dallaspenn.com

As I watch the Addict dig through twenty years worth of his clothing collections I remember the days when these items were first fresh to def. I remember that Hip-Hop was using rap music to verbally express it’s upscale aspirations. B-Boys were wearing prepped out clothing from Bally, Gucci and Polo Ralph Lauren. You might have lived in the projects but you would never let that determine your self worth. You were beautiful and smart and handsome and intelligent. Your art and your music told you that much. Your goal was to keep rising to the top.

The ensuing crack epidemic didn’t just kill the fiends, but it killed all of us simultaneously. It killed the young men that were murdered, or went to jail, or lost their humanity. It killed the children that were left to be raised by their tired and elderly grandparents. It killed the community that had only just found it’s footing after decades of struggling for the social right to vote and the human right to be human.

Even with the despair that your community has experienced you still have the chance to succeed, but you have to believe in yourself. Most importantly, you have to believe in your neighbor again. The community can only be rebuilt collectively. Man, woman and child. Brother to brother. Sister to sister. Love = work. Do you have the courage to make time to work for your brother?

I was inspired to do this podcast for all of you fresh to def evolutionaries. All of you kids that came from the city found a way to keep rising to the top despite everything going on around you. Despite crack and broken homes, despite the Central Park jogger, despite YUSUF HAWKINS, despite GAVIN CATO, YANKEL ROSENBAUM and the entire Crown Heights, despite GIULIANI, despite SEAN BELL. True story is that someone’s child over at XXL told me that people that listen to rap don’t want to hear lyrics in their dance music. Do you still have the courage to dance like an 18 year old?

Today’s podcast is brought to you courtesy of the Latin Quarter and Union Square nightclubs. The Rooftop, Empire and U.S.A. rollerskating rinks. Fulton Street, 125th Street, Jamaica Ave., Third Ave., and of course, Delancey Street.

KRS-1 – ‘My Philosophy’

SUPER LOVER CEE & CASANOVA RUD – ‘Do The James’

EPMD – ‘It’s My Thing’

MC LYTE – ‘Paper Thin’

BIG DADDY KANE & KOOL G RAP – ‘Raw (demo)’

STETSASONIC – ‘Go Stetsa’

ULTRAMAGNETIC MC’s – ‘Funky’

DOUG E. FRESH – ‘Nuthin’

PUBLIC ENEMY – ‘Rebel Without A Pause’