Hosted by Video Music Box owner Ralph McDaniels and Fever Records owner Abbatiello, there was also music by Grand Wizard Theodore, DJ Hollywood, and DJ Brucie Lee, all of whom delighted the ecstatic crowd spanning all generations. The atmosphere was one of old-school vibes, and there were plenty of laughs, with many of the crowd traveling to the Boogie Down from other parts of the city for the show.

According to the event promoters, Abbatiello, one of the pioneers of Hip Hop, discovered many rappers and DJs like Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, and Run-D.M.C. at his legendary night club Disco Fever. They said Abbatiello’s Bronx Latin dance club, The Devil’s Nest, is where Latin Hip Hop was born and is now called Freestyle. There, they said he discovered Little Louie Vega, TKA, The Cover Girls, Lisette Melendez and many more.

 

Abbatiello got the crowd movin’ and groovin’ straight away with chants of “Throw your hands in the air, and make it look like you just don’t care! If you came to party with us tonight, somebody say, ‘Oh yeah!’” An enthusiastic crowd delivered with several “Oh yeahs!” in unison. Abbatiello continued, “Yeah, we’re gonna party tonight! Look at that line-up, Baby! Give it up for that line-up right there!”

 

He added, “So, this is the 50^th year of Hip Hop; give it a round of applause! We are so blessed that we all been a part of this from the ‘70s right up until today.” Laughing, he continued, “I’m just so happy that we’re all still alive!” The music executive later joked, “Beautiful People! Make some noise!” before adding that he wasn’t forgetting his ugly friends in the house either.

 

There was also some friendly shade thrown at the “cheap-ass balcony people” who Abbatiello joked “just showed up on the night, paid at the door, and were like, ‘Yo, there’s still seats??’”

There were also shout-outs given to Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, as well as to all the moms in honor of Mothers’ Day. “Way to go my beautiful mothers, my single mothers, my married mothers, my cheap mothers,” Abbatiello joked, before calling on them to recall all those who ever disparaged them to join him in a rousing rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s I will survive!  “Give it up, Ladies!” he said. “Happy Mothers’ Day and Happy 50th Hip Hop Day!”

 

Grandmaster Melle Mel & Scorpio are two of the original members of the iconic, Hip Hop group Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. Composed of one DJ, Grandmaster Flash, who is also a music producer, and five rappers, Melle Mel, The Kidd Creole, Keef Cowboy, Mr. Ness/Scorpio, and Rahiem, the group’s use of turntablism, break-beat deejaying, and conscious lyricism was significant in the early development of Hip Hop music, the show’s promoters said.

 

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five’s classics include “Superrappin’” (1979), “Freedom,” “Birthday Party,” (both 1980) and “The Message,” which went platinum in under a month and became the first Hip Hop record inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the promoters said. In 2007, they became the first Rap/Hip Hop group inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the promoters added.

 

Soul Sonic Force was formed in 1982, also in The Bronx, by the popular DJ Afrika Bambaataa (Kevin Donovan) with DJ Jazzy Jay (John Byas) and rappers Mr. Biggs (Ellis Williams), Pow Wow (Robert Darrell Allen), The G.L.O.B.E. (John Miller) and Cosmic Force, the show’s promoters said. Raised within the gang culture of the South Bronx, they said Bambaataa began hosting Hip Hop parties in 1977 as a way to draw angry kids out of the gangs. Credited as one of the originators of “Breakbeat DJ-ing”, the promoters said the group started experimenting with rap music mixed with euro-electronica.

Borrowing an electronic keyboard hook from the German band, Kraftwerk, Soul Sonic Force’s first single “Planet Rock” went gold. The promoters said the groundbreaking hit, along with the group’s subsequent 1983 releases “Looking for the Perfect Beat” and “Renegades of Funk,” helped establish a new genre of music called “electro-boogie” that fused rap and dance music, acting as an influence to the development of electro funk and today’s techno music.

 

CL Smooth is best known as the vocal half of the Hip Hop duo, Pete Rock & CL Smooth. The show’s promoters said after the pair split in 1995, Smooth released his debut solo album, “American Me,” in 2006 and his second solo album, “The Outsider,” the following year. They said he contributed guest vocals to songs by AZ, Nujabes, and J.R. Writer, and headlined the Clean Energy Tour, together with Rock, in 2010. They said Smooth’s collaboration with Rock garnered acclaim, and made Rock one of the most acclaimed producers in Hip Hop.

 

Black Sheep is a Hip Hop duo, known for their witty lyrics and unique rhythms. The show’s promoters said the group is composed of Andres “Dres” Vargas and William “Mista Lawnge” McLean, both native New Yorkers from Queens, who met as teenagers in North Carolina before both of their families moved back to New York. The promoters said they debuted in 1991 with the hit song “Flavor of the Month” from their album “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” which went gold, and reached number 15 on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop album chart.

A second single from that album, “The Choice Is Yours”, rose to the number 1 spot on the Hot Rap Singles chart, the show’s promoters said, and the group was honored by VH1 in 2008 when the single placed 73rd out of the top 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs.

 

Keith Murray, a Long Island native, gained fame in the 1990s with his debut album, “The Most Beautifullest Thing in This World,” which went gold, the show’s promoters said. They said Murray’s collaboration with Erick Sermon on the song “Hostile” and his high-profile guest appearances on remixes for artists like LL Cool J and Mary J. Blige further cemented his status as a rising star in Hip Hop. The promoters said Murray continued to release successful albums, including “Enigma,” “It’s a Beautiful Thing,” and “He’s Keith Murray.” They said he has also collaborated with iconic acts like Def Squad and Redman.

 

Sweet G is a New York rapper who is known for his single “Games People Play,” released on Fever Records in 1983, the show’s promoters said. They said the hit song peaked at number 60 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Music\Club Play Singles chart and was played at every radio station in New York.

Grandmaster Flash, AKA Joseph Robert Saddler, who created the DJ technique called the Quick Mix Theory, was not in attendance at the Hip Hop Fever show at Lehman. Norwood News spoke to the grandmaster at the Bronx Week 2023 Ball, held at the Bronx Zoo on Saturday, May 20, and asked for his general thoughts on Hip Hop’s 50th birthday.

 

He said, “Well, when I was 15 years old, if you would have told me that some of the things that I was doing with the turntables would become a worldwide phenomenon, that I would have been the person to create the backing track for human beings to have a better music to speak on, I would have told you that you’re crazy, but here we are!”

 

Flash added, “It’s wonderful; it’s our birth born situation, and I’m just happy to be a part of it!” Asked how he felt Hip Hop has changed over the intervening 50 years, he said, “It’s in different languages! Anything that changes has to grow.. like it couldn’t stay the same. It’s impossible. So The Bronx took it and gave it to the next thing, and the next thing gave it to the next thing, and then the next thing gave it to the next country, and the next country gave it to…..maybe the next planet. We’ll see what happens….”

According to Lehman College officials, as a pioneer and founding father of Hip Hop, Grandmaster Flash laid socially conscious lyrics over groundbreaking beats, and at the college’s commencement ceremony on Thursday, June 1, he will receive an honorary doctor of music degree in recognition of his work. College officials said more than 3,450 graduates will hear from the rap legend as they prepare to make their own music in the world.

 

Describing Grandmaster Flash as a cultural icon, Lehman College president Fernando Delgado said by sharing his experiences, the honoree will help students see that there are many ways to make change in the world.

 

Given the advances in music technology over the years since the origins of Hip Hop in the 1970s, we asked the grandmaster if the genre, as an art form, is now more about technology than creativity. He replied, “Me being one of the architects and builders of it, we perform for people not at people. That’s pretty much it, so the rapper talks the language that they need to hear and the DJ plays the music that the people want to hear. I think our form of entertainment is unlike any others.. respect the pop, rock, jazz, blues, funk, disco, R&B, alternative, Caribbean, but nothin’s like Hip Hop.. nothin’!”

 

For a few short videos of the show, click here and here.

 

Check out just some of our previous Hip Hop coverage here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.