Bristol represents the Old Skool!

Even if you've never heard of my home town of Bristol, UK you'll know that there's love for hip hop when promoters bring the The Furious 5 and Kurtis Blow to town.

That's what's happening in March 2010! Ok, it may not be all the lights and lasers that accompanies a Jay-Z show, but it'll be a trip back in history that every rapper since the 1980s will recognise and respect.

Kurtis Blow was big, but Grandmaster Flash and The Furious 5 were just gritty and real...still to this day. Imagine...Melle Mel still representing hip hop for the love of it?! In 2007 Grandmaster Flash and The Furious 5 entered the "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame" (later joined by Run-DMC.) If you missed that bit of hip hop trivia watch the videos below that put you right in the centre of that historic moment! Serious old skool, right there!



Grandmaster Flash and The Furious 5 tunes of note:

"Flash to the Beat" (my fave from 1979!! Check the beats below!)
"Superrappin’" (on Enjoy in 1979)
"Freedom" (on Sugarhill in 1980)
"Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (1981)
"The Message" (1982)

“'The Message' was [the first record] to prove that rap could become the inner city’s voice, as well as its choice.” This slice of unvarnished social realism sold half a million copies in a month, topped numerous critics’ and magazines’ lists of best singles for 1982, and cemented Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s place in hip-hop’s vanguard. “I ask myself to this day, ‘Why do people want to hear this?’” Grandmaster Flash wondered of “The Message” in 1988. “But it’s the only lyric-pictorial record that could be called ‘How Urban America Lived.’” Rolling Stone

Bronx Park Jam...Kool D.J. A.J. Scratch

"Tools of War" host a series of park jams to recreate the hip hop vibe from the 80s. As I rolled into New York on the redeye DJ AJ Scratch (Kurtis Blow's D.J.) was billed to spin alongside Popmaster Fabel of the Rock Steady Crew in the South Bronx St. Ann's Park.



I passed through with my cameras and watched the breaking, the DJing and a tribute to Michael Jackson (shocking news of his death came through that evening.) Seeing AJ spin some classic jams was cool, even though he's rusty and didn't stray far from "The Ultimate Breaks and Beats" catalog.

Black Spades Real old skool heads turn up at these jams. This was one of the smaller ones, but Jazzy Jay was there. GrandMaster Caz was on the mic. And, also the Black Spades community group. The same infamous Black Spades gang of the south Bronx that Afrika Bambaataa was a member of. According to the "Beat This: A Hip Hop History" documentary series, watching Michael Caine in the film "Zulu" was the inspiration Bambaataa to creating the "Zulu Nation" as a organization to uplift the youth out of the despair they lived every day, using hip hop as its messenger.

Thanks to Christie Z. for organizing these park jams and keeping the vibe alive!

Worldwide Today, the Zulu Nation has spread worldwide with chapters in Belgium, France, Sydney, Tokyo and the UK, amongst others. I still remember the London chapter was run by a guy named Dapo. There was an air of exclusivity and no one I knew was a member which meant there seemed to be some some anamosity towards the Nation from regular b-boys.

Kurtis Blow leads the old skool to Europe!

Remember that I think that the center of the hip hop universe might actually be in Nottingham, UK?! Well, here's something showing Europe is keeping old skool hip hop alive (once again).

I got a message from Kurtis Blow informing his fans that he, The Original Sugar Hill Gang, Grandmaster Mele Mel and Grandwizard Theodore are all together (probably never before seen) on a concert tour that takes them across Italy, Germany and the other hip hop capitals in Europe, including France. Gotta love French hip hop!

Starting this Wednesday in Rome, Italy and ending at the end of the month in Cologne, Germany! That's gonna be special. The highlight for me has to be The Sugar Hill Gang and Melle Mel. I've never seen The Sugar Hill Gang, but the last time I saw Melle Mel was in New York at the New Music Seminar (1988). He was a judge for the MC battle and was pissed after battling (and losing to) the new MC champ, Mikey D (of the LA Posse). That didn't stop him taking the NMS title belt and storming out of the venue. He's kinda hyper!

For more info on the gig go check this website.