FREESPEAK BY JOHNNY SPANONE

Let me first say that without Dancehall Reggae, Hip-hop would never have existed. In the late '60s and early '70s,  many Jamaicans migrated to the US for the prospects of a better life. As they migrated, they took with them the culture of the Jamaican sounds and neighborhood music festivals. Some of these migrants and their offsprings later became the pioneering fathers of Hip hop in the US. These are pioneering DJs like Cool Herk, African Bambata, and others. This point is important to note in order to fully understand this story. During the early beginnings of Dancehall Reggae in Jamaica, in the '60s and '70s, Dancehall Reggae was a mostly male-dominated industry. Female DJs and artists were discouraged from pursuing their ambitions in this musical field, but this never stopped the legendary and first female dancehall artist from taking steps to further her musical ambition. In 1976 Sista Nancy recorded her legendary tune  'Bam Bam'  with the Stalag riddim( ba

 Recently while at an interview at a hip-hop podcast, the legendary Busta Rhymes revealed that at one time he was unable to  rap faster than Jay Z. This revelation shocked the hip-hop world.   In his words, Busta Rhymes, one of the fastest rappers in the world, revealed that when he was starting out as a rapper he was influenced by dancehall artists to start rapping fast. He claimed his major influence to speed rap was The legendary dancehall artists Papa Sun and Lt Stitchie .  While this was surprising enough to keep the hip hop world wondering, he went on to reveal that when he was still an upcoming school-going, teen mc, he battled with Jay Z, who was his school mate at the time and was unable to rap faster than The Jigga Man, which was the criteria to win the battle, thus lost.  He went on to reveal that Jay Z had begun speed rapping early and had mastered the art before him due to the crew he was moving with, 'The Originators'.  The Originators were a pioneering rap grou

 When you speak of classic hip-hop songs, Tupac's track ' Dear Mama ' will certainly make the list. Dear mama was released in 1995 though it was recorded in 1994. As soon as the song was released, controversy arose. Kill Kill a rapper from Watts, Los Angeles, accused Tupac of stealing the concept of his song, ' Mama Dear ' which Tupac released as, 'Dear Mama' after Kill Kill handed him a  demo tape at 92.3 The beat radio station now known as KRRL.  Kill Kill's track was released in 1994, one year before Tupac released his. The angered rapper went on to release a diss track against Tupac in 1995 called ' Here we go ' claiming he thought Tupac was a friend and an authentic rapper, just to find out later that he was just a fraud and a fake.  At the time the diss track by Kill Kill was released, Tupac was in jail serving a sentence after being accused of rape the previous year and couldn't respond. However Tupac was bailed out the same year by

 If you are not in the loop, hot new Redman single,'  80bars ' out. A lyrical assassination. Redman continues to represent the real hip-hop 20 years on...  

 Since the saddening news of dmx's passing, rumours have been circulating about his demise. Most of the rumours have been unconfirmed. Now Irv Gotti, the man who signed X to def jam when he was part of def jam's A&R, has jumped in with his insight. He claimed  dmx's family confided in him that dmx took a bad dose of crack cocaine that contained the compound fentanyl, which made him overdose. He continued saying that on arrival to the hospital, dmx was diagnosed with covid 19 and had breathing problems. But by the time the doctors were able to hook him up to a ventilator that could help him breathe more easily, he was already brain dead. This info has not yet been confirmed by his family. Dmx's memorial service will be held at the Barclay Centre and will be aired live on @youtube at 4pm est, on April 25th. Long live dmx.

 It's quite natural to think of men being the most aggressive when you compare the extensiveness of the trait in both genders. Due to that fact, we would naturally expect the first diss record to be recorded in hip-hop history, to have been recorded by a man. How wrong would you be to think that?  The first known diss/reply record to have been recorded was, ' Roxanne's revenge  in 1984. It was recorded by a then 15-year-old female mc going by the name, ' Roxanne Shante '. The song was an unexpected reply to a song that was released by a group that was by then popular in the inner cities of Newyork, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. The group was known as, ' U T F O ', and the song was known as,' Roxanne Roxanne '.  The song was about a young gal that the members of the group were trying to hit on. Roxanne Shante being then a 15-year-old gal, that was hungry to record, replied to it, which started the famous Roxanne wars in Hip-hop. Adding to this Roxanne

Another sad day for Hip-hop. Rap legend/producer and Digital Underground founder, Shock G dies aged 57. Shock G was a member of the renowned legendary rap group Digital Underground, which became popular in the late eighties and early nineties for their songs and dances. The Humpty dance which was one of their routines had made them a household name by the early nineties. The group is also credited for bringing the rap legend Tupac Amaru Shakur to the limelight. Shock G who became Tupac's close friend and producer was also featured in Tupac's most popular singles like ' i get around ', ' coz I had to ', and also is credited for producing many of Tupac's hits till his death in 1996. Shock G was found dead yesterday in his hotel room at Vista Inn and Suites on East Bearss Avenue in Tampa Florida. The cause of death has not yet been established. This info was also reported on the rumor report with Angela Yee on the Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM. R I P Shock G a

 The Notorious Biggie Smalls was a famous, legendary, and very talented rapper from Bedstay Brooklyn Newyork who peeked in the mid-nineties. Unfortunately, he died in his prime. Before becoming one of a world-renown hip hop star, he had become street famous in the Brooklyn inner-city streets for rap battling which had gained him some popularity which in turn led to him getting discovered and signed by P Diddy, the CEO of Bad Boy Entertainment. Recently his childhood friend and former rival battle MC, 'Supreme' who battled Biggie during his battling days in the nineties was interviewed on the US podcast hiphopisreal .com, where he recounted his rap battles with Biggie. One of his most famous battle with the deceased rapper was captured on film and is the only clip available of Biggies rap battles in the streets as an unsigned MC. In the interview, Biggie's childhood friend recounted how he lost the battle and while reminiscing he remembered the rap legend's rap name then

' Angie B' was probably one of the first female rappers if not the first. As claimed by 'Fat Joe ' recently in his renowned podcast ' The Big Big show ', while interviewing the legendary west-coast veteran rapper, ' Too Short ', Angie B was one of the first female rappers from the Bronx NY to grab the mic in probably the late '70s or early '80s. Many didn't know of this due to the fact that it was the pre-recording era of hip hop when hip hop songs were not recorded. His claim was supported by the west coast MC, who claimed to have been familiar with the east coast scene at that point in time. What was eye-opening in their conversation was that 'Angie B' took a break off rapping and shifted from the Bronx in the early eighties, took a hiatus off the music, and came back to the music scene years later as the Grammy Award-winning Neo-Soul/RNB Singer that we know ANGIE STONE. #hiphop #angiestone #kenyanmusic

For your hip hop info expansion. Melle Mel was the first rapper t o call himself ' MC ', at first it was EMMC then it shortened to MC. He did it to keep the crowd's focus on the DJ and rapper, to make their events more of a s how. Melle Mel was one of the rappers in the first-ever rap group, 'Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five', and as a group, they composed, recorded, and released the first-ever rap song that talked and roll hall of fame and the first to be added into the American national archives of history about social issues of the black inner-city slums, ' The Message '.The first rap song to be inducted into the international memorable recordings. Part of the lyrics are, 'A child is born with no state of mind, blind to the ways of mankind/ God will smile on you but he frowns too, coz only God knows what she'll go through #hiphop #kenyanmusic #mellemel