It’s often forgotten that, in the early days of Hip-Hop and Rap music’s growing influence, the first places it spread to were New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. To paraphrase a famous quote from James Baldwin: to be a Black or Latinx Bostonian in this country and to be relatively conscious is to live in a state of frustration almost all the time.

Among the first prominent Rap music producers beginning in 1979 were Bostonians Arthur Baker, and his fellow Boston Funk All Stars, Maurice Starr and Michael Jonzun of Jonzun Crew. They served as the in-house producers for Tom Silverman’s Tommy Boy Records while running their own labels Streetwise Records and Boston International Records.

These Bostonian beatmakers were so in-demand that at one point, Sylvia Robinson at Sugar Hill Records hired Maurice Starr and Michael Jonzun to produce several crucial records for the label during the early ‘80s. They ultimately used their earnings from Sugar Hill to build the studio they recorded New Edition’s Candy Girl album in, while releasing the first LP on Tommy Boy as Jonzun Crew. Arthur Baker produced countless hits for Tommy Boy, including “Jazzy Sensation”, “Planet Rock”, and “Play At Your Own Risk” for Boston’s own Planet Patrol.

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