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"History of Reggae & Hip Hop" is essential listening · by Rafi Kam
I used to check (sometime Oh Word interviewer) Kevin Beacham’s old late night radio show Time Travel every week for unearthed gems, freestyles from visiting underground superstars and a guaranteed lesson on hip-hop. I was bummed when the show ended its long run some years back.
I’ve been sleeping on Kevin’s return with his current show Redefinition Radio on Minnesota Public Radio. The new format is just an hour long and its Saturday night time slot has made it easy to miss.
Last week I read an announcement for the show’s five part “History of Reggae & Hip Hop” which I was planning to check out on its January 7 broadcast. I missed the initial airing but a download of the show appeared at the show’s site sometime on Monday.
This is a superb broadcast with reggae classics from Barrington Levy, Jimmy Cliff and Yellowman as well as great examples of reggae influenced hip-hop throughout the 1980s. Beacham drops some knowledge over a dub track on Kool Herc’s failed attempts to make reggae catch on with the Bronx b-boys. The highlight may be Just Ice with KRS One on the 1987 track “Moshitup”. Check out KRS’s semi-spastic patois as well as some famous source lyrical material: “Suicide, it’s a suicide” and “Nothing new, nothing new, them not saying nothing new” would both come to be jacked from this track in the 90s. Beacham makes a clever connection to the sample source of BDP’s “The P is Free”, following “Moshitup” with Yellowman’s “Zungguzungguzungugzeng”.
I do miss the marathon three-hour format of Time Travel but the man is still delivering essential listening – now in a tighter package. Download part 1 at the show’s website and I’m betting this series will continue to deliver over the next four weeks.
On the self-promotional front, also check for new material from Kevin Beacham at Oh Word in 2006. Peace!
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