Day: July 10, 2014

In part one of our in-depth our interview with Young Guru, he talks with Nick Huff Baril about making the transition from being Jay Z engineer to teaching at USC. Along with talking about Hip Hop in academia, Guru addresses “Curators” in Hip Hop who don’t know the roots of the culture and haven’t even listened to KRS-One’s Criminal Minded album or a De La Soul album. Guru states that it’s important for people who know and care about the culture to teach it and preserve it. Guru states that Hip Hop is lucky that its forefathers are still around and that we should make sure to learn from them while they are still alive. Guru goes on to say that Hip Hop is not a color based thing and that there were early graffiti artists who were white and b-boys that were Latin that should not be left out of the Hip Hop history. He also points out that there is no denying that artists like The Bestie Boys, MC Search and more recently Macklemore are Hip Hop. Although Guru points out that some of Macklemore’s fan-base might not be up on the culture. Guru elaborates that Hip Hop is one of the few places that has realized Dr Martin Luther King’s dream where its not about the color of your skin but your skills. Part 1 of our interview ends with Guru distinguishing the difference between a beat maker and a producer. Stay tuned next week for part