A large part of the disc jockeys' mystique and power is their resourcefulness in finding unknown or obscure records that can move a crowd. These rarities, white-label pre-releases, acetates, unreleased tapes or simply good songs which slipped through the net at the time they were released. Given the obvious difficulty of identifying tunes in the non-stop collages of the b boy style, the most creative DJs in the Bronx were able to build up strong local reputations as 'master of records' - the librarians of arcane and unpredicatable sounds that few could match. In time-honoured fashion their secrecy extended to soaking records in the bath to peel off the centre labels or giving records new names. Previously jealously guarded lists, emerging gradually at the beginning of 1984, make bizarre reading. [Afrika] Bambaataa was one of the most outrageous:

"The Bronx wasn't really into radio music no more. It was an anti-disco movement. Like you had a lot of new wavers and other people coming out and saying, 'Disco Sucks'. Well, the same thing with hip hop, 'cause they was against the disco that was being played on the radio. Everybody wanted the funky style that Kool Herc was playing. Myself, I was always a records collector and when I heard this DJ, I said, 'Oh, I got records like that.' I started digging in my collection."

"When I came on the scene after him I built in other types of records and I started getting a name for master of records. I started playing all forms of music. Myself, I used to play the weirdest stuff at a party. Everybody just thought I was crazy. When everybody was going crazy I would throw a commercial on to cool them out - I'd throw on The Pink Panther theme for everbody who thought they was cool like the Pink Panther, and then I would play 'Honky Tonk Woman' by The Rolling Stones and just keep that beat going. I'd play something from metal rock records like Grand Funk Railroad. 'Inside Looking Out' is just the bass and drumming...rrrrrmmmmmmmmmm... and everybody starts freaking out."

"I used to like to catch the people who'd say, 'I don't like rock. I don't like Latin.' I'd throw on Mick Jagger - you'd see the blacks and the Spanish just throwing down, dancing crazy. I'd say, 'I thought you said you didn't like rock.' They'd say, 'Get out of here.' I'd say, 'Well, you just danced to the Rolling Stones.' 'You're kidding!'

"I'd throw on Seargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' - just that drum part. One, two, three, BAM - and they'd be screaming and partying. I'd throw on The Monkees, 'Mary Mary' - just the beat part where they'd go 'Mary Mary, where are you going?' - and they'd start going crazy. I'd say, 'You just danced to The Monkees'. I'd like to catch people who categorize records."

Through listening to the type of records that were popular in the beginnings of hip hop (and have remained popular) it becomes easier to understand how the better-known aspects of the culture - rapping scratching, beat-box music - came to evolve.

SOURCE

Rap Attack 3
David Toop
$15.40