ON TEDDY RILEY’S BIRTHDAY, WE REFLECT ON SOME OF HIS ENDURING HITS. New Jack Swing technically turned 30 last year; that was the anniversary of the Village Voice article on then 20-year-old Teddy Riley in which Barry Michael Cooper (New Jack City, Above the Rim & Sugar Hill) coined the phrase (he told Riley, “You haveContinue reading “CELEBRATING THE KING OF NEW JACK SWING”
Monthly Archives: October 2018
THE GOLDEN AGE OF HIP-HOP TRILOGY
#MusicSermon’s three central sermons from hip-hop’s Golden Age (late 80s — early 90s) ARTIST: Madina Design In preface to this Sermonic Trilogy I need to echo a point made it one of the sermons below, as it’s a through-line through not just all three of these conversations, but a key aspect to the growth of hip-hop overall: rap musicContinue reading “THE GOLDEN AGE OF HIP-HOP TRILOGY”
THE GOLDEN ERA EMCEES
Building from our earlier conversations about the beginnings of Conscious Hip-Hop and Gangsta Rap, we go back to the foundational days of hip-hop to look at the emcees still heralded as most influential and/or legendary. RAKIM and BIG DADDY KANE Starting with the two mc’s who changed the game with their lyricism and flow. LL COOL JContinue reading “THE GOLDEN ERA EMCEES”
FOR US, BY US: How Fox’s Answer to ‘Must See TV’ Validated Hip-Hop Culture
Fox’s Thursday night programming showcased the hip-hop generation in a new and necessary way. Throughout the ’80s and into the late ’90s, NBC owned Thursday nights. From the days when the Huxtables were part of America’s collective extended family until five Friends hung out in Central Perk, the network’s “Must See TV” was the undisputedContinue reading “FOR US, BY US: How Fox’s Answer to ‘Must See TV’ Validated Hip-Hop Culture”