the brakes was curtis blow's biggest hit, selling 680,000 copies, hitting the top of rhythm and blues chart. >> as a young kid, running around with a local dj crew, i watched the transition from all the disco music that we used to play at all the block parties to slowly but surely hip hop taking over. >> the music underneath rapping is called scratching, process of using two turntables and mixer making new sounds out of already existing albums. >> the thing that gave life to music in the '80s for me was hip hop. because it took the sounds of the '60s and '70s and brought it to the forefront. ♪ no state of mind behind to the ways of man kind ♪ ♪ only god knows what you'll go through ♪ >> the message was the first hip-hop song that wasn't just a party song, it was talking about