anthony: how does the joke begin? three men in a bar? but it s not a bar. imagine the bronx a corner bodega, or maybe a luncheonette, a diner, three men, strictly by coincidence, find themselves in the same place at the same time. sitting at the counter is afrika bambaataa. across the room is melle mel. door opens, and who walks in? dj kool herc. three men who created the musical style that s become the soundtrack to, well, the whole wide world. do they all nod at each other? lament how all of them got screwed over, cut out of the big money? or just laugh at the absurdity of it all? hip-hop it came from nowhere else. it could have come from nowhere else but the bronx. i took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha, la, la, la, la, la, sha, la, la, la, la, la, sha, la, la, la, la, la, sha, la, la, la, la anthony: this is the br
wrote and recorded the message, an album that was a complete and groundbreaking departure from the kind of lyrics and content up to that point. melle mel: before we started doing hip-hop music, there was no hip-hop music, so we played everything. we played disco, we played reggae, we played rock. we watched hee haw. that was, like, the favorite in our house, that was one of the favorite shows, hee haw, you know? and all of those things, kind of, became the components of what became hip-hop music. [ melle mel ] from the poor man s range of the burning sand here i stand my weapon is a mic in my hand and though i strive to be the strongest man alive y all sold out quicker than the iphone 5 melle mel: i started out as a break-dancer, so i used to break dance. you know, my brother used to, you know, do graffiti. he used to go out, so all in all of those individual elements, it wasn t really happening anywhere else. so, it was just something that could, could only
no hip-hop music, so we played everything. we played disco, we played reggae, we played rock. we watched hee haw. that was, like, the favorite in our house, that was one of the favorite shows, hee haw, you know? and all of those things, kind of, became the components of what became hip-hop music. [ melle mel ] from the poor man s range of the burning sand here i stand my weapon is a mic in my hand and though i strive to be the strongest man alive y all sold out quicker than the iphone 5 melle mel: i started out as a break-dancer, so i used to break dance. you know, my brother used to, you know, do graffiti. he used to go out, so all in all of those individual elements, it wasn t really happening anywhere else. so, it was just something that could, could only have went on right in that area in the bronx. anthony: yeah okay, you may be thinking, what about the sugarhill gang? what about them? they were an industry band like the monkees or the archies, built to
that was, like, the favorite in our house, that was one of the favorite shows, hee haw, you know? and all of those things, kind of, became the components of what became hip-hop music. [ melle mel ] from the poor man s range of the burning sand here i stand my weapon is a mic in my hand and though i strive to be the strongest man alive y all sold out quicker than the iphone 5 melle mel: i started out as a break-dancer, so i used to break dance. you know, my brother used to, you know, do graffiti. he used to go out, so all in all of those individual elements, it wasn t really happening anywhere else. so, it was just something that could, could only have went on right in that area in the bronx. anthony: yeah okay, you may be thinking, what about the sugarhill gang? what about them? they were an industry band like the monkees or the archies, built to cash in quick on what was seen as a fad. and they did cash in. anthony: where were you when you suddenly realized
here i stand my weapon is a mic in my hand and though i strive to be the strongest man alive y all sold out quicker than the iphone 5 melle mel: i started out as a break-dancer, so i used to break dance. you know, my brother used to, you know, do graffiti. he used to go out, so all in all of those individual elements, it wasn t really happening anywhere else. so, it was just something that could, could only have went on right in that area in the bronx. anthony: yeah okay, you may be thinking, what about the sugarhill gang? what about them? they were an industry band like the monkees or the archies, built to cash in quick on what was seen as a fad. and they did cash in. anthony: where were you when you suddenly realized, holy shit there s there s money in this! melle mel: well, that first record i ever heard was king tim iii. the second and the most popular record was rappers delight. i used to live on the fifth floor walkup. i walked out, somebody was pl