Cornell University Library's Hip Hop Conference Participants
Hip Hop Pioneers
Afrika Bambaataa
As one of the founding fathers of hip hop culture, Afrika Bambaataa remains one of the most influential figures in contemporary music. His “jam parties” inspired early hip hop, transforming funk and R&B and leading to the development of freestyle, electronica, techno, house music and more. Rolling Stone notes that his 1982 hit “Planet Rock,” which went gold, “spawned an entire school of ‘electro-boogie’ rap and dance music.”
Bambaataa quit a Bronx gang in the mid-1970s and founded the Zulu Nation, which promotes music and peace among young people. His name, which means "affectionate leader,” is adopted from a movie about Zulu warriors.
Sources:
http://www.zulunation.com/afrika.html
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/afrikabambaataa/biography
Grandmaster Caz
Grandmaster Caz began his DJ career in 1974 and, along with founders Tony Tone and Charlie Chase, became one of the original members and captain of Cold Crush Brothers. Some of his early lyrics appear in the seminal “Rapper’s Delight,” although Caz was never offered credit or compensation for his work. His solo career also soared, and he continues to perform and influence hip hop today.
Sources:
http://www.hiphop-network.com/articles/djarticles/grandmastercaz.asp
http://uk.real.com/music/artist/Grandmaster_Caz/
Roxanne Shante
Shante pioneered the response record at age 14 with "Roxanne's Revenge," a pointed and witty answer to U.T.F.O.'s 1984 hit, "Roxanne, Roxanne." She became the "Mistress of Dis" and battled other women MCs throughout the 1980s. She left music at 25 to pursue her PhD in psychology, and she now runs her own practice and mentors young women rappers.
Sources:
http://music.aol.com/artist/roxanne-shante/biography/1000072
http://www.myspace.com/roxanneshantemusic
Pebblee Poo
One of hip hop's groundbreaking women MCs, Bronx native Pebblee Poo began MCing in the 1970s. She became famous for “A Fly Guy,” a response to the Boogie Boys’ “A Fly Girl.” She was the first female MC for Kool Herc and the Herculoids, and she continues to perform live and work on new albums.
Sources:
http://www.jayquan.com/peblee.htm
GrandWizzard Theodore
Theodore Livingston, a.k.a. GrandWizzard Theodore, is known worldwide for his role in the advancement of turntable manipulation, having invented both the "scratch" and the "needle drop" techniques. Theodore was a member of the L Brothers and the Fantastic Five. In the early 1970s, he learned to DJ from his older brother, Mean Gene; in the summer of 1975, he debuted the the scratch at 63 Park (between 168th and 169th on Boston Road) in the Bronx. Like many DJs of the time, GrandWizzard Theodore was also a b-boy. GrandWizzard Theodore continues to rock parties internationally, judge DJ battles and teach DJ master classes.
Sources:
http://www.myspace.com/grandwizardtheodore7
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7550286
http://www.answers.com/topic/grand-wizard-theodore
Tony Tone
DJ Tony Tone founded the Cold Crush Brothers in the Bronx in 1979, creating what would become one of the seminal groups to “bridge rap’s transition from the underground to mainstream success,” according to The Vibe History of Hip Hop. He was born and raised in the South Bronx.
Sources:
http://www.djtonytone.com/bio.htm
Disco Wiz
Born in the Bronx himself as Luis Cedeño, Disco Wiz is recognized as the first Latino hip hop DJ, and his contributions have paved the way for other Latinos in the industry. He was known for his aggressive style in battles, especially with childhood friend Grandmaster Caz. DJ Disco Wiz emphasizes the history of hip hop, and he was a major contributor in the opening of the Experience Music Project in Seattle in 2000. He is currently working on an autobiography and sits on the board of the Universal Federation for the Preservation of Hip Hop Culture.
Sources:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/djdiscowiz
Jorge "Popmaster Fabel" Pabon
As Senior Vice President of the Rock Steady Crew, Fabel is a renowned hip hop dancer, choreographer and historian. A respected activist and spokesman on hip hop culture, his work includes film (Beat Street, From Mambo to Hip Hop), stage, aerosol art, DJ-ing, rhyming and digital arts. He has been a principle dancer and one of the artistic directors in Rennie Harris's theatrical production, Legends Of Hip Hop, which was showcased in London and New York City. He teaches movement as an adjunct professor in the Experimental Theater Wing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He offers lectures, demonstrations and master classes, and he participates in international outreach programs and conferences.
Sources:
http://myspace.com/popmasterfabel
http://www.oldschoolhiphop.com/artists/bboys/popmasterfabel.htm
Joe Conzo Jr., photographer
Growing up in the South Bronx, Joe Conzo captured the birth of hip hop on film during the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is now considered hip hop’s first photographer. His pictures appear in publications and media outlets around the world, including VH1, Esquire, VIBE and The Source. His photographic archive is at Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.
Performers
DJ J.Rocc
J.Rocc, an influential and well-known club DJ, has built his career through energetic and creative musical stylings, especially using turntables and blending hip hop and reggae to form a unique sound. He gathered an impressive list of musicians in 1992 to form a turntable band, the Beat Junkies, which would play a huge role in the development of the genre. J.Rocc has collected a long list of awards, and the DJ List notes he is “highly recognized for his funky showcases and original arrangements.”
Sources:
http://www.stonesthrow.com/jrocc
http://www.thedjlist.com/djs/J.ROCC/
Scholars and Commentators
Jeff Chang
Jeff Chang has written extensively on culture, politics, the arts, and music. His first book, Can't Stop Won't Stop: a History of the Hip Hop Generation, won an American Book Award in 2005. He has also edited the acclaimed anthology, Total Chaos: The Art & Aesthetics of Hip-Hop. His writings have appeared in publications such as URB, The Bomb, San Francisco Chronicle, the Village Voice, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Vibe, Spin, The Nation, and Mother Jones. In 2007, he interviewed Barack Obama for the cover of Vibe.
Sources:
http://www.cantstopwontstop.com/index.cfm
Mark Anthony Neal
As a seminal scholar in the field of race and music, Neal teaches in the Department of African-American Studies at Duke University. He has authored four books, including New Black Man and Songs in the Keys of Black Life and is co-editor (with Murray Forman) of That's the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader.
Sources:
http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/WomensStudies/affiliated/man9
http://www.blogger.com/profile/07551259092635367609
Tricia Rose
Born and raised in Harlem and the Bronx, Tricia Rose became a pre-eminent scholar in hip hop studies and now serves as professor of Africana Studies at Brown University. She makes frequent media appearances and is best-known for her book, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, which is used as a textbook for hip hop studies and helped legitimize the field for serious study. Her next book, The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop and Why It Matters, will be released in December 2008.
Sources:
http://www.triciarose.com/biography.shtml
Katherine Reagan, curator
As Ernest L. Stern Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts and assistant director for collections, Katherine Reagan provides leadership for curatorial programs in Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, where she has been on the staff since 1996. Reagan teaches “History of the Book” for Cornell’s department of English, and is a past president of the American Library Association’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Section. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and her master’s degree from the rare book program at Columbia University’s School of Library Service.
Johan Kugelberg, collector and author
Johan Kugelberg is an international curator and a writer in the field of popular culture. He donated the materials to the Library after editing Born in the Bronx, a book on the evolution of hip hop in the South Bronx, beginning in the early 1970s, published by leading art book house Rizzoli. The 2,000-piece collection includes the archive of Bronx photographer Joe Conzo, vinyl records and other recordings, handmade party and club flyers, and custom-painted textiles from artist Buddy Esquire. He is currently working on a book on the DJ-culture aspects of the early history of hip hop, in part drawn from the Cornell archive.
Cornell’s hip hop conference was planned and organized by Cornell University Library and members of Cornell’s hip hop advisory board.
Additional sources:
Chang, Jeff. Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation, 2005.
Light, Alan, ed. The Vibe History of Hip Hop, 1999.
Kugelberg, Johan, ed. Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop, 2007.
Ogg, Alex and David Upshal. The Hip Hop Years: A History of Rap, 2001.