Hip Hop.. the whole
chemistry of that came from Jamaica... I was born in jamaica and I was
listening to American music in Jamaica.. My favorite artist was James
Brown. That's who inspired me.. A lot of the records I played was by
James Brown. When I came over here I just put it in the American style
and a perspective for them to dance to it. In Jamaica all you needed
was a drum and bass. So what I did here was go right to the 'yoke'.
I cut off all anticipation and played the beats. I'd find out where
the break in the record was at and prolong it and people would love
it. So I was giving them their own taste and beat percussion-wise..
cause my music is all about heavy bass...
How Did The early Hip Hop Scene Of The '70s Kick Off?
It started coming together as far as the gangs terrorizing a lot of
known discoteques back in the days. I had respect from some of the gang
members because they used to go to school with me.. There were the Savage
Skulls, Glory Stompers, Blue Diamaonds, Black Cats and Black Spades.
Guys knew me because I carried myself with respect and I respected them.
I respected everybody. I gave the women their respect. I never tried
to use my charisma to be conceited or anything like that. I played what
they liked and acknowledged their neighborhood when they came to my
party....I would hail my friends that I knew. People liked that... I'd
say things like..'There goes my mellow Coca La Roc in the house', 'There
goes my mellow Clark Kent in the house', 'There goes my mellow Timmy
Tim in the house'..'To my mellow Ricky D', 'To my mellow Bambaataa'..
People like that sort of acknowledgement when they heard it from a friend
at a party.
What were the early rhymes like?
Well the rhyming came about..because I liked playing lyrics that were
saying something. I figured people would pick it up by me playing those
records, but at the same time I would say something myself with a meaninful
message to it. I would say things like;
Ya rock and ya don't
stop
and this is the sounds of DJ Kool Herc and the Sound System and
you're listening to the sounds of what we call the Herculoids.
He was born in an orphanage
he fought like a slave
fu**in' up fa**ots all the Herculoids played
when it come to push come to shove
the Herculoids won't budge
The bass is so low you can't get under it
the high is so high you can't get over it
So in other words be with it..
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