HIP-HOP HISTORY MONTH: A CONVERSATION WITH FAB 5 FREDDY AND GRANDMIXER DXT

So much early Hip-Hop is under-documented, and no one is better equipped to help fill in the blanks than the man known as Fab 5 Freddy. The Hip-Hop icon is a treasure trove of experiences and connections, and for Hip Hop History Month, Freddy's sharing a conversation with GrandMixer DXT. The legendary deejay chops it up with Fab about DJ Kool Herc, taking Hip-Hop to Europe, the Roxy and DXT's reputation as one of the most innovative deejays of his generation.

"I like to remind people that this all started with the DJs," Freddy says. "People that figured out the technology to get the right turntables and a mixer and an amplifier and speakers, and then develop these skills to basically do things that really was the foundation that this whole thing was built on."

DXT's approach was "astonishing." Elevated the art of deejaying in the Bronx. Freddy saw DXT on the turntables and was blown away. And he saw how DXT became one of the most prominent downtown deejays; how his deejaying anchored the scene at the Roxy, which Fab credits for bringing people together from various backgrounds. And DXT was brilliant on the turntables.

"I knew the importance of what I was because no one else was doing that," DXT says. "No one else approached the turntables from a musician's standpoint. I wanted to demonstrate that this could go further than the basic deejaying skills we were seeing."

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