My personal favourite, Grandmaster Flash of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five details how he broke taboo by actually touching the vinyl record to “cut” to sections of the beat. We also see how small artists who manually made their own tapes provided inspiration to the stars whose hands they happened to fall into. *Cough* Ice Cube, Dr Dre…
It’s incredibly entertaining watching rare archived footage of rappers spitting tunes at parties, engaging in epic rap battles or even simply becoming aware of the power that their message held to many outside of their own hometowns.
Be prepared for the confrontation of raw topics such as poverty and racial tensions between law enforcement, as well as the domestic pressures that (unsuccessfully) tried to prevent youth getting a hold of these controversial records. HHE does not gloss over these topics but nor does it glamorise it either.
Hip Hop Evolution has it all – the rivalry between the East and West Coast, the beginning of gangsta rap, and even the crossovers into other genres like rock and pop that gave it the legitimacy it craved.
Verdict: This series really is dope.
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