think about the sound for the event being provided by everyone's favourite philanthropic culture vultures Red Bull, and the various social media platforms that the sharks at ringside, still refusing to let the community behind see, are feeding with this particular spectacle. My brains a real kill joy at times, and to be fair, despite its rebellious tendencies, Hip hop has never been anti-capitalist. It’s long been a dance between community and commercialism and in the rest of the world, we owe our introduction and initial interpretation of Hip hop to commercial enterprises such as movies, magazines, television, record companies and advertising.
I step away from the stage. I've been sat down the whole time, but it's starting to get real ugly up front. The Bronx crowd are hot and frustrated at not being able to see anything. Promoter Dan Silk keeps trying to control the situation but it's some time before the photographers and film makers, both amateur and professional, begin to take notice.
I find shade from the blazing sun under a tree. I've always held that what happens on stage is less important than the effect it has on the crowd and i can hear just fine further back. Here many local families are less worried about the show, and are simply enjoying the chance to hang out and catch up with their neighbours.
Still, I continue to soak up the sounds of the many legendary MCs such as Kool Herc's original hype man Coke La Rock, Milk Dee, MC Shan (who sends out love to his good friend KRS One), Busy B, Sweet Tee, Nicky D, Freedom Williams, Chill Rob Gee and Blahzay Blahzay, who have all come out to support the Universal Hip hop Museum, the main organiser of this event, at Mill Pond Park, the future site of their new building.
To be fair the museum have a huge task ahead of them, so its easy to forgive the media circus if it helps them reach their goal, and theres no doubt at all that their intentions of making this free event all about the community which birthed the culture are genuine.
There's plenty more going on in the field too, breakers from as far afield as Taiwan and Japan are practicing on hot concrete, whilst community arts organisation, Thrive Collective, have some of their pioneering writers putting up pieces on boards there. Tats Cru and Lady Pink are two that I definitely recognise. I grab a free bottle of water and my most affordable meal yet from the Hip hop food truck before I realise it's getting late and I want to avoid the queues for the big Hip hop 50 show at Yankee Stadium.
Yankee Stadium is forever tied into Hip-hop myth. In 1977, the media misquoted a commentator there as saying “The Bronx is burning!” - an image which summarised the economic degradation of the district perfectly in people’s minds. It was indeed burning, even if those weren't his words. Landlords realised they could make more money from insurance than trying to constantly rent out and renovate their apartments. Much of the area had been reduced to charred rubble, it was a seriously grave time for the neighbourhood.
It was against his backdrop that Hip-hop was born, and the contrasting images of social ruin and creative epiphany, have been an intrinsic part of the culture ever since. Things have changed though. Tonight the stadium itself is the backdrop for the culture, and the rebuilt and seemingly regenerated area is out in force to celebrate their favourite vehicle of progress. The Bronx crowd far outnumber any of the other boroughs here tonight, and when local heroes step to the stage such as Remy Ma, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Fat Joe or his guests Peter Gunz and KRS One, it really shows. Locals had first dibs on some of the seats at a reduced rate, which feels really important. I’m two floors up and quite far back but I still paid around $200 for my ticket. I can’t even imagine how much people on the actual pitch paid.
At first I’m a little bummed out at how little I can see on stage. With the sound issues that mar the first couple of hours in particular. I’m left looking at tiny guys shouting indecipherable lyrics over beats I vaguely recognise. The dude who comes to sit next to me says nothing when I say hello, I begin to wonder if he’s some kind of white supremacist here to disrupt the show somehow. A little uncomfortable when we’re packed in together like rush hour sardines on the subway.
That was probably just paranoia from the thick cloud of weed smoke that surrounds our seats most of the night. Snoop Dogg would be proud of how stoned I am by the time he steps on stage later, simply from the second hand smoke of those around me. Turns out the guy was just really socially awkward. He warms a little as the crowd gets livelier during the ‘Pillars Of Hip-hop slot with Cold Crush Brothers (I finally get to see them), Coke La Rock, Busy Bee, Roxanne Shante, Kool Moe Dee, Sugarhill Gang and the Furious Five. By the time Havoc from Mobb Deep comes on he’s in full flow, rapping every word to “Shook Ones Pt II”. I show him respect for his passion, and he shows me the Prodigy tattoo on his arm (for any non hip hop heads reading this, no not the group). I could be here forever telling you about every show and how I couldn’t see it properly, so here’s a quick run through of the rest instead.
DJ wise there’s: Battlekat from LA who plays some much appreciated West Coast Bangers; Beastie Boys DJ and founding member of The Afros, DJ Hurricane; New Orleans legend Mannie Fresh and Atlanta’s DJ Drama repping for the Dirty South; Kid Capri; Clark Kent; and Juice Crew legend Marley Marl, who brings out Craig G, MC Shan and T.J. Swan with him, as well as their associate come hype man DJ Callie Ban who I know mostly from playing Welsh tracks on his radio show and also producing a couple of tracks for 4Dee, one of our very own Hip-hop veterans.
The biggest crowd response of the night was for an appearance by Derek Jeter, a Yankee legend, but being British I had to ask the guy next to me who he was. The rest of the rappers come from all over the East, West and South of the USA, there’s EPMD, Lupe Fiasco and Common both repping Chicago; Cam’ron; Ghostface Killa who brings on Inspectah Deck and Method Man; Lil Kim who brings on Lil Cease and represents the next generation with appearances from P Diddy’s son King Combs and young Brooklyn rapper Lola Brooke; Trina, T.I. and Little Wayne rep the South with a lot of love for them in the stadium, Lil Wayne also brings out Corey Gunz. Then for the West there’s both Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg. Snoop wins best selection of guest appearances for Hip-hop 50 with EPMD, Too Short, Scar Lip, DJ Hollywood and Wiz Khalifa all joining him, before he brings Doug E Fresh back on for something special.
I had though there might be beef between Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick earlier in the night as Doug introduced him but then disappeared before doing either ‘The Show’ or ‘Ladi Dadi’. That might well be the case still, but half way through Doug E Fresh and Snoop Dogg’s exclusive rendition of ‘Lodi Dodi’, Slick Rick comes in to finish off the verses with the original version. It was a truly epic moment
The most important thing to acknowledge with the whole night is exactly what I said earlier. What happens on stage is less important than the atmosphere it creates in the crowd. It doesn't matter whether I can see properly or not. Even those sound issues are largely forgivable, because the atmosphere in that crowd was utterly electric. Everybody singing and rapping along to the tracks, dancing together, reminiscing together and enjoying this unique moment together.
The crowd was the most mixed it’s been all week, with every age group represented properly, and a near 50/50 split between male and female. This is the feeling I’ve been waiting for. Not only are we here to celebrate the last 50 years of the culture, but we’re here to hand it over properly to the next generation. This feels like a love letter, and even though it’s not the necessarily the culture that everybody recognises from their youth, especially many of those outside of America. Even though the other elements of Hip-hop are barely represented - and I’ll address that in another post soon, it’s still a powerful marker for how big this whole Hip-hop thing has become. Made clearer by the proclamations and presentations that various local politicians bestow on Kool Herc and his sister Cindy Campbell throughout the night. Thanking them for kick starting the whole thing 50 years ago today. Its political posturing sure, but Grandmaster Flash got his flowers the other night so it’s heartwarming to see them getting their’s here. Of course Afrika Bambaata is conspicuous through his absence in all proceedings, but that’s another conversation for another day. I’ll let Hip-hop have it’s moment for now, it deserves it. Besides i’m not even done telling you about the night yet.
The event was largely put on by Live Nation and Mass Appeal, a multi media company founded by Nas, so I guessed correctly that despite not being on the line up, he’d show up at some point. I’d also caught a bit of a spoiler earlier that day when I walked past the stadium on my way to breakfast (shout out Cafe Royale) and heard Lauryn Hill soundchecking ‘If I Ruled The World’ and ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’. Sure enough she joined him on stage (on time), as did Kool G Rap, who made up for a poor performance in Paris a couple of months back by delivering an epic rendition of ‘Ill Street Blues’ as well as their collaboration ‘Fast Life’. It was an epic addition to the evening and just enough to satisfy a well worn crowd by the time they came on after midnight. Sadly a large percentage never made it to the actual headliners, Run DMC, and I have to admit I was one of them. I was totally shattered and despite being their last ever show, I’m not sure it could have quite beaten their hometown show in Queens last week, so I headed for bed. I’ve still got three days left in this city, and tomorrow i’m meant to be on a boat party til 4am. See you back here tomorrow and i’ll let you know if I make it.
