50 years of Hip Hop- How Come?

@ghasley

I moved to the East Village of NYC in 1972. For one year, I lived upstairs from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (where I got married 20 years later), where I met Miguel Pinero, Miguel Algarin, and many of the other founders of slam poetry, a closely related poetic and musical phenomenon.

I’m not a fan of Burt Bacharach, but I would never say that he’s not a great composer. It just sounds like muzak to me: why would I find “Close to You” interesting in 1972 sung by the Carpenters, when I was listening to David Crosby’s “Triad” in 1968, sung by Grace Slick?

Motown, the greatest soul that ever lived, along with the Philly Sound of Gamble and Huff, had at most a 15 year run. That entire period spanned my entire youth, even though I didn’t just listen to soul, I listened to everything, and knew all the groups from Creedance, the Mama’s and the Papa’s, to everything in between - You couldn’t miss it, for it was all over AM radio. The 60’s were far more than Psycho whatever, it was the most diverse period of music ever recorded.

That said, I still listen to my recording of Rapper’s Delight. Do you watch tv? The RD soundtrack, still some 53 years later, is used in several upscale fashion companies commercials that you would immediately recognize. Yes, hip hop still lives. Who doesn’t like Rappers Delight? I wasn’t into HH but a hit was a hit, and I still dug it!

@unreceivedogma, how can you say Burt Bacharach wasn’t a great composer? He only had every other hit on the radio throughout the 60’s. 
 

How many hits have you composed? How can you be so musically closed minded?

@perkri, Many in this group probably thought Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On was too radical to listen to. Hilarious indeed!

I’m not a fan of Burt Bacharach, but I would never say that he’s not a great composer.