Kurtis Blow On The Birth Of Hip Hop, Evolution From The DJ To The MC [Video]

Legendary pioneer rapper Kurtis Blow spoke with VladTV about witnessing the start of hip-hop in New York, and how James Brown and other artists of the 60s and 70s were heavy influencers of the genre. He also detailed how he and his friends would go through their mother’s record stash in the 70s to search out specific funk songs to use for their b-boy songs.

During the conversation Kurtis also spoke about how DJs were initially the focal point of hip-hop, adding that emcees were a “dime a dozen” during this time. It wasn’t until Grandmaster Flash started developing modern hip-hop beats by extending the break and playing it on repeat for five minutes.

Check out more of what he had to say in the above clip, including how he’s trying to unite hip-hop churches around the world.

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