Christmas Countdown – 17 days

I’ve got respect for early 80’s hip hop but if I never heard The Message again I wouldn’t be bummed. I was born in 1983, maybe that’s the problem: a 15 year disconnect from the birth of rap. I know what it’s like to bear witness to an emerging sub-culture. I was around for the second wave of hardcore in the early to mid 90’s, it was a tight-knit scene and everything from slang words to our footwear seemed very exclusive and exciting. So when I hear these original hip hop heads talking about the 80’s like it was a sacred time, I can relate although I don’t fully understand it.

I watched Beat Street about a million years ago, when I was still getting babysat by my sister. As soon as my moms left to play bingo she’d put on any variety of kid inappropriate movies and then send me to bed scared or confused. I saw the entire Omen, Friday The 13th and Halloween series’ on her watch, along with Flesh Gordon, Fritz The Cat and Juice (all hype movies). I remember even as a kid thinking Beat Street was a pretty cheesy flick. I’m pretty certain it was a bad hollywood take even for it’s time. I just couldn’t get with the gear and the dancing, it was dated to the point where the extras looked like they were in 80’s halloween costumes. But it’s christmas I’m talking about today. There’s this scene in the film where hip hop pioneers The Treacherous Three (DJ Easy Lee, Kool Moe Dee, L.A. Sunshine, Special K and Spoonie Gee) do a little Christmas rap for a audience of windbreaker sporting, break-dancing, puffy haired fans. The jam is called Santa’s Rap, the clip is below.