Today’s Hip-Hip has it’s own value but it has moved in a different direction from the “Good Times” of the old school where music, fun and friends were the center. It would be considered light-hearted by today’s standards.

Your latest mix takes me back to my earlier years on the radio. These were some the tunes we were mixing (not in this order– but you got some of the big hits). Listeners enjoyed our original mixes so much that record companies were starting to release their own remixes of certain hits on EPs (no CDs yet).

Believe it or not, there was a time when you could not hear Hip Hop on the radio. It was truly street music then. So, hearing rap on WBLS and WKTU (and later WKRS) in New York City was like winning the revolution!!

Fatback’s “King Tim III” (1979) and Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” (1979) were not as tough as what we were doing on the street– but it was our music our way!

Then there was Deborah Harry and Blondie referring to Grandmaster Flash (Joe Saddler, a REAL DJ, from the Bronx!) on “Rapture” (1980). So, brother, you were born right on time to catch the beginning of the wave as it inundated the radio waves.

Then mainstream R&B and pop artists started to bring club beats into their music. Like that hit by Shannon (Brenda Shannon Green, from Brooklyn!) “Let the Music Play” (1983). And of course, by the time Chaka Khan featured Mele Mel (Melvin Glover, a REAL MC, also from the Bronx!) on “I Feel For You” (1984), rap was unstoppable.

The original focus was on mixing and cutting the music (like what you are doing bro!) and rapping and MCing developed shortly thereafter. So you are keeping alive a vibrant tradition that dates back to the streets of Harlem and the Bronx almost 40 years ago.

Once again, thanks for keeping the legacy alive. Ken2Go!