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Hip-Hop began to take shape during block parties in the Bronx, New York. Now, some of rap's pioneers and those who learned from them have come together to speak on the genres roots in the concrete jungle.
In the latest installment of iHeartPodcast's 50 Years of Hip-Hop, BX natives Fat Joe and Kid Capri join in on the conversation about the birth of Hip-Hop. Host Fab 5 Freddy kicks off the conversation by discussing Coke La Rock and Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc, who are credited for starting the trends that would establish Hip-Hop culture. Joey Crack and the iconic DJ chime in with their experiences growing up in the birthplace of Hip-Hop.
"At that time, there wasn't much gun violence and crack wasn't out just yet," Joe recalled. "It was really family-oriented. We were really, really poor but nobody knew what they was missing. Everybody protected each other coming into the Bronx. I mean, it looked like a war zone... it looked like they bombed the whole Bronx. The Bronx looked like Ukraine."
"If you went to the South Bronx, it was dangerous, very dangerous," Carpi explained. "and when you live in that, you're going to get crime because people had no way out. This is all they see. They wake up to this, they go to sleep to this everyday. All they know is that, they don't see nothing bigger."
Along with Joe and Capri, other guests like Peter Gunz, Grandmaster Caz, Russell Simmons, Grand Wizzard Theodore, Grand Mixer DXT and Grandmaster Flash also come through to share their stories of the early days of Hip-Hop. It's the second episode of the 50 Years of Hip-Hop podcast, which documents the creation of the genre with the legends who created it and made it into the historic style of music it is today.
Listen to the latest episode sponsored by Lee Jeans above.