Hip Hop Family Tree, Vol. 2: 1981-1983: 12/04/15

Hip Hop Family Tree, Vol. 2: 1981-1983 by Ed Piskor covers the years when Hip Hop was being noticed by the rest of the music industry. It was the time when Hip Hop was spreading beyond its initial boundaries and people were beginning to realize money could be made from the art form.

Much of volume 2 covers the filming of Wild Style (1983) which marks my introduction to Hip Hop and Rap. I remember seeing a news program or maybe a documentary on Lee Quinones's part in the film and his "career" as an artist (or defacer of public property as some were arguing). What I don't remember is if the movie or Hip Hop were mentioned in the thing I watched.

As the book is wrapping up with the completion of Wild Style, Ed Piskor points out other ways the early Hip Hop artists made their mark. First there was the exporting of the genre to Europe. In England the ridiculous but catchy song Buffalo Gals debuts.

Buffalo Gals is probably the second hip hop song I ever heard (with Blondie's Rapture being the first. I was home sick with chicken pocks and pretty delirious because of the fever I was running. Anyway, the song with its limited amount of lyrics, snappy beat, and silly mashup of square dancing (something they were still teaching in school when I was a kid) and rap was something that had me giggling and later singing.

Five stars

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