3 B-Beats Bombarding Bronx: Mobile DJ Starts Something With Older R&B Disks and Jive Talking N.Y. DJs Rapping Away in Black Discos In two brief articles that were among the first reports on hip-hop in the music industry's primary trade magazine Billboard, Robert “Rocky” Ford, J. provides first-person accounts of the nascent DJ scene in the Bronx, The location and character of DJ and MC parties, as well as record stores selling the recorded material underiying the Ds’s work, are locally situated and Ford's reports rein- force the fact that, in 1978-79, there already existed a vibrant cultural infrastructure encom: passing nightclubs, independent record retail outlets, and audiences. Ford's articles served notice to the music industry that DJ and MC practices were thriving in New York's upper boroughs and although it took almost another five years for the major enter- tainment conglomerates to acknowledge hip-hop's cultural legitimacy and importance, black entrepreneurs in the Bronx, Harlem, Queens, and elsewhere nurtured an active scene. Ford's ‘observations reflect the extent to which hip-hop was already part of an entertainment and leisure economy and was, thus, a commercially-oriented phenomenon almost from the start. It is also interesting to note how the early MCs did not yet envision rapping as an end in itself but as a bridge to future endeavors in the broadcasting industry. B-Beats Bo Disks* < NEW YORK—A The store, wk obscure r&b ci Reynolds’ "Fruit Pride ‘The requests, buying the recor The demand { stairs has had to According to mobile DJ who playing long sets Other Bronx borough, and the Here, who has fascination with was too short so Since Here wa he started looki Here's intensi Rock.” The "73 tt Jamaican-based | Herc has also played ata faster the 331/, at whic Here thinks # today’s disco prc singing to get to1 Here hopes tt “Bongo Rock” ar clubs and dances "From Billboard, ju “From Billboard, }obile DJ ler R&B \.Y. DJs k Discos © industry's primary unts of the nascent ell as record stores Ford's reports rein- restructure encom- ices were thriving for the major enter- importance, black ctive scene. Ford's 1inment and leisure the start. It is also d in itself but as a B-Beats Bombarding Bronx: Mobile DJ Starts Something With Older R&B Disks* and Jive Talking N.Y. DJs Rapping Away in Black Discos** Robert Ford, Jr. NEW YORK—A funny thing has been happening at Downstairs Records here. ‘The store, which is the city's leading disco product retailer, has been getting calls for obscure r&b cutouts such as Dennis Coffy’s “Son of Scorpio,” on Sussex, Jeannie Reynolds’ "Fruit Song” on Casablanca, and the Incredible Bongo Band's “Bongo Rock” on Pride. The requests, for the most part, come from young black disco DJs from the Bronx who are buying the records just to play the 30 seconds or so of rhythm breaks that each disk contains. ‘The demand for these records, which the kids call B-beats, has gotten so great that Down- stairs has had to hire a young Bronxite, Elroy Meighan, to handl ‘According to Meighan the man responsible for this strange phenomenon is a 26-year old mobile DJ who is known in the Bronx as Kool Herc. It seems Herc rose to popularity by playing long sets of assorted rhythm breaks strung together. Other Bronx DJs have picked up the practice and now B-beats are the rage all over the borough, and the practice is spreading rapidly. Herc, who has been spinning for five years, says that his unique playing style grew from his fascination with one record, “Bongo Rock.” “The tune has a really great rhythm break but it ‘was too short so I had to look for other things to put with it” Herc relates. Since Here was not completely satisfied with the new disco product coming out atthe time, he started looking in cutout bins for tunes with good rhythm breaks. Herc’ intensive searching for tunes has now even come up with a new remake of “Bongo Rock.” The’73 tune has been covered by a group called the Arawak All-Stars on an apparently Jamaican-based label, Arswal Records. Here has also found that some of the rhythm breaks get better response when they are played at a faster speed. Herc plays tunes such as the Jeannie Reynolds record at 45 rather than the 331/, at which it was recorded. Herc thinks the popularity of B-beats stems from the kids’ dissatisfaction with much of today’s disco product. “On most records, people have to wait through a lot of strings and singing to get to the good part of the record,” Herc believes. “But I give it to them all up front.” Here hopes that some day he will be able to produce an entire B-beat album featuring “Bongo Rock” and other obscure numbers. Till then he plans to keep packing them in at the clubs and dances he works in the Bronx. "Prom Billboard, July 1, 1978, p. 65 **From Billboard, May 5, 1979, p. 3.42 © ROBERT FORD, JR. NEW YORK—Rapping DJs reminiscent of early r&b radio jocks such as Jocko and Dr. Jive are making an impressive comeback here—not in radio but in black discos where ajivey rap commands as much attention as the hottest new disk. Young DJs like Eddie Cheeba, DJ Hollywood, DJ Starski, and Kurtis Blow are attracting followings with their slick raps. All promote themselves with these snappy show business names. Many black disco promoters now use the rapping DJs to attract young fans to one-shot, promotions, and a combination of the more popular names have filled this city’s largest hotel ballrooms. ‘The young man credited with reviving the rapping habit inthis area is DJ Hollywood, who started gabbing along with records a few years ago while working his way through school as a disco Dj. Hollywood is now so popular that he has played the Apollo with billing as a support act. It is not uncommon to hear Hollywood's voice coming from one of the countless portable tape players carried through the city’s streets. Tapes of Hollywood's raps are considered valuable commodities by young blacks here. A close friend and disciple of Hollywood's, Eddie Checba, has been working as a mobile jock for five years and talking over the records for the last two. He now travels with an entire show, which includes seven female dancers and another DJ, Easy Gee, who does most of the actual spinning. Cheeba and his Cheeba Crew are now booked two months in advance. Cheeba says the rapping craze grew out of a need for something more than records. “These people go to discos every week and they need more than music to motivate them.” Cheba observes. “I not only play records, but I rap to them and they answer me.” Though they often work before crowds in the thousands, Cheeba and most of the popular rapping DJs do not get records from labels or from pools. Most of them buy their own product and do so without complaining, {As Dj Starski puts it, “Most of the records the labels send us won't go up there anyway, so P'd rather buy what I want.” Starski is one of the most popular DJs with high school and college age blacks in the Bronx and Manhattan, He has played almost every major black elub and ballroom in the area, He generally works with Cool DJ AJ, who does not rap but is a master of B-beats, B-Beats are series of short rhythm breaks strung together to sound like one song, Starski is proud of his ability to excite a crowd with his rapping. “I's a beautiful thing to see a dance floor full of people dancing to your music and answering your rap,” Starski says. Kurtis Blow, the most popular rapping DJ in Queens, hopes disco will be a springboard into broadcasting for him. Blow, a student at CCNY, has been working about a year and got his first break at the now defunct Small’s Paradise. Blow built a following at Small’s and is, now booked solid for weeks. Cheeba already had a shot at radio during a fill-in run last summer at Fordham’s WFUV- PM. ‘Study Questions. 1, What is the relationship between early hip-hip and disco? 2. What role did local record retail outiets play in early hip-hop? E 3. In what particular ways was rap commercialized in its emergent phase? The Nelson Geo Here, and Granc evolved while de ket conditions. ¢ al analysis of hi thetic innovatior early hip-hop sc Rap is a high ‘of new sonic for technologies, es cers, were investe nologies with ne performance ar: tions. In this int nity as nurturing first professiona