Happy 50th to Hip Hop and Me by Cornell Dews

By: cornelldewsCategory: EditorialFebruary 22, 2023

Hip Hop Has Always Loved Me! Hip Hop and I will celebrate five decades around the sun this year. Hip Hop was born approximately 6 weeks before me. Hip Hop and I lives parallel one another. Hip Hop was birthed in the South Bronx in 1973, while my life began in a somewhat similar urban […]

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Hip Hop Has Always Loved Me!

Hip Hop and I will celebrate five decades around the sun this year. Hip Hop was born approximately 6 weeks before me. Hip Hop and I lives parallel one another. Hip Hop was birthed in the South Bronx in 1973, while my life began in a somewhat similar urban habitat in East Baltimore. And just alike, we were pretty much still kids in the ’70s, but we both came of age in the ’80s. I, just like my counterpart in Hip Hop, was born in the ’70s, but we’re both truly eighties babies.

I spent a many nights listening to Hip Hop and being influenced by Hip Hop. You see, even though we were the same age, because of Hip Hop’s inception place being the South Bronx, New York, Hip Hop was a little more advanced than me. From the start, Hip Hop had seen some things that I wasn’t privy to as a child. As a matter of fact, if Hip Hop was a little girl at that time, Hip Hop would’ve been referred to as “fast” by my grandma. Hip Hop was outside from the beginning. And it felt as if it solely belonged to me. Since Hip Hop was outside, I was outside.

I remember scavenging the alley looking for cardboard boxes to be used to breakdance on. I remember asking for suede Puma’s and windbreakers for Easter. That was the attire adorned by Lee in the movie Beat Street and I wanted to be like Lee. I remember going to Old Town Mall in East Baltimore with my mother and buying me all different flavors of Lee jeans. I remember asking for a puff leather, but got a poof leather instead. I remember wearing the lambskins and NBA Starter Jackets. I had a grey hipster lamb and a green Boston Celtics NBA jacket. I vividly remember immersing myself in the uniform and attitude of Hip Hop. Hip Hop didn’t raise me, but it was very much akin to like a cool big cousin from New York that I wanted to emulate and was very much influenced by.

My first superhero was not a creation of DC or Marvel Comics. I never wanted to be like Superman or Batman. Outside of my father and Peanut King (that’s a completely different story), the only other men that I wanted to be like were the three Kings from Queens, Run-DMC and Jam Master Jay. Man oh man, we talking about Hip Hop coming of age in the eighties, well these were the dudes who ushered in the movement. And I was enthralled by their every move. As a child, I can vividly remember playing outside during the summertime and someone screaming out the door, “Run-DMC is on tv.” I took off. I don’t think my feet touched the pavement. I was in the house, tuned in before the ball I was playing with bounced. I love Run-DMC and Jam Master Jay. As a matter of fact, I love the guys so much, for my 10 year wedding anniversary gift, my wife took me to see Run-DMC get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I wrote an editorial about that entire experience entitled An Ode To The Kings which was published on http://www.allhiphop.com. Here’s the link: https://allhiphop.com/uncategorized/ode-to-the-kings/

Though my father introduced me to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his teachings as a child, Hip Hop introduced me to the Gods. Like a cool big cousin from New York, Hip Hop let me tag along and veer into spaces that I would’ve never been exposed to. Hip Hop not only introduced me to different cities I’d yet to travel, Hip Hop showed me different coasts and regions. Hip Hop gave me an identity and swagger that fit so comfortably, still to this day, at fifty. And Hip Hop showed me that we’re much more alike than different.

For all the good that Hip Hop has showed me, I’d be remised not to acknowledge the d-evils that it showed me as well. At times, Hip Hop was a cool irresponsible big cousin from New York that fell off, falling victim to societal ills itself, negatively permeating all of us influenced by it. Nevertheless, I’ve always loved Hip Hop, even when I was disappointed in it. One of the saving graces for me is that I truly believe that Hip Hop always loved me.

This year, we celebrate 50 years of a culture that fathered the most popular musical genre in our country and manifested into a multi-billion dollar industry. Hip Hop was born at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue by its founding father, DJ Kool Herc. He and all of his counterparts deserve the utmost respect for creating this thing of ours. All of us have a story to write in regards to Hip Hop. This was just a brief acknowledgment from me.

To all of the founders and contributors, I personally want to say “thank you” for creating for me something akin to a cool big cousin from New York that I always looked up to, was influenced by and wanted to be like, Hip Hop.