‘Ain’t no city quite like mine’- Examining the Post-Industrial InnerCity Space in Hip Hop The post-industrial space of the inner-city was fundamental in the initial emergence of Hip Hop music. By the 1970s New York had seen a distinct shift in economic fortunes, moving away from manufacturing and industry towards the service economy.1 This change had resulted in great inequality in the city, with areas of extraordinary wealth and desperate poverty. The bottom 20% of earners in New York suffered a decline in income between 1978-86, with 30% of Hispanic and 25% of Black N.Y. households living below the poverty line.
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Decades of poor urban planning and
inadequate architecture exacerbated these problems leading to ‘massive urban decay’. 3 Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, the initial architect of the housing projects, envisioned them accompanied by green open space, recreational facilities and business opportunities. However, N. Y.’s city planner Robert Moses’ interpretation led to ‘concrete jungles: an isolated architectural system, a lack of private space and a high concentration of people’.
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The creation of suburbs led to a “white-flight” while Moses forcibly moved
170,000 people with ‘massive relocations of economically fragile people of colour from different areas in New York into parts of the South Bronx’. 5 ‘The Projects … literally and 1 Edward V. Schneier, Brian Murtaugh, New York Politics: A tale of Two States, (Routledge: February 2001). 2 Tricia Rose, ‘A Style Nobody Can Deal With’, in Andrew Ross & Tricia Rose (Eds)., Microphone Fiends, (Routledge: New York 1994), p. 74. 3 Joe Conzo in Hip Hop Evolution, Episode 1, Darby Wheeler, 2016, 48 mins (Online Streaming, Netflix) 4 Alice Kemp-Habib interviewing Architect Mike Ford, ‘How Bad Urban Planning Led To The Birth Of A Billion-Dollar Genre’, Fader, 18/08/ 2016, <http://www.thefader.com/2016/08/18/hip-hop-architecture-mike-ford-interview>, [accessed 5/7/2017]. 5 Tricia Rose, ‘A Style Nobody Can Deal With’, in Andrew Ross & Tricia Rose (Eds)., Microphone Fiends, (Routledge: New York 1994), p. 76.
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figuratively represented structural racism’.6 These socio-political conditions provided backdrop to Hip Hop music and granted it a ‘distinct spatial repertoire’ 7. The Bronx in the 70’s was an area of little infrastructure or business opportunities, an overcrowded melting pot of various Black and Hispanic heritages crammed into large concrete high rises. It was one of these housing projects in the Bronx, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, where DJ Cool Herc’s first house party (allegedly the first to feature DJing and MCing) took place and Hip Hop was first heard. 8
Fig.19
6 Alice Kemp-Habib interviewing Architect Mike Ford, ‘How Bad Urban Planning Led To The Birth Of A Billion-Dollar Genre’, Fader, 18/08/ 2016, <http://www.thefader.com/2016/08/18/hip-hop-architecture-mike-ford-interview>, accessed [5/7/2017]. 7 Murray W. Forman, The Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap Music and Hip Hop, 1978- 1996, (McGill University: Montreal, Canada July 1997), p. 17. 8 Hip Hop Evolution, Episode 1, Darby Wheeler, 2016, 48 minutes (Online Streaming, Netflix). 9 Picture taken from ‘1520 SEDGWICK AVENUE’, Anon, N.D., http://www.workforcehousinggroup.com/spotlight-1520-sedgwick-ave.html, [accessed 5/7/2017].
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Fig.2 10 The living conditions in the Bronx catalyzed a reinvention of personal identity and Afro-diasporic cultural forms. ‘Hotspots of rebellious youth culture’ in a postindustrial city has been cited as a key factor in creating a modern music scene 11. This is seen in the young people of the Bronx, who ‘reshaped their identities and expressions in a hostile, technologically sophisticated, multi ethnic urban terrain’ 12. Musically this was based on a “sound system” culture as there was ‘reduced access’ to ‘traditional forms of instrumentation and composition, inner-city youth increasingly relied on recorded sound.’13 Just as jazz repurposed the bit-part classical saxophone, Hip Hop pioneers such as Grandmaster Flash transformed the turntable from record-player to leading instrument. Furthermore, Afro-diasporic cultural practices like “toasting”, call and
10 Picture take from New York: 1520 Sedgwick Avenue – Birthplace of Hip-Hop, Anon., N.D., http://www.voicesofeastanglia.com/2012/07/new-york-1520-sedgwick-avenue-birthplace-of-hip-hop.html, [accessed 5/7/2017]. 11 David Grazian, ‘Digital Underground: Musical Spaces and Microscenes in the Postindustrial City’, Carsten Wergin and Fabian Holt (Eds.), Music Performance and the Changing City: Post-industrial Contexts in Europe and the United States, (Routledge:New York 2013), p. 129. 12 Tricia Rose, ‘A Style Nobody Can Deal With’, in Andrew Ross & Tricia Rose (Eds)., Microphone Fiends, (Routledge: New York 1994), p. 78. 13 Ibid.
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response and a general use of wordplay fed into the rise of MCing. 14 Tricia Rose notes that many early Hip Hop artists were trained in jobs which had become automated and were economically marginalized, but used ‘the tools of obsolete industrial technology’ to craft a new form and identity. 15 Hip Hop is therefore intrinsically linked to the postindustrial urban space as it was catalyst for the creation and shaped its form- ‘Hip Hop style is Black Urban renewal’. 16 Despite the impoverished conditions of many residents, New York was seen as the glamorous metropolitan at the time and was the heart of the Disco scene. The ‘Bronx was burning, even though people thought it was heaven’.
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Disco failed to resonate
with many of those living in the Bronx as it did not reflect the realities of their lives. The creation of Hip Hop was therefore part of a desire to form an alternative, a realistic representation of their space and experiences. Hip Hop ‘expressed certain sentiments that genuinely reflected the lives of working class Black and Puerto Rican male youths in a way that the more romanticized Disco scene, popularized by middle class Whites, didn’t.’18 A look at the lyrics of Hip Hop tracks demonstrates this.
14 Hip Hop Evolution, Episode 1, Darby Wheeler, 2016, 48 minutes (Online Streaming, Netflix). 15Tricia Rose, ‘A Style Nobody Can Deal With’, in Andrew Ross & Tricia Rose (Eds)., Microphone Fiends, (Routledge: New York 1994), p. 79. 16 Ibid, p. 85. 17 DMC, Hip Hop Evolution, Episode 1, Darby Wheeler, 2016, 48 minutes (Online Streaming, Netflix). 18 Kristal B Zook, Reconstructions of Nationalist Thought in Black Music and Culture, Reebee Garofalo (ed.), Rockin' the Boat: Mass Music and Mass Culture, South End Press: Boston 1992, 257 quoted by Murray W. Forman, ‘The Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap Music and Hip Hop, 1978- 1996’, (McGill University: Montreal, Canada July 1997), p. 93.
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Fig 3.19 Hip Hop lyrics are largely grounded in this reflection of life around them- they ‘are [filled] with first-hand accounts of living conditions in the projects’.
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Nas raps
‘looking out my project window, I feel so uninspired’, 21 while Notorious B.I.G. recounts living in a ‘one-room shack’ and how he ‘used to fuss when the landlord dissed us, no heat wonder why Christmas missed us’. 22 Hip Hop lyrics are often specific and reactive, dealing with particular features of local space -‘I’m bigger than the city lights down in
19 Graph taken from Genius Rap Stats, which examines the frequency of words in its huge database of Hip Hop lyrics. <https://genius.com/rapstats?q=block%2C%20hood%2C%20ghetto%2C%20trap> [accessed 6/7/2017] 20 Alice Kemp-Habib interviewing Architect Mike Ford, ‘How Bad Urban Planning Led To The Birth Of A BillionDollar Genre’, Fader, 18/08/ 2016, <http://www.thefader.com/2016/08/18/hip-hop-architecture-mike-fordinterview>, [accessed 5/7/2017]. 21 Nas, ‘Project Windows’, Nastradamus, (Ill Will, Columbia, 1999). 22 Notorious B.I.G., ‘Juicy”, Ready to Die, (Bad Boy, 1994).
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Time Square’23- the changing realities of space - ‘Niggas in the hood living in a fishbowl, gentrify here now it’s not a shithole’ 24 - and the wider societal problems of the urban space. While the terms for the inner-city areas have gone in and out of fashion, Fig.3 shows how they pervade Hip Hop lyrics. ‘The first critically acclaimed Hip Hop song’, 25 ‘The Message’ by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, documents life in these areas- it was ‘a window into urban America for people who had never been to urban America’26. Referencing the alley ways, inadequate houses and peep shows which made up the “ghetto” and the characters seen around them – the junkies, pimps, bill collectors, “bag ladys”- the song builds a sense of life in inner-city New York. The music video aids this, simply showing the group walking around this space. 27 Melle Mel’s first verse is especially vivid in its depiction, reflecting not only the sensory experience but the hopelessly trapped atmosphere of the area. Broken glass everywhere People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care I can't take the smell, can't take the noise Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice Rats in the front room, roaches in the back Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat I tried to get away but I couldn't get far ’Cause a man with a tow truck repossessed my car. 28
23 Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy & Ma$e, ‘Mo Money Mo Problems’, Life After Death, (Bad Boy, 1997). 24 A Tribe Called Quest, ‘We The People…’, We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service, (Epic, 2016) 25 Hip Hop Evolution, Episode 2, Darby Wheeler, 2016, 46 mins (Online Streaming, Netflix) 26 Grandmaster Flash in Hip Hop Evolution, Episode 2, Darby Wheeler, 2016, 46 mins (Online Streaming, Netflix) 27 Chechkmyvids, ‘Grandmaster Flash The Message HQ’ Online video clip, Youtube, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4o8TeqKhgY>, 8 /04/2009, [accessed 5/7/2017]. 28 Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, ‘The Message’, (Sugar Hill 1982)
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The refrain of ‘don’t push me coz I’m close to the edge, I’m trying not to lose my head’ also displays the mental effects of the inner-city space. 29 This sense of vertigo is reinforced when the artist invokes another primal fear, drowning: ‘sometimes I wonder how I keep from going under’. 30 Like Melle Mel before him, Nas refers to the psychological effects of the ghetto in ‘N.Y. State of Mind’. The song establishes an idea of the “hood mentality” with tales of a gritty criminal lifestyle and the work ethic, ruthlessness and fear that accompanies it. The stream of conscious delivery gives the song a relentless energy and creates a sense of Nas’ live interaction with the space, taking him through an austere depiction of inner-city landmarks- ‘street corner’, ‘block’, ‘building lobby’ .31 The cliché of “the city that never sleeps” is sinisterly reworked; ‘ I never sleep, coz sleep is the cousin of death’. This reframes tropes of N.Y. life into the urban Black experience, with the insomnia reflecting the sense of paranoia and fear that pervades the ghetto. The repeated, jolting piano ostinato and heavy beat helps create this sense of restlessness and claustrophobia. The ghetto often seems to have its own character in Hip Hop tracks as the physical space, the people who live there and their way of life all feed into one another; indeed, the artwork for the album, portraying a young Nas ghosted in on a backdrop of housing projects, visually represents this concept (Fig 4). ‘N.Y. State of Mind’ is an example of deeper reflections of urban space, suggesting that it has a particular consciousness and way of life, and to be there is to become part of that.
29 Ibid. 30 Ibid. 31 Nas, ‘N.Y. State of Mind’, Illmatic, (Columbia, 1994)
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Fig. 432 Illmatic sonically as well as lyrically reflects New York. Like many Hip Hop albums it features literal sounds of the city, such as the audio of trains textured into it’s opening track.33 It also uses sounds that symbolically represent N. Y., combining elements of the hard-hitting “boom bap” beats that became synonymous with N. Y. through rappers like LL Cool J, with the pared down “jazz rap” of the popular conscious, alternative hip hop groups like De La Soul. The heavy beats grant the album a rough edge and gravitas, typical of the serious nature of many East Coast tracks post – ‘The Message’. The jazz influence, ‘primarily of the '70s keyboard-vibe variety’, 34 taps into N. Y.’s musical heritage. Nas’ flow is clever and dexterous, playing with rhyme schemes and internal rhymes. Illmatic therefore represents a cold, pensive, socially conscious album painting a picture of the lifestyle and social ills of the projects in Queensbridge, N. Y. Illmatic is a Janus album, reflecting the modern New York tough ‘boom bap’ drum breaks whilst referencing the city’s past with jazz samples. 32 Cover artwork of Nas’ Illmatic, (Columbia, 1994). 33 Nas, ‘The Genesis’, Illmatic, (Columbia, 1994). 34 Charles Aaron, ‘Nas- Illmatic’, Spin, Vol. 10, No. 5 (August 1994), p. 84.
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From the iciness of Toronto rapper Drake’s Views album to the high energy, synthesized Trap of the South, ‘there have emerged distinct local and regional rhythmic styles that also “speak” their origins in a spatial or geographic sense’ 35. Probably the first area beyond New York to create a distinctive regional style was the West Coast, with G-Funk opitimised by Dr. Dre’s 1992 solo debut The Chronic.36 It reflects the sound of the space, with clear influence from the “Gangsta Rap” style which arose in Los Angeles.
L.A.’s Ice-T described his track ‘6 in the Morning’, regarded as the first
Gangsta Rap song, as the ‘laid-back vibe of reality’.
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This “feel” was continued in The
Chronic, a much more laid-back album than most N. Y. Hip Hop, defined by it’s slower beat, heavy synth bass lines, funky guitar riffs, jazzy flute licks and a drawl delivery. These musical artefacts reflect the sunnier, “low-riding”, lifestyle of L.A. Rapper Col 187um described The Chronic as a ‘hard record with a lot of grooves on it- in Cali we were brought up on grooves’.38 The juxtaposition of this musical quality and the angry, braggadocios, ‘gangsta’ lyrics is perhaps the ultimate reflection of the space. The crack epidemic and gang problems created a violent space and the collective rage in the area was seen in the massive rioting over racist policing in 1992.
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Nevertheless, this was still
L.A.; it still had that glamorous, “by-the-beach” Californian atmosphere. However, while the regional differences in space and culture between L.A. and New York are
35Murray W. Forman, The Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap Music and Hip Hop, 1978- 1996, (McGill University: Montreal, Canada July 1997), p. 29. 36 Dr. Dre, The Chronic, (Death Row, 1992). 37 Hip Hop Evolution, Episode 4, Darby Wheeler, 2016, 46 mins (Online Streaming, Netflix). 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid.
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reflected in the albums, both are rooted in ‘urban experiences of alienation, unemployment, police harassment and social and economic isolation’. 40 It is essential to understand that Hip Hop music was originally part of a wider movement with three central factions; Music, graffiti and break dancing. This movement in general centered around a reimagining of the urban space. While graffiti brought visual art to the walls and trains and B-boy dancers made the street corners their stage, Hip Hop brought music to the streets, parks and housing projects. ‘DJs who initiated spontaneous street parties by attaching customized, make- shift turntables and speakers to streetlight electrical sources… made ‘open-air’ community centres in neighborhoods where there were none.’ 41 Through rapping you could ‘inscribe one’s identity on an environment… which made legitimate avenues for material and social participation inaccessible’. 42 While the vast wealth and fame that are often the image of modern hip hop suggest a departure from its humble beginnings, the ‘street corners, basketball courts, schools, neighborhood night clubs and dance halls’ are still ‘unseen sites where youths hone their skills’. 43 The inner-city space, while devalued by the rest of society, has been given value by the creativity of those within them as they seized ‘the shifting urban terrain, to make it work on behalf of the dispossessed’.44
40 Tricia Rose, ‘A Style Nobody Can Deal With’, in Andrew Ross & Tricia Rose (Eds)., Microphone Fiends, (Routledge: New York 1994), p. 84. 41 Ibid, p. 72. 42 Ibid, p. 84. 43 Murray W. Forman, The Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap Music and Hip Hop, 1978- 1996, (McGill University: Montreal), Canada July 1997, p. 67. 44 Tricia Rose, ‘A Style Nobody Can Deal With’, in Andrew Ross & Tricia Rose (Eds)., Microphone Fiends, (Routledge: New York 1994), p. 72.
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Furthermore, the music fed into the space and became part of it. As well as the public performances, the use of mobile listening practices recontextualised and circulated the music- ‘the sonic qualities of Rap texts transform the spaces into which they flood’ 45. As MCs spoke of life in the projects in their records, this records were then being played in the inner-city, reaffirming what they spoke of. This established a deep relationship between space and the culture; through its cultural projection onto the space, Hip Hop created a sense of local pride and ownership. This ‘claiming of space makes existence no matter how bleak or brutal, something with stakes, something worth fighting for’.46 This feeling is seen in tracks like ‘Compton’ by Kendrick Lamar, who claims ‘Compton, Compton, ain’t no city quite like mine’. 47 A rejection of the ruling classes accompanied this cultural reclaiming of the space, creating a sense of the innercity as a semi- autonomous zone. This attitude is seen in a Jay- Z lyric concerning the mind-set of people in the projects- ‘government? Fuck government, niggas politic themselves’. 48 Hip Hop music therefore fed into the inner-city space and constructed a sense of value, power and ownership of the space for those who lived there. This sense of pride in the local space is seen in the weight put on “realness” in Hip Hop music with claiming your roots a key part of establishing authenticity. The sheer volume of Hip Hop tracks concerned with the location of upbringing highlights it’s importance. ‘Where I’m From’ by Jay-Z is a notable example, as he describes the harshness of life in Brooklyn’s Marcy Housing Projects- ‘Where I’m from, Marcy son, 45 Murray W. Forman, The Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap Music and Hip Hop, 1978- 1996, (McGill University: Montreal, Canada July 1997), p. 29. 46 Ibid, p. 22. 47 Kendrick Lamar, ‘Compton’, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, (Top Dawg, 2012). 48 Jay-Z, ‘Where I’m From’, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, (Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam, 1997).
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ain’t nothing nice’.49 He also sums up the importance of authenticity in Hip Hop culture- ‘your word was everything, so everything you said you’d do, you did it, couldn’t talking about it if you ain’t lived it’. 50 On the flipside of this, the white rapper Vanilla Ice tried to legitimise his music by pretending to be from the hood. 51 Hip Hop culture has always featured many competitive elements from rap battles to breakdancing and bragging rights stem from dominating your territory with your talent –‘You make a new style. That’s what life on the streets is all about. What’s at stake is your honour and position on the street’. 52 There is a large desire to be a representative for your local area: successful MC’s often see themselves a spokesperson for the people and the space. Just as break dancers used to vie for the title of “A1” in their area, superstar rappers fight for titles such as Jay-Z and Nas battles to be seen as “King of New York”. Space is therefore reflected in Hip Hop music through its importance in establishing authenticity as well as its reimagining as a battleground for showcasing your talents. Hip Hop has also produced a cognitive space for its listeners, constructing a picture of life in the ghetto for the outside world. It has created in the minds of its worldwide audience imagined spaces, through its reflection of American inner-city, and has become commonly seen as the “sound of the city”; Dr. Dre framed his 2015 album Compton as a soundtrack to the city. In an increasingly globalised world, audiences who do not come from these backgrounds buy into the idea of these spaces- ‘as actual places 49 Ibid. 50 Jay-Z, ‘Where I’m From’, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, (Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam, 1997). 51 Murray W. Forman, The Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap Music and Hip Hop, 1978- 1996, (McGill University: Montreal, Canada July 1997), p. 108. 52 Tricia Rose, ‘A Style Nobody Can Deal With’, in Andrew Ross & Tricia Rose (Eds)., Microphone Fiends, (Routledge: New York, 1994), p. 81.
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and localities become ever more blurred and indeterminate, ideas of culturally and ethnically distinct places become perhaps even more salient’. 53 Though the residents of post-industrial inner-city spaces such as the Bronx and Compton have been systemically oppressed and separated from White society, the music from these areas have entered into the wider public consciousness. This is shown in the artwork of Ice-T’s album ‘Home Invasion’ (Fig. 5) which ‘graphically represents the means through which the black urban threat will enter the white suburban home: ‘Rap music and the ears of white children’’54. Hip Hop has therefore produced an idea of inner-city space and urban black experience in the minds of many listeners, breaking through physical barriers to introduce outsiders to this space.
Fig. 555
53 Akhil Gupta, James Ferguson, ‘Beyond 'Culture': Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference,’ in Cultural Anthropology, 7/ 1, February 1992, 6-23 quoted by Murray W. Forman, The Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap Music and Hip Hop, 1978- 1996, (McGill University: Montreal, Canada, July 1997), p. 54. 54 Murray W. Forman, The Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap Music and Hip Hop, 1978- 1996, (McGill University: Montreal, Canada, July 1997), p. 65. 55 Cover artwork of Ice-T’s Home Invasion, (EMI Records, 1993).
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The post-industrial, inner-city space is intrinsically linked to Hip Hop music. It is simultaneously a reaction to, escape from and reclaiming of the space. The environment has moulded the form through a technologically sophisticated reformatting of Afrodiasporic practices and is embodied in the music. The lyrics are very concerned with the specificities of local life as well as a wider sense of the ghetto as a type of space. The space is talked about both critically and with pride, as Hip Hop reflects the social issues of these areas but also seeks to create culture within them, an ownership of them and uses it to establish authenticity within the culture. Musically, Hip Hop’s regional varieties reflect the different characteristics and features of their local space, but are ultimately grounded in a post-industrial, inner-city, largely African-American space. Despite Hip Hop’s mainstream success and a more globalised world, the importance of the local space has not diminished. Indeed, this space has been carried with the form into the public consciousness to establish Hip Hop as the “sound of the city”.
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Bibliography: Aaron, Charles, ‘Nas- Illmatic’, Spin, Vol. 10, No. 5 (August 1994), 84 Forman, Murray W., The Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap Music and Hip Hop, 1978- 1996, (McGill University: Montreal, Canada, July 1997) Grazian, David, ‘Digital Underground: Musical Spaces and Microscenes in the Postindustrial City’, Carsten Wergin and Fabian Holt (Eds.), Music Performance and the Changing City: Post-industrial Contexts in Europe and the United States, (Routledge:New York 2013), 129 Gupta, Akhil and Ferguson, James , ‘Beyond 'Culture': Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference,’ in Cultural Anthropology, 7/ 1,(February 1992), 6-23 Kemp-Habib, Alice, ‘How Bad Urban Planning Led To The Birth Of A Billion-Dollar Genre’, Fader, 18/08/ 2016, http://www.thefader.com/2016/08/18/hip-hop-architecture-mike-ford-interview, (accessed 5/7/2017) Rose, Tricia ‘A Style Nobody Can Deal With’, Andrew Ross & Tricia Rose Eds., Microphone Fiends, (Routledge: New York, 1994), 71-85 Schneier, Edward V. , Murtaugh, Brian, New York Politics: A tale of Two States, (Routledge, February 2001) Zook, Kristal B., ‘Reconstructions of Nationalist Thought in Black Music and Culture’, Reebee Garofalo (ed.), Rockin' the Boat: Mass Music and Mass Culture, (South End Press: Boston, 1992), 257
Discography: A Tribe Called Quest, ‘We The People…’, We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service, (Epic, 2016) Dr. Dre, The Chronic, (Death Row, 1992) Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, ‘The Message’, (Sugar Hill 1982) Jay-Z, ‘Where I’m From’, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, (Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam, 1997) Kendrick Lamar, ‘Compton’, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, (Top Dawg, 2012) Nas Illmatic, (Columbia, 1994) Nas, ‘N.Y. State of Mind’, Illmatic, (Columbia, 1994) Nas, ‘The Genesis’, Illmatic, (Columbia, 1994) Nas, ‘Project Windows’, Nastradamus, (Ill Will, Columbia, 1999). Notorious B.I.G., ‘Juicy”, Ready to Die, (Bad Boy, 1994).
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Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy & Ma$e, ‘Mo Money Mo Problems’, Life After Death, (Bad Boy, 1997) Filmography: Chechkmyvids, ‘Grandmaster Flash The Message HQ’ Online video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4o8TeqKhgY, 8 /04/2009, (accessed 5/7/2017). Hip Hop Evolution, Episodes 1-4, Darby Wheeler, 2016, (Online Streaming, Netflix)
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clip,
Youtube,