Hip Hop Family Tree Volume 4 (1984-85)

Ed Piskor's award-winning series about the history of hip hop and rap continues. In this volume, East Coast rap is seeing the bright lights of Hollywood as several movies about the burgeoning music genre is finally catching the eyes of both white America and MTV. Over on the left coast, West Coast rap is starting to gain it's own identity which unfortunately is rooted in hard drugs such as crack as well as gang culture.

A number of household name players in hip-hop make their first appearances here. Perhaps the most famous name is Philadelphia's Fresh Prince, Will Smith, who is not quite ready to become one of the biggest names in TV and movies yet. Also expect to see female act Salt-n-Pepa, Biz Markie and Easy E starting to get in on the hip-hop 'fad.'

This chapter started a little slower than the other books. But by the end of the account of 1984's impact on the music industry, the storytelling pace was back to normal. The art however was as phenomenal as always.

This volume of Hip Hop Family Tree is from 2016. Supposedly, Ed Piskor is planning on making 7 total volumes. But I am wondering if that's ever going to be the case. Piskor keeps saying throughout this edition to expect more details on certain artists in future books. But with 2 and a half years having gone by and X-Men books now appearing to be his main focus, I'm not going to hold my breath for volume 5.

I'm guessing I'm never going to witness the greatest crossover event in hip-hop history between Run-DMC and Aerosmith in comic book form.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Hip Hop Family Tree, Volume 3: 1983-1984

Ed Piskor continues the story of rap in volume 3 of Hip Hop Family Tree.

At this stage of the story, hip hop and rap are just hitting the edges of main stream. They still can't find a presence on MTV. But other mediums are becoming more open to the growing art form. 

A few new players are introduced to the mix. But for the most part, Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, KRS-One, Russell Simmons, The Beastie Boys and Rick Rubin are the main characters. but if you are a fan of LL Cool J or Whodini, volume 3 is where you will want to come in.

I read volume one on a lark. I knew next to nothing on the subject of hip hop and rap. Piskor does an amazing job making it interesting and his 'Cast of Characters' charts at the beginning and/or end of each volume is massively important in being able to keep up with who is who.

If you are a newbie to the genre or a seasoned listener just wanting to learn more inside stuff, then you must read Hip Hop Family Tree!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Hip Hop Family Tree, Volume 2

Ed Piskor continues his Who's Who of major players of the evolution of hip hop. This chapter finishes out 1981, blows through 1982 and ends at the waning days of 1983. While West Coast Rap is still pretty much in it's infancy here and the majority of the action is taking black in the 5 boroughs of New York, there's a few moments in which you see the early days of Dr. Dre, Easy-E and Ice T. 

But as I said, the majority of the action occurs in the Big Apple. Afrika BamBaataa and Grandmaster Flash are clearly the leaders of this new revolution in music. Some Jewish kids named Adam Y, Adam H and Michael are making some waves in the music dungeons of white New York. And Joseph Simmons and Darryl McDaniels are fresh out of high school and ready to take Run's big brother, Russell, to task on his promise to make them big stars upon graduation.

You see a lot of names of hip hop legends that at the time of 1981-83 aren't even a blip on the music industry's radar. While I wouldn't want to spoil the fun, let me just say there's at least one cameo that is a 'biggie.'

One interesting aspect is how much hip hop has to thank the punk scene and the art scene of New York. Musicians of punk were considered outcasts and always open to new players who were accepting to them. And these artists of the era's hottest sound had connections to producers with money, time and studios. Then you've got subway taggers who with their graffiti, were making waves with punk artists who wanted something wild on their next art cover. With up-and-comers like Basquiat making connects between artists with musical inclinations and art lovers with money to burn, who would have guessed that a can of spray paint would be as vital to a hip hop performer as a loud mic and a turn table?

There's a great documentary called 77: My Year In Hell. It focuses on the rise of both punk and hip hop music in 1977. But it fails to really connect the symbiotic nature between the two genres. Ed Piskor corrects that oversight in this epic collection.

I love his old school artistry that reflects mainly the Marvel Comics of this era. Piskor does experiment with one visual element not seen in the first volume. Scenes that take place in the 90s and later are rendered in a pastel palette that is almost done in a black light style. (I kinda wish I had a black light in order to test this theory out for myself.) Anyways, what I am saying is that while Piskor is firmly in trenched into the comic medium style of early 80s, he finds plenty of ways to be experimental!

Bring on volume 3!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

They Made A Christmas Album?: Advent 2018: Day 8

Today’s featured artist is one of the founding fathers of rap and hip hop. I’m talking about Kurtis Blow. He was mastermind behind 1980’s The Breaks, the first rap album to be certified gold. The song of Blow’s self-titled record sampled a Doobie Brothers song and in return The Breaks has been sampled from a number of artists including Busta Rhymes.

So the artist himself isn’t an unusual artist. If anything, he’s on the Mount Rushmore of Rap pioneers. But what I do not equate Kurtis Blow to is a holiday artist. Yet in 1979, that’s exactly what Kurtis Blow did. After signing with Mercury Records (another first), Kurtis Blow hit the music scene in a holy jolly sort of mood with Christmas Rapping. Selling over a half million records, the song was one of the first commercially successful of the genre. 

Appearantly, Kurtis Blow has continued mixing rap and hip hop with the holidays. Around 2005, the artist was a guest DJ for the Hip Hop Nutcracker based on the Tchaikovsky classic ballet. Blow was previously a consultant on the project before his debut. 

So with both the resume and holiday experience of Kurtis Blow established, I present to your as my Advent Day 8 gift, Christmas Rapping.

Enjoy!

Hip Hop Family Tree Two-In-One (FCBD 2014)

So after reading and reviewing Hip Hop Family Tree Volume 1, I decided to read the Free Comic Book Day Sampler to see if I missed anything. As I said earlier, the first half of the comic is selections from Volume 1. I had only read about 7 pages prior and my earlier guess continued for about 7 more pages.

The middle of the book features an article by Ed Piskor on what resembles a mock-up of the old Marvel Bullpen Bulletins that were in all Marvel titles in the 80s through the mid-90s. Included in this book along with Piskor’s selections are several portraits of famed hip hop artists by different artists. They’re really cool and show off various styles and color techniques.

   The second half of the book is devoted to what is going to be Volume 2. Now, here’s the catch: even though this sampler advertises that Volumes 1 and 2 are out at the same time, they are not. Volume 1 was published in May of this year and Volume 2 will hit stores in mid-September. So, I have a little bit of time to wait but it’s not very long.

The selections of volume 2 were easier to read as I am now more familiar with many of the lengthy cast of characters and some of them are starting to look more like I remember them as a kid. The final page which shows RUN DMC after their fashion transformation was awesome and I wish I had a pic of it to show you. It had me running to my computer and looking up when Volume 2 would drop.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Hip Hop Family Tree by Ed Piskor (potentially Volume 1)

By no definition am I a fan of rap or hip hop music. There are some songs I like and they’re mostly old school stuff like Sugar Hill Gang, RUN DMC (w/ Aerosmith, of course), Fat Boys, and Yes, I’ll admit- Vanilla Ice! I love Queen and David Bowie’s Under Pressure!!!

Anyways, I probably would’ve overlooked this book had I not received the 2014 Free Comic Book Day edition sampler of this book prior. I’ve not read that entire book but it did pique my interest enough that when I found this at the library, I snatched it up.

The book covers the early 70s will block parties and jams in local New York parks starting the earliest experiments with what will eventually be known as rap. It introduces Grand Master Flash, Fab Five Freddy, shows how the Sugar Hill Gang originated, the early days of a young Darryl McDaniel and his friends, a drugged out Russell Simmons, and the chaos and brat that is Rick Rubin. The book ends with Blondie’s Rapture becoming the first mainstream rap hit and the arrival of hip hop on popular TV shows such as Saturday Night Live and 20/20. (This is showing my age somewhat, but I remember that 20/20 special and knowing my dad, I probably was up watching that SNL episode waiting for my mom to get home from work.)

The artist and writer of this book, Ed Piskor, is clearly a fan of hip hop. He crafts the poetry, angst, and rhythms quite nicely. It’s almost as if you can feel the beat when reading this book. However, that doesn’t mean that this is an easy book to read.

Piskor’s dialogue is almost verbatim to how it was spoken 40 years ago. If somebody used slang in their music, that’s how Piskor fills in the word balloons. If somebody left out a syllable or vowel, that’s how Piskor writes this story. That’s not really the problem with this book. Except for maybe reading what Russell Simmons has to say? He was so strung out on dope or weed; it’s like trying to decipher pig Latin.

No, what I had trouble with this book is keeping the cast of characters straight. The inside covers of this book has a “Who’s Who” line-up of almost 100 characters who is some way shaped the evolution of hip hop. Some of the participants aren’t even singers, like Jean-Michael Basquiat, but their art played a major role with the culture and thus he’s in the book. Piskor tries to keep the line-up in order of appearance in the story, but it doesn’t quite work out that way. Plus when you’ve got 35 people who go by the moniker “DJ____”, it’s hard to keep it straight. I found myself going back to those pictorial references and previous episodes in the book often.

Ed Piskor might have had big ambitions. In his afterword, the author rights that he hopes to produce further volumes about the history of hip hop music. Maybe Piskor was afraid to not get a second volume published and thus stacked the deck with a super-sized first volume. If Hip Hop Family Tree gets the green light for a volume 2, hopefully Piskor will reel it in just a little and narrow his scope. Instead of 11 years of history, maybe he’ll focus on just 5.

This is a very good book with an interesting story that’s has piqued my interest in learning and listening more about early hip hop. The art is very good and the brown paper bag-type of paper is an interesting choice. The extras at the end of this book, like the comparison of hip-hop culture with comic book culture, were very smartly crafted. I wouldn’t recommend this book to those under 14 for the use of strong language and drug culture. But, I eagerly await future volumes.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.