DJ Kool Herk and Grandmaster Flash

If you were in the Bronx in 1973 you may have heard the buzz on the streets about the rec room. It was a low-income apartment where guys got together to chill. However, something very interesting happened in the rec room. Kool Herk and his buddies began using their skills to create some new sh**. They began workin’ interludes on multiple turntables spinning their favorite tunes. They began applying vocals with the loops they created. They began to shout out rap words like, “to all my homies in the house.” Years later when I befriended Kool Herk, he was still doing his thing.

Grandmaster Flash helped spread the word that they created something new and exciting. The rec room titled what they were spittin’, rappin’.

Kool Herk was on stage in Vegas with Lyricist Lounge and Nas doing shout outs. NY in the house, and the club went nutzo. I was the only old lady in the place, way out of place, and my blonde hair was glowing. Just hang with this clan a while and you may be spittin’.

Youth today listen to hip-hop and rap, but most don’t have a clue where the sh** came from. The rappers today, which the youth praise, wouldn’t be going platinum rappin’ if it weren’t for the rec room leading the way. Three cheers to the rec room…