Hip Hop’s Origin Story, Told by the Legends Who Lived It
Kurtis Blow, Rev Run and Roxanne Shanté look back on hip hop's early days at a Paid in Full tribute to Blow, covering the Bronx of the 1970s, disco roots, and Blow's mentorship of a young Run.
The gist
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Kurtis Blow says hip hop grew out of the burning Bronx of the 1970s, built from nothing and first called rocking, breaking, burning or partying.
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Blow calls hip hop a mutation of disco, or ghetto disco, and says a fake ID at 16 let him study every New York club's DJ style.
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Blow won Russell Simmons over at a 150-person Harlem house party by rocking Good Times, and advises building a track record in smaller markets first.
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Rev Run says Blow paid him $35 a show as his teenage DJ, money he used to buy Quantas turntables because he couldn't afford Technics.
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The host says he remade If I Ruled the World with Lauryn Hill, and Blow says he told Sony it would go double platinum, which it did.
"When he came in, I said, all right, let's go. Right? And we threw on Good Times. Oh my gosh. And so, I rocked the Good Times for Russell and we became friends."
▶ Play at 10:49"You used to give me $35 a show, which was a billion dollars back then, and I bought some Quantas. I wasn't able to get the Technics. Remember the Quantas? And I used to DJ and I got real fast."
▶ Play at 14:06What they recommend · 2 picks
"When he came in, I said, all right, let's go. Right? And we threw on Good Times. Oh my gosh. And so, I rocked the Good Times for Russell and we became friends."
"You used to give me $35 a show, which was a billion dollars back then, and I bought some Quantas. I wasn't able to get the Technics. Remember the Quantas? And I used to DJ and I..."
Kurtis Blow
1 pick · guest
"When he came in, I said, all right, let's go. Right? And we threw on Good Times. Oh my gosh. And so, I rocked the Good Times for Russell and we became friends."
Rev Run
1 pick · guest
"You used to give me $35 a show, which was a billion dollars back then, and I bought some Quantas. I wasn't able to get the Technics. Remember the Quantas? And I used to DJ and I..."
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