20/20 Report Hip-Hop Special (1981) - Part 2

[@boogiedownbronx73]

The Funky 4 plus 1 is my favorite early rap group...by far...they were the first rap group to be aired on SNL and national TV. And Sha-Rock raps anyone under the table. I also have all the Sugar Hill Records 12 inches...

[@hip-hoprapstorage4440]

Sha Rock made a record without Funky Four+ One in 1979, it's called MC Rock by Jazzy 4 MCs

[@chopitupradio4286]

Sha -Rock was just in the documentary “microphone check”

[@HonorableSienna]

5:25 this is the start of poor messaging - now everyone claiming something that’s not theirs

[@2conscious]

YES!! YES!! I noticed that, IMMEDIATELY!! Here is one of DECADES of examples of our Black elders selling us out. And others gladly jump on the "popular" train🙄. BLONDIE🙄

[@HookedonChronics]

Rap does let people that can't sing have a voice but not anyone can rap, that's a lie. You have to be a good writer, have a story to tell, have a good flow, and be clever.

[@83thechaz]

Also study the art of poetry, learn a new word everyday, and swim in books

[@mmortlock]

Yep. Exactly my thoughts... but you have to remember, this is a news report made entirely from the perspective of white journalists on a low pay-grade 😆

[@CRURayality]

Rap is singing. Most rappers can sing. Only black folk can rap. All others are rhymers or imitators.

[@airyanawaejah2323]

​@CRURayality really? only black folk can rap?

[@shots72625]

"It is very black and very urban and people are afraid." lmfao!!! Hey does anyone else recognize Bruce Leroy's younger brother on the right @ 3:49

[@faithcook5530]

I did his name is Leo O'brien.

[@letstalkwithpatrickpodcast]

May he RIP

[@celestinemeyers4326]

Nowadays we have plenty of white rappers

[@Joe402]

"Rap is likely to influence popular music for years to come." Yeah no kidding lol

[@JPK169]

Fr fr now

[@ganzitoism]

How far we've come

[@gaffle-411]

Correct me if I'm wrong. 2:52... Mr. Freeze 2:57... Prince Ken Swift 3:03... Lenny Len 3:07... Devious Doze 3:12... Kippy Dee 3:16... Frosty Freeze

[@ironmike-putsallkindavideo7840]

@ 3:44,,, the kid who starts Rappin is from the Movie - "THE LAST DRAGON" !!!!

[@lifeismusikmusikislife4684]

Yeah. Gotta be him.

[@abrahambowen8332]

Yes Master G from the Sugar hill Gang's older brother Leo O Brien.

[@ScrappleCheesesteaks]

I'm so glad I was introduced and was alive so see, experience real hip hop back in the day. When I first heard "Rapper's Delight" - I knew it was LeChic's song / beat - which had massive airplay at the time...but Sugar Hill Gang, I never heard anything like it. I was blown away, and fell in love with the genre.

[@HookedonChronics]

thats why hip hop is cool, DJs are just as important as MCs in the culture.

[@lifeismusikmusikislife4684]

I was in the single digits in 81. I loved hip hop back then but I didn't know, until now, how pervasive hip hop was, even in 1981.

[@ShaneGuyton-mj1mv]

I did, because of Blow Fly. My cousin's step dad was pretty hip and would let us listen to him.

[@stillphil]

4:48 what rap turned into

[@anonymousapocalypse247]

u aint lying lol

[@dominicdaley5702]

Lmfao 😂😂😂

[@ScrappleCheesesteaks]

True. And yet...I feel this awkward white guy has more talent than 90% of the rappers today. 🤔

[@thetyreed]

always heard of this special, now I see it

[@rbgalldayeveryday]

I used to be a high school rapper in Aurora Colorado from 1993 to 1997.

[@zibbybone]

3:26 "37 YOOTS"

[@gotflava1]

Sorry buddy, rap is not going to be here for years to come but 3 DECADES STRONG !! Change all of pop culture. And still going!!! LONG LIVE HIP HOP!

[@airyanawaejah2323]

And now it's dead completely.

[@AQGOAT24]

This was really well done. Much more objective compared to what you see on Fox News.

[@Bookersbones]

CNN would’ve claimed how bad and racist America was back then even though the black culture has contributed 100% to their lack of fathers and killing in America blacks weren’t that bad back then

[@thebikehippie6562]

that was so cool

[@roxieturner4638]

Hip hop has been very destructive and demoralizing to the Black community!!

[@concreterose96]

Loved it!

[@sirpoppinchuck]

Great footage! Anyone can't rap. But i think more people have confindence to rap but are not good or even great. look its 36 years later people are still rappin and its replaced Rock n Roll! Most of the participants are black and very good! Its changed the individuals lives but hasn't changed our condition as a people. Its called Bboying see that officer called it rocking! HeyI remember that box commercial with EWF ha! ha!

[@irie1tes]

Great Story! Hugh Downs is so down.

[@cagool2fray]

cool !! respect !!

[@hip-hoprapstorage4440]

04:37 Nuri - Let's Vote !!

[@MsTexas73]

Exactly

[@Lordsincere1]

Rap is part of Hip Hop culture. Just because “rap” has been around for ages (The Stone Age), its wasnt until the early 80’s (The Egyptian Era) rapping combined with Break dancing, Graffiti, DJing, the fashion and lingo of the streets at the time is when Hip Hop culture started.

[@RandyDrayton]

Introducing: NWA 😢

[@airyanawaejah2323]

Gangsta rap killed the hip hop

[@eddiemanchild]

5:37 is what i watch when im sad.

[@Jay-iu4st]

🤜 🤛

[@chinito77]

The portable beatbox...funny how we believed that.

[@cmb913]

History lesson

[@juniorjames7076]

Back in 80s, when the ONLY time you saw Black people on television was if 1) they were reporting crime, or 2) filling stereotypes on sitcoms, or 3) when a local news station was reporting the "latest craze happening in the inner city ghetto". It was usually cringe, but what could you do? You were happy to see people who looked like you on television. I don't miss the 1980s.

[@utube512100]

Notice how he refers to the 'satirists' at 4:58 ? And then, you may also notice that the subject matter and what the "Preppy Rapper" is saying, is pretty much synonymous with the Rap shit you hear on the radio these days. To me, this is a hilarious demonstration of the fact that Pop Rap has become a joke. Real Hip-Hop lives underground. All the nice cars and fancy homes shit is a complete joke, just people got caught up in the BS culture and started buying into this nonsense.

[@GregoryGioia]

Rap died when Rapper's Delight came out.

[@mraims2plez]

Although Debra Harry had a rap song, she couldn't rap. Anyone can make a rap song but not anyone can rap. Those who sustain are those who can rap. When a rapper leaves the biz instead of the biz leaving him, then that's somebody that can rap ie Rev. Run.

[@robfromvan]

Her lyrics on Rapture are so corny

[@lemondishonor7736]

It was supposed to uplift and inform. It got into the wrong hands.

[@JeffTheGent]

5:09 - Uh, there have been plenty of blacks in South America _and_ several European countries for centuries. 😄

[@egmjag]

Didn't even know that rap was already very popular back in the very early 80s. I listened to a certain genre of funk that was like a spark and which lasted for only a few years, from about 1979 to 1983. Up until the mid 80s, there were only 2 black music radio stations on AM radio and 2 FM ones in the L.A. area. Ignorant people foolishly dismissed early 80s funk as disco when it wasn't even close to it. A lot of funk had a slower beat like Cutie Pie and More Bounce to the Ounce. But alas, that genre was just too complex for the masses to understand, so they easily dismissed it. A lots of prejudice and "racism" played into it as well. If you don't and won't understand something, you just write it off as unimportant. And if you hate it because only a certain group that is vilified by the masses listens to it, then all the more reason to disdain that kind of music. Within that genre was a sub genre called hard-core funk, and that was even more underground than funk in general. Only the black AM radio stations in L.A. gave it airplay. It encompassed some rap and that is where I probably first heard rap that was surrounded and enveloped by actual instruments, complex harmonies and great rhythms. It was one of the most creative musical styles, mostly because it was underground. Unfortunately, funk in the early 80s was probably the peak of funk in general and one the greatest musical styles ever produced. Artists and bands thrived. A few like the Bar Kays and Cameo made lots of money, but most were in it because they LOVED to produce good, quality music. They cared about their craft, and it wasn't so much about catering to big business and producing shallow, boring, redundant crap. The latter occurred after 1984 and it only got worse when technology took over and the masses seemed to be satisfied with only superficial cRap. It was - and still is - about tinkering with a formula without regard to quality craftsmanship and real talented musicians (i.e. people playing real instruments). Cool jazz was probably one of the most interesting and outstanding genres in jazz. Great artists like Miles Davis left their mark and left a powerful effect on jazz forever. This is true about funk and early 80s rap in general but unlike jazz, R&B and funk became stilted, sterile and boring. It's just too bad that the unique hooks, rhythms and harmonies of early 80s black music no longer became infectious and pleasing to the ear. How I yearn for that era. Like classical music and cool jazz, it's timeless and never disappointing even after listening to a song produced 33 or 34 years ago.

[@MsNooneinparticular]

Yeah, I get the impression that funk/electro were more popular on the West Coast & rap didn't catch on there until later. Hence why Dr. Dre was doing the Wrecking Crew thing before switching to the NWA gangsta style ;) I wasn't born until '84 & live in a flyover state but love funk & early '80s rap. Zapp, Cameo, Parliament Funkadelic & all their spinoff groups were great.

[@ozulu45]

i didnt think rap music would take over everything and destroy r&b,funk, and soul music completely!

[@boardsofcamembert]

If it wasn't for Hip Hop music sampling all of these genres, millions of people would not know about them, if anything, Hip Hop has brought these genres to people who would have previously never have heard them. Sampling in (good) Hip Hop caries with it a deep appreciation of a vast array of musical genres and styles, and that is one one of the reasons that I love Hip Hop.

[@utube512100]

ozulu45 Talking about auto-tune and shit, what you are referring to is Mainstream Rap Music. Underground Hip-Hop is alive and well, it's just Under Ground. The Pop manifestations are pretty much all popular products and not Hip-Hop music, which is full of soul, message, passion, and talent. Just wanted to make the distinction right quick ! ;)

[@ozulu45]

kdot512 yeah dude, ugly duckling, people under the stairs, edan, mf doom, mystic journey men, thirstin howl III, even hiero bro! I've been there kid! you talkin pop and underground distinctions don't move a thang! that's always been like that since the early 90's! a lot underground is garbage straight up! just cuz they have a computer with cubebase, reasons, or protools don't mean I want to hear abc nursery rhymes that were done waaaay better back when GRANDMASTER CAZ did it in 1978!

[@oxxxid]

You should check out Madlib's career: from rapper to jazz drummer.

[@dubsideproductions2859]

ozulu45 Rap is literally the blackest form of music it has west African roots you rejecting that for some Europeanized shit says a lot about you

[@ronaldjones2820]

"Not everyone can sing but anyone can rap". You think so huh?

[@knucklegame5050]

So WRONG

[@swadetrackz]

All that footage....no love toward the mix Djs dominating at that time.. Or did i over look it?

[@GregoryGioia]

By this point the MC had long since overshadowed the DJ. You'd have to go back to 1977 or earlier to a time when the DJ was still the central figure of the party.

[@level242]

LISA ROBINSON!!!!!!!! RADIO 1990!

[@rahsunallah2825]

Fat joe take notes!😂😂😂

[@ShaneGuyton-mj1mv]

Oh no, not anyone can rap.

[@squattystx]

and now black people don't play instruments like they used to anymore...

[@dubsideproductions2859]

squattystx that isn’t true at all

[@douchymcdouche169]

the closing words of this report say it all: "not everyone can sing, but anyone can rap." this is a perfect description of how talentless rap music is. and don't get me started on subject matter. rappers used to rap about social issues with some meaning behind the lyrics, now it's all about hos, money and pretending to be gangsta. fuck rap and hip-hop.

[@scottwood6935]

Grandpa? That you? Glad you finally figured out "The KZbin."

[@douchymcdouche169]

Scott Wood Scott, you little shit! how did you get out of the basement?!! you better be back down there lying on the mattress with your ass sticking out by the time I get back! grandpa wants some of that "quality" time from his favorite grandson.

[@ironmike-putsallkindavideo7840]

Douchy McDouche Yes ,, youre right, anybody can Rap some basic A B C Nursery Type Rap,,,,,, but not many people can Rap the Complex, Skillfull, Articulate, Creative Lyrical Word Play type Rhymes like - RAKIM, KOOL G RAP, BIG DADDY KANE, KRS 1, NAS, JAY Z, BIGGIE SMALLS, TUPAC, IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE, TALEB QWALI, BIG PUN, GRAND PUBA, AZ, BIG L, PERCEE P, JOEL ORTIZ, CASSIDY, PAPOOSE, EMINEM & many more,,,, all those Rappers I named are LYRICAL GENIUSES !!!!,, the way they put words together in RAP is INCREDIBLE !!!!,, & like I said,, THERE ARE NOT MANY PEOPLE ON THE PLANET WHO CAN RAP LIKE THAT !!!!!!!!!!!!

[@anonymousapocalypse247]

+IRON MIKE Thats right damn it!

[@dubsideproductions2859]

Douchy McDouche Pretty Kendrick Lamar raps about a ton of things that don’t have to do with hoes and if rap is so talentless make a rap album of the same caliber as illmatic. (The thing is you can’t...)

[@oliverferreirajr4525]

What are you saying 😏 do what you want

[@koe1]

Saw this as an 11 year-old on ABC and have been happily married to Hip-Hop ever since! @koerodriguez