Rammelzee vs K-Rob – Beat Bop (Tar Town) 1983. So the moment when the downtown NYC No-Wave Scene and the rap/breakdance/graffiti scene from the Bronx and elsewhere met in the early 1980′s is pretty interesting. Probably the most famous export of this moment was “Rapture” by Blondie with its “Flash is Fast, Flash is cool” vibe. However, the meeting of Basquiat the painter and Rammelzee the grafitti artist on “Beat Bop” should be equally well known in a perfect world. The only other LP I know of Basquiat being involved in was the only LP by the Offs. I love “Beat Bop”.
Hardcore Podcasts
September of 2010 I put together eight Hardcore Podcasts. You can check them out here if you are interested. For more insight into how I came up with the years 78-90 for the First Wave you can read about The Hardcore Superiorty Myth.
You can get this song on the “New York Noise” comp.
Well this song Just sums up the whole seen for me – coming out of the Bronx NY.
I love this song – to be honest if I had a top ten life songs I recon this one would have to be number one. I suppose it was a most influential song that impacted me as a kid and I still love it today. I suppose this was because of my first hand experience of living in the South Bronx for a short while. I Went over from the UK in about 86. I was a graffiti artist back then.
Jamske — This song is definitely in my top ten life songs. No doubt.
this song also completes the first Ego Trip CD compilation which i highly recommend for those interested in delving into the unknown real history of rap. it can also be heard during the end credits of the post-mortem Basquiat vehicle “Downtown 81″ which is a great movie for those who are interested in the early ’80s downtown scene. DNA, James Chance, Fab Five Freddy, and unbelievably, an unknown Snuky Tate each make appearances.
links:
http://www.amazon.com/Ego-Trip-Big-Playback/dp/B00004SCDW/sr=1-1/qid=1158275296/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-3940815-2151143?ie=UTF8&s=music
http://www.amazon.com/Downtown-81-Edo-Bertoglio/dp/B00006GF6H/ref=sr_11_1/104-3940815-2151143?ie=UTF8
by the way, great post, never saw that cover before. is there any doubt where B-Real got his style now?
Have loved this song ever since seeing it in the documentary “Style Wars” as an impressional teen back in the day. Was fortunate enough to get a first-hand taste of the early 80s scene at the tender age of 11. Grew up in Queens, started writing graffiti and for some reason some of our parents encouraged it, taking us to gallery openings at the Fun Gallery and other long gone downtown hole in the wall art spaces. Really was a pretty cool confluence of punk, post-punk, new wave, hip-hop and the downtown art world though it didn’t last long.
Thanks
People say that rap is a dead form. I tend to believe different, I believe it’s just evolving, and staying current. Prime example is what we’ve been doing over here… Check out Kryptik – V.I.P ft. Crooked I. Just google it, I don’t wanna spam a link. against night
Hip hop is my life, man.
Thank you very much for this!
yo Mickey wassup! i dig your music, saw you in NY with Cool Kids. very cool article though
Here’s the truth. I am the conga player on this track. I was the assistant recording engineer at Planet Sound when Jean-Michel Basquiat came down with his freaky friends to do this track. My congas were set up in the live booth where Jean-Michel’s girlfriend laid down the violin track. J-M said he wanted those on the track. I told him they were mine. He asked me if would play them. I said sure. We did one take, no punch-in’s no over dubs. It was live. And it was my obscure claim to fame. If you have a copy of the original pressing you’ll notice by Congas they list ??? Well that would be me. Playing on the anthem of that time. I’m 54 now and my young niece thinks I’m dope.
Ken – its stories like this that make Last Days fun. Thanks for writing in!
Dope article!
Thank you very much for this!