Hip-Hop Evolution

New York City is the undisputed

birthplace of hip hop.

New York's pioneering hip hop artists

created a sound and culture

that gave a voice to young black urban America.

But on the West Coast

it was a different story.

It's been said in Los Angeles

everybody's a star

but the stars of the early 80's L.A. music scene

were the furthest thing from hip hop.

At that time in L.A.,

we didn't have history of rap.

We didn't have like,

Grand Master Flash with the messages

and-and the Treacherous Three's,

you know, in the parks with the light poles

and setting up in the empty apartments

and the break dancing.

Our scene

for a long time was strictly techno,

like we didn't want to come out of the Donna Summer,

KC & The Sunshine Band era.

You know, on the east coast

it was more about

poverty in the streets

and the government.

And on the west coast we were like

party, women.

You know, party and women that was it.

We were like laid back

'cause we out in L.A., man, you know.

Shit we by the beach. We ten minutes from the beach.

What are we mad about? Okay?

Most of the parties back then

were either at roller skating rinks

or people would rent out little ballrooms

and have like these little things.

The scene would be more like,

you know, you got a couple of turntables, a mixer

you know, and you just go do parties

and you didn't make no money but

back then DJ'ing was like

being a star.

So it was about four or five promoters

at that time

that were

specializing in doing mobile parties.

Groups like Uncle Jam's Army

who was the biggest concert promoter

in Los Angeles.

You also had ah

World Class Wreckin' Cru.

From The World Class Wreckin' Cru you had

Dr. Dre,

DJ Yella,

Lonzo came up out of there.

The inspiration behind

Wreckin' Cru's image and sound

was pussy.

Straight out, okay.

Everybody was trying to sell sex

and we was trying to buy it, okay.

Bottom line.

Understand this, we were in the middle of the Prince,

Morris Day, Vanity Six era, okay.

That's why we had the Jheri Curls

and the sequin suits 'cause

there were no tennis shoe,

t-shirt, jean groups out there at this time.

So World Class Records who had to have come up with an image

that was gonna be sexy enough to get laid

after the show.

Dr. Dre to surgery, Dr. Dre to surgery.

Kids out here in Los Angeles

would be fucking waiting every Friday night

to hear that shit that they were gonna play.

And then they'd go fucking pop, lock and break

and battle each other out.

Uncle Jam had already moved up

and they were doing like,

The Sports Arena and

and doing, you know,

like the Convention Center,

five, ten thousand people.

No MC's, only DJ'S.

So people would come

just to see the DJ's perform.

They would have a hundred speakers

stacked up like it was a concert.

It was a party scene, man.

It's what started that thing.

It was the, that west coast party.

L.A.'s music scene was all about the party

and Dr. Dre might have been on the mic

but the World Class Wreckin' Cru

had more in common with Prince and Funkadelic

than Run-D.M.C.

But there was one dancer that was popping

and locking on the pier

who would eventually put L.A. rap

on the map.

Hey-Hey, Coco?

Oh that's you, I thought that was the dog.

Oh you over there squeaking that shit.

Hey-Hey Max, Max, Coco?

Did she leave?

She left. It's okay.

Ah King Max, you can't-you gotta chill.

This motherfucker right here,

he'll go away.

He'll go away.

So let's talk about the early L.A. scene.

You've described the,

what the west coast added sonic,

some more musicality.

Well we didn't have a sound.

We didn't have a sound

because our sound was techno.

I used to call it aerobic music.

Lots of breathing.

You know, we were dressed kind of crazy.

It was all pastel colors and shit.

Fila sweat suits, K-Swiss.

You know, I had a perm.

Niggas were wearing perms,

trying to look like, looking sharp.

Everybody looked goofy back then.

You know, that was the time,

that was the era.

But I look at it today,

I kinda cringe.

We were pop locking and breaking

and doing all that kind of stuff too

but L.A.'s musical scene was secondary

to the gang scene,

the hustling scene.

The stars of L.A.

were drug dealers and gangsters

and hustlers.

Where I came up you had the

Rollin' 60's Crips,

the Hoover Crips,

the 30's which are called the Harlem Crips.

Then you had the Family,

which was the Inglewood Brims.

Pirus, Athens Park Boys, Denver Lane.

I basically was in

the Crips side of the gang thing

'cause that's what's surrounding Crenshaw.

But I was never

jumped into a gang.

I was what would be considered

a gang affiliate.

A gang affiliate will wear the colors

but you're not

a hardcore gang member.

But if you get yourself connected to players

the world flips backwards.

Doing what's right is for suckers

and you're living in a world

with all these villains,

fiends and scoundrels and

you take pride in that.

It's really strange.

It's really strange.

The world actually becomes backwards.

It was a turning point in my life,

you know, I had one foot in the graveyard,