In 1983, Kurtis Blow—who is the first rapper for a lot of things in Hip-Hop—covered ‘Right on! Focus Magazine’ for their Winter 1983 “How You Can Become A Rapper — RAP MUSIC” issue. The magazine cover also mentioned Grandmaster Flash, who released The Message a year before and the Hip-hop element “Breakdancing.”
Right On! Focus was an American teen magazine that focused on African American celebrities and was published from 1971 to 2011.
On September 19, 1980, Kurtis Blow played Madison Square Garden with Bob Marley and the Commodores. These dates were among the final sold out dates of Bob Marley’s Uprising Tour in 1980. Blow performed ‘The Breaks”, the first hip-hop single to go gold, which was also released that same year, to a sold out crowd of Reggae, Rap, and R&B fans.
Kurtis Blow recalls perform in a Stadium — opening up for Bob Marley.
Around an hour & 10 minutes into Ice-T‘s podcast, Kurtis Blow retold the story of him performing at Madison Square Garden in September, 1981. “Here I am, on tour with The Commodores, doin’ this ’80 Platinum Tour. We did 80 shows, big halls, 20,000 seaters, every show. So we get to go to New York,” explained Blow, who later performed with James Brown. “Mind you, we’ve been working with Cameo, we’ve been working with Stephanie Mills, we have all different type groups comin’ to join the tour. I’m definitely on every show” Kurtis Blow recalled trying to sell out the show and a promoter telling him, “‘There’s a guy, you might not know who he is, but I’ma tell you right now, you put him on the show, you gon’ sell out. He’s a Reggae guy; his name is Bob Marley.” Kurtis Blow continued, “So they put Bob Marley on the end of the show; we sold out. In just like five minutes, boom, sold out! We had to add two more shows; we had three nights. sold out Madison Square Garden. Kurtis Blow opening, Bob Marley and then The Commodores’
“So here I am, backstage, 20 years old, Madison Square Garden, top of the world. I’m backstage, standing next to Bern Nadette Stanis from ‘Good Times’ on my right, and Sarah Dash [of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebells] is on my left. Two cuties. So here we see a crowd of people on our left, in the corridor, a big mass of people moving towards us, slowly, walkin’. The crowd opens up, and a figure comes out, it’s Bob Marley! Bob Marley comes up straight to me, sticks out his hand and goes, ‘Kurtis, I like your stuff.’ He (Bob Marley) shakes my hand, and goes back into the crowd, and they walk.”
The second night at the Madison Square Garden, September 20, 1980, would be the second to last performance of Bob Marley’s life. September 23’s show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was Bob Marley’s first show. Marley lost a battle to cancer on May 11, 1981.
On April 10, 1981, the Village Voice published, ‘Physical Graffiti: Breaking Is Hard to Do’ by Sally Banes, the first major news article on B-Boying—also known as—breakdancing. Sally Banes was a dance critic for the Village Voice, the SoHo Weekly News and Dance Magazine.
Her article ‘Physical Graffiti: Breaking Is Hard to Do’ was reprinted in her book Writing Dancing in the age of Postmodernism. She wrote about how Breakdancing started in the Bronx and included Ken Swift and RSC who influenced more interests in B-Boying and Hip-Hop.
Kendrick Lamar‘s DUCKWORTH., the last song on his 2017 album DAMN. talks about Kendrick Lamar’s father, Kenny “Ducky” Duckworth, & Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, who Kendrick Lamar is signed to. The song is produced by 9th wonder.
In 1984 Anthony Tiffith robbed a KFC Kenny Duckworth was working, Top Dawg spared Kenny “Ducky” Duckworth’s life after taking a liking to him, when “Ducky” offered Top Dawg chicken. Years later, Anthony Tiffith would go on to start Top Dawg Ent. and unknowingly sign Duckworth’s son, Kendrick Lamar, to his first record deal.
Kendrick Lamar confirmed this on Howard Stern’s show.
“……and Top Dawg liked your father and did not rob the KFC because of your dad… and now you’re working with Top Dawg”
“True Story” Kendrick Lamar added
Kendrick Lamar also added that Top Dawg and his dad bring it up whenever they are around each other.
Marvin Young also known as Young MC, was the first solo Rapper to win a Grammy for his 1989 hit “Bust a Move” he was also the first rapper to have ‘Young’ in his name. Some rappers who have used “Young” in their name include Young Thug, Young Dolph, Young Scooter, Young MA and plenty more.
The Beastie Boys originally started out as a hardcord punk band and before they started making rap music. During the Madonna tour in 1985, The Beastie Boys used to open for themselves in disguise as a metal band called Triphammer and eventually they brought Trip Hammer on their Licensed to Ill tour.
Before joining the Beastie Boys, Adam Horovitz was in a punk band called The Young And Useless.
The Beastie Boys, which consisted of members, Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock, all originally wanted the title of their debut album to be called “Don’t Be a Faggot” but Columbia Records refused to release the album under this title, with obvious reasons. With pressure from the label to change the name, Russell Simmons, the Beastie Boys’ manager and head of Def Jam Records at the time and The Beastie Boys agreed on Licence To Ill, which was a pun on the James Bond film, License To Kill.
In 1999, Adam ‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitz issued a public apology for the album’s earlier title. “I would like to… formally apologize to the entire gay and lesbian community for the shitty and ignorant things we said on our first record, 1986’s Licensed to Ill. There are no excuses. But time has healed our stupidity… We hope that you’ll accept this long overdue apology.”
Before Christopher Lee Rios was known as Big Punisher or Big Pun for short, his first rap name was Big Moon Dawg. Big Pun’s rap name came from the comic book character Punisher. In 1989, Big Pun was performing under the name Big Moon Dawg, he formed a group called Full A Clips with Triple Seis, Prospect & Cuban Link. Big Pun was eventually discovered by Fat Joe and was featured on Fat Joe’s 1995 album Jealous One’s Envy. Big Pun’s debut studio album Capital Punishment was the first solo hip hop album by a Latino rapper to go platinum.
