Rapper speaks of Hip-hop roots [Funny or Sad]

The Lehigh University Brown & White ^ | 2/9/04 | Aliza Jennifer Zelin

[Gothmog]

Famed hip-hop artist Kris “KRS-One” Parker, who has 16 gold platinum records, spoke at Packard Laboratory about the history, influence and importance of the Hip-hop movement.

“Rap is something we do,” Parker said. “Hip-hop is something we live.”

The difference between the two is massive, Parker said. Hip-hop is a real consciousness that strives to establish health, love, awareness and wealth. Rap is something produced for pure entertainment.

The presentation of Hip-hop via television and radio only demonstrates the effects of the movement, Parker explained.

“This is not Hip-hop,” Parker said. “The cause and original essence of the movement, the thing that causes these effects, is the consciousness of Hip-hop.”

Most fans of Hip-hop do not know its true roots and are not aware of what was put into the movement that made it what it is today.

Parker participated in and fueled the Hip-hop movement. He describes his mottos as a result of the 35 years of experience he holds as a metaphysician. This is a philosophy he says he learned from his mother.

His philosophy, which he adopted at a very young age, revolves around concepts such as “keeping it real” and “having the courage to be you.” Hip-hop, Parker said, allows these concepts to thrive in people.

The beginning of Hip-hop, as Parker described it, flourished out of racism, integration and riots in the 1960s. He said the FBI was running counter-intelligence programs, attempting to stamp out all budding or existent social movements through assassinations and the distribution of heroin into black and Latino communities.

Meanwhile, at age seven, Parker and his friends were playing in a park in the Bronx listening to the empowering music of James Brown. It was in this park that children first began break dancing to the beats and needle-dropping of Cool DJ Herk, Parker said.

Parker said that as children come together to listen to this DJ and his music, they were united by a common feeling of oppression.

This new music that teens in the Bronx began dancing to in the afternoons was, as Parker said, the beginning of a movement that would be guiding youth and raising one’s self worth.

As new and different DJs entered the scene in the mid-1970s, each one brought with him an invention or style that furthered the progression of hip-hop to what it has become today, Parker said.

Joseph Sadler, a certified electrician living in the Bronx, heard this new music that was being blasted on every street corner. He rewired a toggle switch to an amplifier, which then allowed for smoother transitions between breaks in the record and the elimination of needle-dropping all together. As inventor of the mixer, Joseph Sadler soon became known as famed DJ Grandmaster Flash. Today this mixer is used by all DJs.

Parker used Grandmaster Flash’s anecdote to reinforce his philosophy that people must have the courage to be themselves.

“Even if it means getting kicked out of college, can you do it? Can you be you?” Parker said.

“It was an unexpected, uplifting, great experience,” Eddy Einbinder, ’05, said.

Kris Parker is involved in two organizations that help support his philosophy and the importance of hip-hop. The first is Human Education Against Lies, and the second is Temple of Hip-Hop, whose purpose is to define and teach Hip-hop and win victory over the streets.

[Gothmog]

OK, is it worse that this fool has 16 gold platinum records or that a University gave him a venue to spout this nonsense?

[Sacajaweau]

Rap is crap.

[bc2]

as far as I know, KRS-One and Grandmaster Flash came way before, and rejected the "gangsta rap" garbage that wrecked black youth culture of today.

Origional hip-hop was about parties, bettering yourself, struggling against poor inner city education, and advancing from the poverty of the ghetto.

Others can correct me if I'm wrong.

[DAPFE8900]

Totally have to agree with you..And well not all rap is bad..The old school is good, and that was before the gangsta crap..But now rap is just flat out garbage...

[laotzu]

Rap is angry disco.

[reagan_fanatic]

Rap is not music, it is trash.

[1stFreedom]

Rap is music. Remove the lyrics and you'd have a very difficult time convincing anyone that it isn't music.

People like you have a problem with the VOCAL STYLE. You may be better off saying rap isn't singing rather than rap isn't music.

[laotzu]

"..you'd have a very difficult time convincing anyone that it isn't music"

I'm convinced.

But, you see...there's the problem.

Rap has a problem with people like me.

Also:
There's nothing I enjoy more than hearing someone that calls themself Snoop-Diggy-Dawg, or Bitch-Masta-Ho, complain about how I am denying them their heritage.

Do you know the difference between a snow tire and a rapper?
The snow tire doesn't sing when you put chains on it.

[Gothmog]

Actually, according to the founding father:

"The beginning of Hip-hop, as Parker described it, flourished out of racism, integration and riots in the 1960s. He said the FBI was running counter-intelligence programs, attempting to stamp out all budding or existent social movements through assassinations and the distribution of heroin into black and Latino communities."

So Hip-hop was founded because the government was trying to kill and drug blacks and latinos. OK. Anyone got the lyrics to any old hip-hop songs that helped fight against the government program to destroy black and latino cultures?

Did former Sen. Pat Moynihan rap?

[Gothmog]

Rap isn't music or lyrical. It's hate speech to a beat.

[LisaMalia]

The first rap/hiphop song I ever heard was "Rappers Delight" in 1980. It had a real catchy beat. I remember it, because we had a neighbor at the apartment complex who played it over and over again. My daughter was a toddler, and we used to dance to it together....:)

That was way before rap turned into such a violent music genre. I still like some hiphop songs, just because I love anything that I can dance to.

That reminds me...anyone else remember the old Dick Clark rate-a-record? "It has a good beat, and you can dance to it"....

[Oschisms]

Now way back in the days when hip-hop began
With CoQue LaRock, Kool Herc, and then Bam
Beat boys ran to the latest jam
But when it got shot up they went home and said "Damn
There's got to be a better way to hear our music every day
Beat boys gettin blown away but comin outside anyway"
They tried again outside in Cedar Park
Power from a street light made the place dark
But yo, they didn't care, they turned it out
I know a few understand what I'm talkin about
Remember Bronx River rollin thick
With Kool DJ Red Alert and Chuck Chillout on the mix
When Afrika Islam was rockin the jams
And on the other side of town was a kid named Flash
Patterson and Millbrook projects
Casanova all over, ya couldn't stop it
The Nine Lives Crew, the Cypress Boys
The real Rock Steady takin out these toys
As odd as it looked, as wild as it seemed
I didn't hear a peep from a place called Queens
It was seventy-six, to 1980
The dreads in Brooklyn was crazy
You couldn't bring out your set with no hip-hop
Because the pistols would go...
So why don't you wise up, show all the people in the place that you are wack
Instead of tryna take out LL, you need to take your homeboys off the crack
Cos if you don't, well, then their nerves will become shot
And that would leave the job up to my own Scott LaRock
And he's from...

South Bronx, the South South Bronx (8X)

[WhiteGuy]

What a racist industry.................

When did you last hear of a polka band selling that number of records.

hip hop (funny name) is a trend...........

Polka is a way of life.

[Oschisms]

Fresh! For 1986, you suckas!

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

At the time, I thought Grandmaster Flash had a new & exciting sound. Who knew what it would morph into?

Sugarhill Gang/Funky Four +1/Run DMC/De La Soul bump!

[mountaineer]

the FBI was running counter-intelligence programs, attempting to stamp out all budding or existent social movements through assassinations and the distribution of heroin into black and Latino communities.

Yeah, something like that.

[Gothmog]

Sounds like a cry for help for escape from their own brothers, not a response to government 'crack downs,' but then I'm just quoting the expert (KRS).

"When Afrika Islam was rockin the jams."

A lot better came out of soul, R&B and jazz.

[freedomluvr1778]

Famed hip-hop artist Kris “KRS-One” Parker, who has 16 gold platinum records,

Interesting statement, considering that the RIAA website says he has 1 gold record.

LINK TO SEARCH ENGINE

[Gothmog]

A fraud on so many different levels, how surprising.

[freedomluvr1778]

Let me do state that I have found a few problems with RIAA and their search engine. RIAA officially certifies gold and platinum(Im not sure what this gold platinum nonsense is, I think they meant gold or platinum), but it sometimes seems wrong. Anyway, I'm quite sure KRS-One has not put out 16 records, let alone had them go gold or platinum. The way artists fudge about records sold is to include international sales. The problem is that there is not a recognized method of counting international sales from many countries, thus anyone can claim anything they want.