From the archives: Hip-hop's early years with Grandmaster Flash, Queen Latifah, Ice-T and more

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, CBS News looks back at interviews with Grandmaster Flash, Run-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah and other notable artists.
#hiphop #music #archives
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[@Goatchild90]

When the host asked them "How do you rap about sneakers?" and Run & DMC break into "My Adidas" was one of the greatest moments I have ever seen

[@DateMike22]

Happy 50th anniversary to one of my favorite genres of music Hip-Hop 🎤.

[@visionarylast]

1967 was the start.. 56th year

[@Ronnie28067]

The True Golden years of Hip Hop!!!, it will be truly missed!

[@BJSteigner]

It's irreplaceable.

[@fordxbgtfalcon]

It’s history that should always be cherished and taught to the younger generations. The stuff they have now is total rubbish.

[@BJSteigner]

@@fordxbgtfalcon Today's talent is talentless. They didn't even read books on how to rap and such. The Golden Age never dies.

[@avatar-wc6jd]

But NOT FORGOTTEN DUDE👍🏾💯

[@christopherburke6504]

He had 2 and 4 turnovers now cross over yet

[@koolaid1982]

I LOVE EVERYTHING QUEEN LATIFAH WAS TALKING ABOUT

[@Oooo-bi7bi]

Thank you so much for the upload from a 49 year old northern English guy who was raised partly by Hip Hop. Ice , Chuck , Kris were my adult male role models.

[@BJSteigner]

I was born April 30th, 1973...So I am bit older. But hiphop will always be for me

[@andyhill2876]

1970 here NYC BRONX NY

[@BJSteigner]

@@andyhill2876 I will admit about one thing....Hiphop created many wars (battle raps)...But the war I am thinking of is the radio wars where 98.7 Kiss FM (WRKS) and WBLS were at each other's throats in the ratings.

[@andyhill2876]

@@BJSteigner I was there my brother Mount Vernon NY here the 80's grew up with Heavy D and Pete Rock what a great time for hip hop

[@BJSteigner]

@@andyhill2876 Run DMC was nearby...I only got to meet Darryl DMC McDaniels. I also got to meet Ed Lover and DJ Doctor Dre since they hung out with my late grandmother's next door neighbor. In 1993, I met KRS One who did a lecture at Williams College, Williamstown, MA and I have the promo album (Return Of The Boom Bap).

[@druzo26]

Kanye is like Curtis Blow in his smile and cadence (speech)!!

[@hankterreros223]

I still wear my once french made, now made in Viet Nam, white three line Adidas, with there white shoelace tongues hanging out, Run DMC style. Go figure, my paperwork says I'm 70, but my mind feels like I'm in my 20s.

[@barryjohnson409]

@hankterreros223- keep rocking the shell toe Adidas, keep the memories alive. 🗽👌🏾

[@0-Elias-0]

These were some great interviews (especially with the dates/years being captioned). Queen Latifah's comments were my favorite. And - as far as I can tell - they were the stone-cold truth.

[@lincolnpearson9302]

So true , cause they power stutrure - has worked out , black ppl are at thier best , when they start to get up - That's why so called Rap music , got lost , To what it is now , killing your own , for what ??

[@DJaySplitSecond]

Queen Latifah was a natural beauty

[@DavidRichardson95]

Trailblazers. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!! I'm 28 but I'm rocking the golden age era all day lol. Happy 50th Hip Hop!!!!!!

[@hiphopheadsphotographymas1790]

Can not believe what I just stumbled upon. This is pure gold! At 15:40 in, "RAP is gonna be here" said in 1986 .... and it is here in 2023. 100% LOVE

[@HoveringAfrica]

They were speaking the English language better and speaking more maturely than now.

[@chinemeremudoh3732]

Goes to show that that era of Hip hop was really didactic!

[@graceandpeace4414]

1983 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Old school rap..I was in highschool...cool memories. The stuff the new groups are releasing now I don't understand.

[@Oooo-bi7bi]

I was 10 in 83 so didn’t get into it until 14 here in the UK. I agree I try to listen to new young artists. I respect the fact they heard it in the womb and it’s now cool to rap in a British accent over here. But when you’re nearly fifty you’re no longer interested in how tough a guy says he is or how he makes his money or treats females.

[@johnetterose6189]

Great compilation of interviews. Shoutout to Queen Latifah.

[@jonelrobinson5189]

Happy 50th anniversary of Hip-hop 🎂🎉

[@barryjohnson409]

Happy 50th Birthday to Hip Hop, Rap Music, the culture of street music 🎵🎶🗽👌🏾

[@NNS2822]

Thank you for not editing!!!

[@pablographx]

Amazing video! Back when Rap music was REAL…gangsta or conscious. Rap music meant more than money or fame.

[@aaronj.brooks1977]

Happy 50th Birthday Hip Hop 👍🏾

[@andreaslach691]

What a wonderfull way to celebrate 50 years of HipHop. Just digging through the archives. Thanks ❤

[@brandypopejohnson2072]

Rap Royalty ❤ of all kinds Rest In Heaven Jam Master Jay 🕊

[@andreaslach691]

Hip Hop was and is a force to change the neaborhood and for years now the world into a better place. Born in 1973 in Germany. Hit by HipHop by the age of 16. ✊🏾✊🏼✊🏽✊🏿✊🏻✊🏽✌🏼❤️

[@NYCCamper]

They said rap wouldn't last, yes I remember 😮.

[@Goatchild90]

Hapy 50th Hip Hop I love and appreciate you

[@JetseTurner]

These are legendary interviews, right on!✊🏿

[@kincamell]

Heavy. Ps Gratitude. "Hip-Hop you saved my life"- Lupe

[@garfieldharrison510]

KRS-ONE was real sharp with his words. It ws great to see how it all evolved. Being around when the culture was becoming more popular. The White reporters came over like they were so skeptical. It's like the fact that some urban children developed something that their kids gravitated towards the culture.

[@ltod2]

Young Queen Latifah,Chuck D,Ice T,late Jam Master Jay back in the days represent real rap,laughed at the critics who claimed the culture wouldn't last in what 5 years?We will turn 50

[@andyhill2876]

Bronx created Hip Hop Uptown Stand Up! 1970 Baby Here

[@bigbro7298]

So proud at 53 that these ppl are my heroes

[@Bubikoglu]

Tremendous compilation of nostalgic material there. Thank you so much for uploading 👏🏻

[@DNicetwice]

Dope material!!!

[@Ukrainian-woman-of-your-dreams]

I love classic videos from the 80's and the 90's.

[@Goatchild90]

Kurtis Blow is a charming mf

[@Krazie-Ivan]

...hell ya - gettin use outta that communication degree, lol!

[@i.m.gurney]

R.I.P Easy

[@BlackoutTV1]

this is amazing, big up to the individual from cbs who came to this idea to compile all of these gemz 💎 we need more of this from the stash!

[@AustinCasey]

Queen Latifah was everything good about Hip Hop and much respect to her for being brave enough to go against the grain of "gangsta rap".

[@rayy4pres194]

90s baby checking in here and wow! This is a gem. Hind sight is 20/20 but If they only knew! Rap was absolutely here to stay. KRS One and Queen Latifah was ahead of their time. Public Enemy sold 1 million records in a week? Did I hear that correctly? Talk about impact. Artist WISH they could pull those number today!

[@Rizzlyricist]

There it is 🔥

[@cirmeramalone9791]

LOVING KURTIS BLOW ..BLOWING OUR MINDS BACK THAN 💋💯!!

[@johnwebb2442]

Happy 50th Anniversary to Hip Hop, the music and culture.

[@johnnycombs6570]

Thank you for uploading this... Big Up from the UK ✌️

[@PeaceLoveRainbows]

LOVE THIS!!! 😍 I had one brother who was a DJ and another one who used to hold breaking battles in our garage.

[@MichaelKuwa]

Wow this is beautiful! I especially loved the part where Ice T was talking about being a soldier

[@arios1977]

When CBS knows more about hip hop than Hip Hop DX

[@Jedi_Black]

They need to get rid of the lie that cool herc helped create hip hop and the lie that “Puerto Ricans and Jamaicans helped create hip hop”…. Hop hop is SOLEY African American culture/history..

[@williemakeit2346]

Like it or not, Jamaicans and Puerto Ricans were part of Hip Hop’s creation. DJ Kool Herc is Jamaican by the way. 🤦🏾‍♂️ Do your homework

[@joshuadurham1257]

​@@williemakeit2346cap

[@MQJones1]

"Master Gee" is right, HIS mother Sylvia Robinson, that's her son Joey Robinson Jr, he is NOT the original Master G, the original Master G left the group in '84. They did a documentary called "I Want My Name Back" basically talking about how the imitation Master G kept making money off them

[@kevinbrown6072]

That's Joey Robinson

[@tyreed.3716]

47:50 That's not Master Gee; that's Joey Robinson Jr.!!! #synthhop

[@queenempress2541]

HAPPY HIP HOP DAY!!

[@Rizzlyricist]

Happy Hip-Hop day to you too 🔥

[@CertifiedSampleFairy]

Am I the first to watch this in the new year? Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash, and Run DMC perfectly explained what rapping is!

[@reneejones7167]

RIP gem master j.

[@williemakeit2346]

Jam Master Jay

[@TheBlackJewelz]

We’ll never understand what this time must’ve been like when hip hop first emerged, for CBS to ask the question: “What is Rap?…” Wow.

[@wiggesobk]

Happy 50th Birthday Hip Hop!

[@niabelizaire3596]

All of the Hip-Hop legends! ❤️💯💿🎼

[@shawmikamurray6325]

Diggin in the crates and thanks for sharing!!!! 💚💜❤️‍🔥💚💜

[@Ilovechicago100]

Thanks for this 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

[@Own.lee.who.men.516]

Curtis Blow droppin' knowledge for the "kiddos" at the end of his talk...Priceless! Don't sleep on Curtis Blow with "The Breaks" and "Basketball," specifically🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥. I have no real respect for the now deceased fake "Master Gee" (Joey Robinson Jr.) that we see perpetrating a fraud here. Much respect due to the original Master Gee, Guy O'Brien. Salute! ✊🏽👊🏽. Looking forward to the 50th anniversary HIP-HOP festival concert tonight at Yankee Stadium in the Boogie Down.

[@TheLightShow2]

The beginning of this video shows how it used to be safe to shine amongst your peers but now the ghetto has turned sour

[@MrWolfchamp-xi3cu]

What??

[@williemakeit2346]

Nope. Even back then, cats in the ghetto were getting robbed and killed for being too flashy. Don’t let the rose tinted lenses fool ya.

[@TheLightShow2]

@@williemakeit2346 of course crime was going on...Inner cities are like that but there was still more unity back then

[@Krazie-Ivan]

@@TheLightShow2 ...there was a higher level of respect for elders, moms, kids, etc. peeps looked out for them. tends to be a lil less these days. maybe cause we're lookin at generations of declining opportunity causing more desperation?...i dunno. Willie right tho - single dude flashin got took quick - Masta Ace has a bar about this in Nostalgia.

[@TheLightShow2]

@@Krazie-Ivan true.... it’s technology that messed up family values also ego

[@michellehernandez2840]

Wow. I forget sometimes that LL and Queen were pioneers of hip hop because they are still so relevant today. LL was always so cute and Queen still looks the same❤

[@salayobrown8942]

QUEEN LATIFAH. TRU HIP-HOP GODDESS!!!!!

[@CVinyl]

Thx to all my mentors/Melle Mel, kool keith, Marc Live, Black silver, Ice T. Thx you for all the knowledge & Music! #AnalogBrothers #50yearsHipHop

[@johnfunches8153]

An excellent video clip, but it is sad that Joey Robinson gave an interview calling himself Master Gee, and the rest of the Sugarhill Gang played off his lie. Even more pathetic is that they went into the story about how the group was formed and how they made their first record. Guy O'Brian was there and is the real Master Gee, and Joey probably made some of the music with the Sugarhill Band, but he was not on the original Sugarhill Gang recordings. Many things have not changed in the rap and music game, like deception, violence, conscious rap, gangster rap, and greedy labels, and this video is proof.

[@2020TYBO]

FLASH COULDN'T SAY THE TRUTH, "WHAT MONEY??"..SUGARHILL GOT IT..

[@kshinokevin]

0:24 - a legendary news anchor, Connie Chung; 47:58 - the Sugarhill Gang ("Rapper's Delight"). I still love this stuff. Yeah, boi !

[@AnthonyMason-cq9gi]

Yes yes you'll. THE PIONEERS. Wonderful just wondèrful.

[@jaynegreppin948]

48 white swf here and i am so glad i was blessed to grow up in the golden age of hip hop. brilliant. i remember stupid arse senate hearings on rap lyrics and blah blah. america, doing it wrong from day one.

[@Waltaere]

Cbs 🥳

[@barryjohnson409]

🕊️🗽" JMJ "🙏🏾 🕊️

[@monteblanc1622]

Who was the first interviewer?💜 She was fascinating

[@FlymoufDiction]

I SWEAR I was about to make a similar comment. She was so intrigued and attentive as well as classy that it was literally attractive

[@TheBlackJewelz]

PRICELESS.

[@Ukrainian-woman-of-your-dreams]

There should be a bestseller book on the history and evolution of rap music.

[@cirmeramalone9791]

TELL MOMMA MARY WHY SHE'S BUGGING ...MARY ,MARY WHY YOU BUGGING 😂😂😂!!

[@JOZONER]

THE TRUE GOATS OF RAP. THESE ARE WHAT YOU CALL GOATS.

[@IssacLHunt]

What is this an interview with the plant of the apes

[@kenyanthornell9717]

It's interesting the way the news reporters, narrators, interviewers emphasize 'ghetto' describing the kids, the people, and even in front of GM Flash and Melle Mel...so corny and patronizing; LL Cool J as well as Kurtis Blow challenge society and those gate keepers with articulate and authentic thoughts and words on the New Music Seminar panel. I have never seen this until now! Then we see how rap evolved and KRS-1, Salt & Pepa, and Queen Latifah expand and emphasize the direction and growth of consciousness and communication of the culture. Appreciate how the originators set the foundation for this beautiful culture called Hip Hop that is now global! 50 years and more!

[@edyann]

And to think that all we have today is wanna be rappers called Bugs Bunny and girls singing about butter...

[@arios1977]

They’re all called Lil

[@fabiomino3506]

Huh

[@patriziaperez4536]

1979 baby here..🙌🏽

[@williemakeit2346]

Queen Latifah in 1993: “We don’t have crips and bloods out here in New York”… My how things have changed decades later smh…

[@gardnermandes5126]

Now show the real people who not only Started hip hop but the ones who put hip hop on the map. Shame on you CBS

[@matthewsmith2996]

You are more than welcome not to watch this video. I do not understand negativity here.

[@SenzaMotiva]

🗽Quality Upload - BigUps CBS ! I was very fortunate to be a part of HipHop Timeline > I worked for Ice-T & #RhymeSyndicate 15 years & still contribute Artwork / also Toured Asia w #KurtisBlow / HipHop became my Life for 43 yrs

[@ltod2]

Hip hop turns 50 soon,on 8/11/2023 it will be crazy in NYC and will attend 3 hip hop shows next week.

[@DavidemetriLIC]

RUN D MC Baby. Greatness!

[@namesalieas]

I dug this! Man Joe, I miss the energy of early Hiphop! This wave we’ve been is so low vibrational…

[@bgknowable]

Truth

[@cirmeramalone9791]

A LOT OF KNOWLEDGE IN THAT NOSE ..SHOUT OUT FOR THE SNOUT ..K.R.S ONE # KNOWLEDGE REIGN SUPREME !!

[@cirmeramalone9791]

EVERYBODY SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE A GLASS OF TEA IN THE REFRIGERATOR AND PACK OF KOOL- AID ON THE TOP OF THE FRIDGE WITH SO ME ICE. ..YOU MUST HAVE ICE ..BRR !!

[@crossbonez1228]

💛☠️

[@axa3668]

14:49 cool to knowledge

[@armandolemus52]

5:23 what song are they popping to?

[@ricoj2877]

@14:53 Run said they had to find hard beats to rap over… That’s where samples from James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and Sly came in at!

[@rashodlewis2918]

✌🏿😎

[@elliottbailey2522]

@45:14 that must be the reason why she acted in "Set it Off"

[@merchantsmithimages]

That interview with Flash and Mel was right before RUN DMC, Whodini and the Fat Boys led the "New School Era". #50years

[@erwinrogers9470]

Classic🔥

[@esseen100]

Watching Jay (RIP) on here, all I could think was man he did not know what was coming. 🤦🏿‍♂️

[@leroystover1062]

Red ALERT @ MARLEY MARL,RIP MISTER MAJIC, CHUCK CHILLOWT,AND ALOT OF DJ AROUND THE GLOBE SALUTE THEM TWO 50 YEars thank u,PIONEERS THEY ARE HIP HOP 2

[@elliottbailey2522]

@43:10 enh! wrong!! rapping started with Dolemite. NYC is Johnny come latelys. RIP Fred Berry

[@DNAradionet]

50 YEARS of RAP Music and Hip-Hop Culture, From the archives: Hip-hop's early years with Grandmaster Flash, Queen Latifah, Ice-T and more

[@cirmeramalone9791]

AND THEY DELIGHTED THE WORLD # RAPPERS DELIGHT !!

[@AnthonyMason-cq9gi]

😍😍😍😍🤩🤩🤩🤩😍😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@rlprincipe]

14:48 "We couldn't rap over the disco because the disco had (???)." I can't make out that last word. Can anyone else?

[@Wellfitaj]

Funny how now ice cube and ice t play cops on tv 📺

[@jojostieff9392]

LL Cool J