True Random Thoughts


The fallacies in the above pic/meme (not yours, @SumSoonerChick ) defeat its humorous intent.

You don't have to listen to NPR to know that hip hop was born out of the NYC block parties popularized by immigrants from the Caribbean in the '70s. Using two turntables, DJ's extended dance grooves by repeating certain passages of songs. Soon, they were creating new dance mixes by sampling elements from various songs. All the while, DJs kept the party going with their own patois. At the end of the 70s, the market for this new musical entertainment exploded nationally with the record label signing of Curtis Blow and The Sugar Hill Gang. I was in the biz at the time and witnessed this first hand.

Kids who ain't got nothin' have a way. Just as doo wop kids on the corner had made musical waves decades earlier, groups of kids took to ad libbing rhymes over the beats others provided with their mouths. You didn't need a turntable, you didn't need to be a DJ to rap. Born out of hip hop, pure freeform rap took off. Soon, it dominated the genre. Musical production of the base layer of sound over which rappers delivered their rhymes became an art in and of itself. Producers born of this soon influenced other genres of popular music.

On "the wrong side of LA," a spontaneous bloom of rap artists exerted their own influence. "Lonzo" Williams was a DJ and club owner with his own house band. In the 80s, his club was a nexus for future rappers who would comprise N.W.A. They birthed the LA sound.

Of the old guard in the super bowl halftime show, Dr. Dre was once a member of Williams house band, World Class Wreckin' Cru and founding member of NWA. Dre was born in 1965. Snoop is 5 years younger and made his mark in the 90s.

Yes, I am a pasty-faced white fella. It just so happens that I was working in radio and music distribution in the late 70s and early 80s. I know this shizzle because I lived through it.
 

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