John Richards

Our own Larry Mizell, Jr. was the host when Blue Scholars performed "Slick Watts" live in the Caffe Vita Bean Room at the 2010 Capitol Hill Block Party: www.youtube.com

The Seattle Symphony recognized artists who were inspired by or launched from Seattle. Among them was Sir Mix-A-Lot (born Anthony Ray in Seattle, WA). Watch him join the symphony for this version of "Posse on Broadway": www.youtube.com

The Mix-Up is the seventh studio album by Beastie Boys, released on June 26, 2007. The album consists entirely of instrumental performances and won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. : www.udiscovermusic.com

"Jam Master Jay" is an ode to Run-DMC's DJ, the late great Jam Master Jay. There hadn't been many dedications to DJs prior to this '84 hit. -- R.I.P., Jason Mizell, who was shot in his studio in 2002.: www.theguardian.com

This hip-hop-meets-dance track was written by the group's producer Hurby Azor (Hurby Luv Bug). Hurby Azor shares writing credits on this track with The Kinks frontman and main songwriter Ray Davies, as the opening lyrics to The Kinks third single "You Really Got Me" are used towards the end of "Push It." In 1989, this track was nominated for the first Grammy award for Best Rap Performance; however, the trio, along with fellow nominees LL Cool J, and DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (who won the award for "Parents Just Don't Understand"), boycotted the show because the award wasn't televised.

"Going Back to Cali" was composed by LL Cool J and his producer Rick Rubin. It begins with a sultry, jazzy sax solo, an unorthodox intro for a hip-hop song. "This was a strange one. I went out of my comfort zone" LL Cool J explained, saying that he never really liked the song. Rick Rubin came up with the basic concept of this song, since he was doing a lot of traveling between New York and California at the time. According to Rubin, LL was always asking him for concepts, since once the rapper had the basic idea, he could write about anything. -- The music video got a lot of airplay on MTV, probably more than any other black rap act to that point. It was directed by Ric Menello, who Rick Rubin had hired for the Beastie Boys videos "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn," which were wildly successful on MTV.: www.youtube.com

This Philadelphia hip-hop trio included rappers Oatie Kato (J. D'Angelo, the frontman), Madd (M. Stoyanoff-Williams, aka "the M-A-the-double-D"), and Swayzack (P. Shupe). No Glory is the second album by the Goats, released in 1994s. It was the group's final studio album. -- "Wake 'n' Bake" is played at 88 beats per minute. --

Toronto hip hop duo King Lou & Capitol Q (Dream Warriors) sampled Quincy Jones' 1962 "Soul Bossa Nova," which was also used as the theme music for the Austin Powers films and the television game show "Definition": vancouversignaturesounds.com

This song features Mark Nishita (Money Mark) on Rhodes, Farfisa, and Hohner clavinet. -- Here's a NPR feature on the musician: www.npr.org

Premiering Aug. 9, the new four-part docuseries "Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop" gets its title and theme from the 1989 Queen Latifah anthem (featuring Monie Love). The series honors women’s crucial role in shaping hip-hop, layering fresh perspectives on the issues they rap about, and, according to Netflix, “reinserting them into the canon where they belong: at the center, from Day 1 to present day.” Learn more about this series: www.netflix.com

"Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh / Greatness is in me, you can't make me feel less / Less hold, I'm not impressed / Best mode, got my afro like an empress." -- Zambia-born, Botswana-raised rapper Sampa Tembo won Best Hip Hop Release for her single "Final Form" at the ARIA Music Awards of 2019.: www.onestowatch.com

The production on "N.Y. State of Mind" (from Nas' classic debut album "Illmatic") is done by Chris Martin, known as DJ Premier, and samples two jazz tracks: “Mind Rain” by Joe Chambers and “Flight Time” by Donald Byrd, as well as vocal samples from Eric B. & Rakim’s track “Mahogany” for the song’s hook. -- Nas said, [“N.Y. State of Mind”] is one of my favorites, because that one painted a picture of the City like nobody else. I’m about eighteen when I’m saying that rhyme. I worked on that first album all my life, up until I was twenty, when it came out. I was a very young cat talking about it like a Vietnam veteran, talking like I’ve been through it all. That’s just how I felt around that time.

This love letter to NYC was also nominated for three Grammy Awards, winning both Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. -- The piano component that runs throughout the song contains a sample of the 1970 single "Love on a Two-Way Street", written by Burt Keyes and Sylvia Robinson, performed by The Moments See the official music video: www.youtube.com

This song and its video are a send-up of heavy metal music. The title is a play on "No Sleep 'til Hammersmith," the title of a 1981 Motörhead live album. -- In order to spoof a heavy metal song, the Beasties needed a heavy guitar riff. That came courtesy of Kerry King, the guitarist for Slayer. Producer Rick Rubin was working with both Slayer and the Beastie Boys (each group was signed to Rubin's Def Jam Records), so he had King come down the hall and put down a guitar part, which he played intentionally out of tune in parts. -- Oh, that's King pushing the gorilla off the stage in the video: www.youtube.com

On the all instrumental "The Mix-Up," Beastie Boys paid homage to all their influences: www.udiscovermusic.com

The original version of "Can I Kick It?" contains samples from Lou Reed’s 1972 classic “Walk on the Wild Side,” “Spinning Wheel” by Dr. Lonnie Smith and “Sunshower" by ‘70s pop group Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band.

Writing credit here is given to Attrell Cordes (Prince Be of P.M. Dawn) and Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet, as the song is built around samples of their 1983 hit "True," as well as samples from The Soul Searchers' "Ashley's Roachclip." The main drumbeat also samples from Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full". -- "In May of 1991, the Billboard album charts changed forever. That’s when Billboard stopped tabulating its charts by using phoned-in information from record stores and started depending on SoundScan, Nielsen’s electronic monitoring system, to figure out which albums sold the most. Suddenly, the magazine was able to use empirical data, and it’s a lot harder for record labels to manipulate empirical data....it can’t be a coincidence that the first #1 hit of the SoundScan era is also the first #1 single from a Black rap group. Before P.M. Dawn’s “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss” topped the Hot 100, the only #1 rap hits had come from crossover-minded white pop-rappers, Vanilla Ice and Marky Mark.: www.stereogum.com

Arrested Development frontman Speech, whose real name is Todd Thomas, wrote this first single off Arrested Development's debut album. -- The song samples the 1988 Prince song "Alphabet Street" - but only one word of it - "Tennessee". That word later cost Arrested Development $100,000 since the sample hadn't been cleared. -- “Take me to another place, take me to another land, make me forget all that hurts me, and help me understand your plan.” Here's the story behind this song: www.realrealitygossip.com

R.I.P., Dave Jolicoeur, aka Trugoy the Dove, who died earlier this year at age 54: www.nytimes.com

A Swedish rapper? Yes! Swedish singer Neneh Cherry forged a groundbreaking mix of genres in the late '80s that presaged the emergence of alternative rap and trip-hop. Released as a single in 1988 (from 1989's 'Raw Like Sushi'), Cherry said of "Buffalo Stance" that it refers to "an attitude you have to have in order to get by. It's not about fashion but about survival in inner cities and elsewhere." -- Here's a Pitchfork retrospective (thirty years later) on Cherry's great debut: pitchfork.com

The Amsterdam-based rock/rap collective Urban Dance Squad began in 1986, playing and jamming together on an informal basis. They played a gig at the Utrecht Festival and, surprised by the raves their performance drew, became a more serious project.: www.allmusic.com -- This song sampled multiple elements of Ray Barretto's 1968 "A Deeper Shade of Soul." Want to hear the original from the conga drummer, bandleader, and percussionist?: www.youtube.com

"Express Yourself" by N.W.A sampled Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band's "Express Yourself." -- MC Ren broke down the song for HipHopConnection in December of 1989: A lot of people can’t really deal with themselves I mean, they cuss at home and in public they’re somebody else. A lot of brothers wear the Africa medallions and the high top haircuts but they know s**t all about why they’re doing it, just that it looks good. Why not dig deeper and not just wear things because it’s fashionable. I’m not downing any race but I’ve got a track coming out soon called “Overnight Black Man” describing these people.

Ahhh...the Friday song. On the KEXP podcast "50 Years of Hip-Hop," KEXP’s DJ Supreme La Rock talks with the renowned DJ Hollywood, who was there when it all started in 1973.: www.kexp.org

Watch Run the Jewels performing live in the KEXP studio in 2017: www.youtube.com

This song samples Natural Four's 1974 "Try Love Again."

In the spring and summer of 2020, protests broke out across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police. In solidarity with the protesters, Public Enemy released a remix of “Fight the Power” that features Nas, Rapsody, Black Thought, Jahi, YG, and QuestLove. The performers rap about continuing resistance to systemic racism and racially motivated violence into the present day, drawing comparisons between events from the more distant past, such as the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, and recent acts of violence against African Americans. The rappers also draw strength from historical figures who fought oppression, such as Booker T. Washington, Toussaint Louverture, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines. They vow to keep fighting. As Nas raps in the first verse, “the next generation still singin’, ‘Fight the Power.’”: voices.pitt.edu

You must not miss the award-winning official video for "This Is America": www.youtube.com -- Here's a guide to the references in "This Is America": soundssobeautiful.net

This Kendrick Lamar & SZA track, "All the Stars" was released as the lead single to the soundtrack for the 2018 film, "Black Panther." Check out the video: youtu.be

Naughty by Nature is a Grammy Award-winning American hip hop trio from East Orange, New Jersey consisting of Treach, Vin Rock, and DJ Kay Gee. -- Treach announced on Tuesday that he's working on a solo album and responded to recent praise from Eminem. In a recent New York Times interview, Eminem revealed that he contemplated quitting after hearing Naughty By Nature's debut album. "I studied MCs who used multi-syllabic phrasing," he says. "I would gravitate to Lord Finesse, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Masta Ace, Redman and Special Ed. Treach from Naughty By Nature too. When that first Naughty By Nature album dropped, that whole summer I couldn't write a rap. I was so depressed, I thought I'd never be that good and I should just quit.": rockthebells.com

The Troubleneck Brothers (TNB), later known as 36Zero, were an American hip hop group from New York City, New York. Its members produced, arranged, recorded and mixed their own material. Here's a biography: hip-hop-music.fandom.com

"Many will also recognize the slow-rolling horns and barroom piano of "Woman to Woman," from Cocker's 1972 self-titled LP, as the unforgettable hook of 2Pac, Dr. Dre, and Roger Troutman's 1995 classic single "California Love." Pac wasn't the only artist to take this song's raw materials and turn something new out of it; indeed, the "Woman to Woman" sample has popped up in cuts from forgotten hip-hop acts as far and wide as Cleveland, Oakland, and Japan." Here are 9 times that "Woman to Woman" has been sampled: www.thefader.com

Hmmm.... sound familiar? From the fourth and last album released during 2Pac's life, "California Love" by 2Pac feat. Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman sampled Joe Cocker's "Woman to Woman". -- Here's the official video: www.youtube.com

The song, co-produced by Dr. Dre, features samples and interpolations from George Clinton's "Atomic Dog" with Snoop turning the "A-tom-ic Dog" chorus into "Snoop Dog-gy Dog." Snoop also lifts the "Bow, wow, wow, yippy-yo, yippy-yay" bit from "Atomic Dog," This song also features an interpolation from Parliament's "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" in its bridge.

One of the most influential rap albums of all time, 'Paid in Full' is the debut album of hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, released in 1987, ushering in hip-hop's modern era. Rakim basically invents modern lyrical technique over the course of "Paid in Full," with his complex internal rhymes, literate imagery, velvet-smooth flow, and unpredictable, off-the-beat rhythms.: www.allmusic.com -- Eric B was one of the first DJs to really incorporate James Brown. This song is an example, and shares the same title with the Brown-penned and produced song by Bobby Byrd.

On February 25, 1998, as singer Shawn Colvin approached the podium to retrieve her award for Song of the Year, ODB interrupted. "I went and bought me a outfit today that costed a lot of money today, nahmean 'cus I thought Wu-Tang was gonna win," he said. Decked out in a suit with a creme scarf and maroon overcoat, he uttered the words that forever become synonymous with the Wu. "I don't know how y'all see it, but when it comes to the children: Wu-Tang is for the children. We teach the children know what I mean? Puffy is good but Wu-Tang is the best.": rockthebells.com

"With their Wugazi mash-up project, Midwestern producers Cecil Otter and Swiss Andy paid sharp tribute to two iconic acts, punk titans Fugazi and hip-hop superheroes the Wu-Tang Clan." Here's a review of this album: thequietus.com

Cypress Hill is touring and will be at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland on Wednesday, October 18th.: cypresshill.com Cypress Hill sampled Manzel's "Midnight Theme" here. They also sampled Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?", Suicidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized", and Reading the Comics - July, 1945 by New York City mayor. Fiorello La Guardia.

"I like to rhyme, I like my beats funky I'm spunky. I like my oatmeal lumpy.." Are you sure that you know all the lyrics?: genius.com -- R.I.P., Shock G (Greg Jacobs) of the Digital Underground, who died in 2021 at the age of 57.:www.nytimes.com -- As his "alter ego," Humpty Hump, he perfected The Humpty Dance: www.youtube.com

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy was formed in 1990 by Michael Franti and Rono Tse. The band's name was derived in part from the phrase "The Disposable Heroes of Hypocrisy", used in some Socialist literature. -- Franti and Tse worked with Consolidated producer Mark Pistel to program the beats for “Hypocrisy.” Pistel’s production for Consolidated combined pop, industrial, and hip-hop. He ditched the pop influence for the Disposable Heroes, instead going for a Bomb Squad-meets-Ministry sound.: www.rapreviews.com

This song, like so many, many others, samples the drums in James Brown's "Funky Drummer," which has been sampled 1794 times at last count. -- Though “Mama” is used in the album’s title, it was actually LL’s grandmother who gave him the directive to knock out his critics. To date, the album has sold more than 2 million copies and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album also garnered LL Cool J the 1991 Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance.

Go here to purchase "Mushroom Jazz 5": markfarina.bandcamp.com

Here's the "Drunk History of "Rapper's Delight": www.youtube.com -- This NPR story of the "Rapper's Delight" origin is a little tamer than the Drunk History and, perhaps, more accurate: n.pr -- This song was added to the Library of Congress' National Registry in 2011: www.loc.gov