NEW BOOK CELEBRATING WESTCHESTER HIP-HOP COMES OUT IN TIME FOR HOLIDAY SEASON - PRE SALES STARTED

BY AJ WOODSON

forget, and I what intend to show in the upcoming pages of this book is the impact the suburban landscape of Westchester County had on Hip-Hop!

A giant chunk of New York State’s 20 million plus people, around 8.3 million, live in New York City. Map experts note that Westchester residents get New York City-based TV stations and commute to the city on a regular basis. “The suburbs are mostly considered part of the city [region],” Michael Peterson, a professor of geography at the University of Nebraska-Omaha shared with Westchester Magazine in a, November 18, 2021 article titled, ‘So Where Does “Upstate” Really Begin?’

In fact, Westchester cities Mount Vernon and Yonkers border the Bronx. In fact, Mount Vernon borders the Bronx on two sides, the last stop of NYC subways the Number 5 train (Dyre Avenue), and the Number 2 train (241st Street and White Plains Road) are a block or so from Mount Vernon’s borders. Yonkers also borders the The Bronx and is 2 miles (3 km) north of Manhattan. Broadway runs through all three, and railroads also connect them to Grand Central Terminal. The Bronx River separates Yonkers from Mount Vernon on the east. The Hudson River is on the west. Furthermore, what is now Bronx County was originally part of Westchester County. There are several buses that travel back and forth from either Mount Vernon or Yonkers to the Bronx.

New Rochelle is only 6.31 miles southwest of the Bronx, and 8 miles (12.87 kilometers) by car. New Rochelle and Bronx are only 12 minutes apartif you drive non-stop. It takes a whole lot longer to get to Upstate New York, I’m just saying.

Still many people consider Westchester, Upstate New York. But the truth is and you will see several examples in my book that even though HipHop started in the Bronx, 914 played a big part in the early days of Hip-Hop as well way before many others regions who consider Westchester Upstate New York.

“Everything that Grandmaster Flash, The Furious Five and Melle Mel, the Cold Crush Brothers, The Fantastic Five and other did, anything they did in the Bronx immediately hiccupped into Mount Vernon,” Floyd Meyers, Heavy D’s older brother shared during one of my interviews for the book.

You will read about all the pioneers who often came to Mount Vernon and Yonkers and even some like the Imperial Jaycee, a DJ for Kool Herc and Herculoids, who moved to and lived in Yonkers for awhile in the early days of Hip-Hop, bringing everything that was going on to in the Bronx to Westchester with him, before many other regions were up on what was going on. Zulu Nation membership quickly spread to Mount Vernon in the early 1980’s when I was in high school.

But still not being from one of the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester artists had to be more original and had to work extra hard to get that credibility and respect. While Mount Vernon, Yonkers and New Rochelle artists did get that respect (some didn’t know groups like Masters of Ceremony weren’t from the 5 boroughs), it became apparent they weren’t trying to mimic Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem artist, they wanted the world to know, ‘We Got Our Own Thang.’

The features interviews with Andre Leroy Davis known for drawing rappers in The Last Word in the Source Magazine talkng about his inspiration, And Hip-Hop heads like Ralph McDaniels of Video Music Box talking about his favorite videos from The 914, Wildman Steve (WBAU), Chuck ‘Jigsaw’ Creekmur (AllHipHop.com), Floyd Meyers, Bobbito aka Kool Bob Love, US Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Al B Sure, Jeff Redd, Talent The Comedian, and much more share their memories and talk about their favorite artists, songs, videos, and lyrics coming from the 9-1-4. Also features chapters celebrating the life and legacy of the late DMX and Heavy D and a plethora of conversations, interviews, articles, memories, and much much more to show just how important the region of Westchester County was and in Hip-Hop!

I’m proud to announced the upcoming my new book, “We Got Our Own ThangA Look At Hip-Hop From The 914,” is coming out on Black Friday. Pre-sales for the upcomng book began, Friday, October 6th.

The new book is meant to give you a ‘Look At Hip-Hop from the 9-14’ and show that as long as there has been Hip-Hop, there is a rich history in Westchester County as well. But we never tried to be like the 5 boroughs, much like the artists from Strong Island, because in the immortal words of the late great Dwight Myers “We Got Our Own Thang!”

The pages of this book are filled with articles I wrote, interviews I conducted, and research I’ve done, sprinkled with lots of fun facts and little-known details about Hip-Hop on the 9-1-4. While there is no debate Hip-Hop started out in the Bronx, what many people don’t know is cities like Mount Vernon and Yonkers border the Bronx and many of the early legends spent a lot of time in 914.

This book was never meant to be a definitive catalog of all the contributions or the complete history of Westchester County Hip-Hop, I did however attempt to cram in as many of the players in 914 Hip-Hop as I can, the recording artists that you all know and some you may have never heard of, the early legends in Hip-Hop that inspired all of those do what we ended up doing. Some of the early graf writers like REM 311, the breakers, and the B-Boys, the big sound system crews and early emcees that came before us, and those who were instrumental in fashion, and many who paved the way, etc.

When most people in New York City hear Westchester County they immediately think oh that’s upstate. Well allow me to start off with a little history. The truth of the matter is Westchester (The 914) is located in the New York metropolitan area and is actually Downstate New York It’s just north of and actually borders the New York City borough, The Bronx (The Garden Of Eden of Hip-Hop) and is south of Upstate New York. Westchester shares its southern boundary with The Bronx and its northern border with Putnam County.

So, while many believe Westchester to be part of “Upstate New York,” the truth is a bit more complex. One of Westchester residents’ greatest pet peeves, besides traffic on I-287, involves New York City residents referring to their county as “upstate.” Westchester residents always wondered why anyone would consider a county that begins where the Bronx ends “upstate?” Many