I'm down for good music for a good cause but this ain't the case. The homie Sha from MTV hit me with a question yesterday I dreaded goin' on the record about: How do I feel about hip-hop artists being included in the "We Are The World" remake? Geez, I guess we've come long way since 1985. I don't think you could do it any other way than include our culture which is the pulse of pop culture. But instead of feeling any type of validation, I feel disgust. Seriously, a complete remake of the original song? Celine Dion gettin' her Cyndi Lauper on? Lil Wayne as Bob Dylan? Fuck outta here. Didn't I see Will.I.Am in the flicks? They could gave that nigga an hour plus a pen and a pad and I'm sure he'd come up with something cheesy for no small fee but for free. I'm truly scared to hear what the final product is gonna sound like. Are we really gonna hear the soothing vocals of Nipsey Hussle in the final mix? Highly doubt it. Damn, it's the thought that counts but this just doesn't feel right. Shame on a couple of legendary nuhs named Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones. MJ is turning over in his oxygen tank. 
You know you done fucked up, don't you? You know it, don't you? You know you done fucked up.RR Exclusive: 20/20 Hip-Hop Special From 1981
Friday, May 15 2009 4:15 PM EST | Posted by: YN | Posted in: Rap Radar Exclusives Video{mp4-flvremote width=”540″ height=”350″}http://video.ak.facebook.com/video-ak-sf2p/v2685/148/106/1041852737840_58979.mp4{/mp4-flvremote}
This is the illest shit I’ve ever seen. Instant classic! I almost cried at the end.
Pt. 2. So what you gonna do?
{mp4-flvremote width=”540″ height=”350″}http://video.ak.facebook.com/video-ak-sf2p/v2685/157/39/1041856257928_17030.mp4{/mp4-flvremote}
Super shout out to my mello, my man EMZ and especially Dan Charnas. The story behind the making of this 20/20 episode will be a part of his upcoming book, The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, coming out on New American Library/Penguin in 2010. I’m gonna cop five of ‘em. Get it? Ha!
IM BORN IN 1982…THX FOR THE VIDEO…NEVER SEEN IT !!!
http://citylightsafe.blogspot.com/
Thank you
thats my born year.
Hip-Hop since birth.
NYC……
lmao @ hugh downs, “it is infectious”
I saw this episode when it aired on a Friday Night way back when on channel 7. Didn’t have a VCR, so I took my boom box, put it up to the TV speaker and recorded the audio on cassette tape. Glad to see this again.
this should be taught in middle school history lessons.
THANK YOU YN…We need more of this and people like you out there.
Our people need to understand their history to know where we’re going… somewhere along the line that was lost. but with post like this the progression only grows.
It’s videos like this that make me hope rap radar will be here for quite awhile.
I was born in 1976. This brings back so many memories. I don’t know how/where you found this, but THANK YOU. Young heads need to be educated.
Great post!!
This is by far one of the dopest video BLOG i’ve seen this year I think it is mandatory that all emcee’s and all so called emcees and rappers and the hiphop community as a whole watch this man this was dope i posted it on my BLOG.
http://blackmanwithblog.blogspot.com/
Pikahsso
I Can’t Live Without My RADIO
That was like looking into a parallel universe.
Thank you.
It’s bugged how many times I’ve seen this piece used in several documentaries over the years and cats most of been like, “where’s that footage from?” Well, I remember peepin’ this the first time ’round, (back in ‘82 on Ch. 7).
This piece blew my mind and along with a few early televised pieces on the culture, I began my foray into Hip-Hop. I was 12 when I saw this and will be 39 this month. I married “this thing of ours” as a kid and have no plans on divorcing it. Hip-Hop ya don’t stop!!
Thanks for rewinding the hands of time!
-Koe Rodriguez
Crazy blast from the past watching this video. Everyone doubted the music and art form except the people involved and the people who appreciated it. Now, look where hip hop has excelled to and continues to rise.
OUTTA SIGHT!
This report caught me off guard bc the anchors were all so positive… Guess this was pre-ANGER so it wasn’t scary to the powers tht be yet – all to the GOOD…
WE need this 2 be broadcasted one every hiphopchannel around the world!!!!
thanks 4 educating a freshman!
it was a novelty idea then, but the open-minded are usually receptive to new things; it’s the ignorant, stubborn, and stupid ones that cause the problems within the culture that have helped damage it. I always do my best to preserve it and spread its essence. peep : bigbuttabeats.podomatic.com or, if you’re in orlando, fl on friday nights between 7-9pm, tune into 91.5 FM or online at wprkdj.org.
peace and props on this vid!!!
“O”
Danny Schechter, News Dissector here. I produced the story for 20/20 with help from B ADLER back in the day when the old school was schooling all of us. I am thrilled that folks still value it. Check out Http://Globalvision.org for some of the work we have done since. I am also originally from the PRB–People’s Republic of the Bronx (DWC)
Thanks to Dan Chamas for taking an interest in the work and happy to hear from one and all: dissector@mediachannel.org…Respect!
Kurtis Blow was the first rapper I ever met…and he was the biggest hip-hop star in the world at the time and was the first with a record deal. This is great.