Grandmaster Caz and Chris Stein – Wild Style Theme Rap 1
Fantastic Freaks – Basketball Throwndown (with Cold Crush Bros) and At The Dixie
Double Trouble – At The Amphitheatre
Grand Wizard Theodore and Kevie Kev – Military Cut Scratch Mix
The Chief Rocka Busy Bee and DJ AJ – At The Amphitheatre
Today would have been Matthew Africa’s 52nd Birthday and every year around this time we pay tribute to Matthew, a singular influence on my musical sensibilities, here on Melting Pot. Given that this year celebrates 50 years since Kool DJ Herc set in motion Hip-Hop culture, it’s fitting to share this album. As a DJs DJ, I wasn’t surprised at all to see that MKA had marked the label on both sides, just to make cueing up a cut just a little easier whenever he spun this one out.
Released only ten years after the birth of Hip-Hop, in 1983, and just a couple of years after the world came to know just what had been bubbling up in the Bronx and beyond for a decade. Along with Style Wars, Wild Style holds a treasured space in the minds of most “true school” Hip-Hop heads, as many feel like its the best representation of what Hip-Hop was really like in the early years before it became more commercialized and there were only mixtapes to represent the culture. To say that it’s a classic that all fans of Hip-Hop have to see is a understatement.
Posting it today, I started thinking back to when I first saw the film, which must have been around 1997 at Daryl “G-Wiz” Felker’s spot, with a couple of other members of the WRAS’ Weekend Wrecking Crew also there. I thought I knew a thing or two about Hip-Hop history back then, but I’d never even heard of this film until Wiz played it. I sat on the couch awestruck for the whole time, mouth agape, saying “how have I never seen this?” and “oh shit, THAT’S where that sample comes from?” on repeat, for pretty much the running time of the whole film. I can still remember Wiz exclaiming during the Fantastic Freak’s performance at The Dixie, “Damn, that’s when niggas had flows!” and being fully in agreement. I can’t 100% be sure that by then I’d heard Jurassic 5, whose sound was so connected to this moment in Hip-Hop, but aside from them I can’t think of any post-Old School crew that could match the intricate back and forth in the performances from Fantastic Freaks and Cold Crush Bros. in the film. Hearing these recordings in 2023, they still sounds revelatory to me in a way that much of what came after it just simply does not.
It was so hard to choose what songs to highlight off this legendary record, almost every song is a classic for those who know. I decided to share 5 songs, one for each decade Hip-Hop has existed. Each one has been sampled multiple times, almost always in an iconic way. So much amazing music…such an amazing period of time. Happy to be able to share this one today on MKA’s bday, since this record came from his collection. And in the sharing, Matthew Africa lives forever. Peace and Bright Moments
