Hip-Hop Made Audacy

Back with another installment of Hip-Hop Made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Busta Rhymes says he is bringing "feel good energy" back to Hip-Hop as he is gearing up to release his new album.

Teaming up with some of the biggest names in Hip-Hop, Busta's new album, Block Busta, is not only executive produced by himself but also Swizz Beatz, Pharrell, and Timbaland.

"I'm super grateful to each and every one of those gentlemen. My brothers," he said "they been a part of my legacy and my career growth... I'm super grateful, super thankful that my brothers decided to make some time and just really be a part of this body of work."

Busta declared that this project is going to "shift the culture." As it should, "that's what it's about, especially during Hip-Hop 50. I mean in general we supposed to do that just continue to add in a significant way to the culture and a productive way."

The 51-year-old rapper reflected on being one along with many OGs in the game of Hip-Hop, "as incredible as a run that we've all had learning as we were going along, we the senseis of this s***," he said before asking "you think stopping anytime soon makes sense?"

The lead single from his new project, "Beach Ball" featuring BIA is out now.

Words by Yasmeen Akbar

Back with another installment of Hip-Hop Made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Audacy's V-103 Atlanta caught up with Big Boi, 1/2 of the legendary rap duo, Outkast, to talk about how he believes Atlanta influenced the genre.

As an Atlanta rapper himself, he believes that "Atlanta influenced Hip-Hop by the diversity of the artists here," he said, citing a range of different artists from Atlanta like Killer Mike and T.I. and it's those artists like so many others helps Atlanta "[keep] it fresh and new and it's just always been evolving."

Back with another installment of Hip-Hop Made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Audacy's V-103 Atlanta caught up with Big Boi, 1/2 of the legendary rap duo, Outkast, to talk about the song that made him fall in love with Hip-Hop.

It was Run-D.M.C's 1984 "Rock Box," that initially made Big Boi fall in love with Hip-Hop. He recalls riding around with his father in a Camaro, "blasting Run-D.M.C.," he said he'd "never forget it."

Back with another installment of Audacy’s Hip-Hop Made, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Fatman Scoop zoomed in to chat with Mike Street all about his Hip-Hop beginnings in Harlem, opting not to work with Diddy, having no plan B if the music biz didn’t work out, and more.

Scoop started the conversation off with some back story about being one of the well known rappers in Harlem, his connections to Teddy Riley, Rob Base, and Markell Riley, and how he was supposed to release a project under Teddy but it got dropped when Teddy and Gene Griffin broke up.

After that all went down he “went to Puff,” as in Puff Daddy, now known as Diddy. “Puff wanted me to be the first Notorious B.I.G.,” Scoop shared. “He was like keep rapping hard, we gonna put you in a suit and tie and make raps for women — that’s Biggie," he added.

“Something in my heart and soul made me understand even though I was rapping hard, I was dancing and performing like Doug E. Fresh. I wasn’t that guy. And something at the last minute told me not to do it. And I went into the music business and now here I am. I become who I was really supposed to be at the end of the day.”

After working with Teddy Riley, Scoop got “a regular job” at Mount Sinai Hospital. However after continuously getting written up, he ended up going to intern for Diamond D. After putting in the work and “being such a great intern” for a year and a half, Tommy Boy Records found me and that’s when they gave me a job.

Scoop also shared that when it came to his plans, not making it, was simply not an option. “If you’re gonna do something, do it all the way,” he said, of having no plan B. “You’ve got to do this like nothing else is gonna work. There’s no way that you can become successful at anything unless you put your heart, your soul, your time, and your dedication in…. I didn’t even get into women until I was 19, 20 years old, because my whole focus was Hip-Hop.”

As for people on the internet telling him he’s a one-hit wonder, Scoop has a message. “Well, I’m a one-hit wonder that wakes up in Osaka, Japan, and go to sleep in Montana. I’m a one-hit wonder that wakes up in New York and goes to sleep in the South of France… I’ve been blessed to do this, and Hip-Hop has brought me there.”

Also up for discussion was the current state of the genre. “The fact that we have not had a #1 song this year is indicative of how the marketplace feels about the quality of the music,” Scoop said, simply and plainly. “You can call it hate, you can call it whatever, but the numbers and the facts are never gonna tell a lie.”

For all that and more listen to the entire conversation above.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Mike Street

Back with another installment of Audacy’s Hip-Hop Made, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip-Hop, Flo Rida sat down Power96’s DJ Zog to talk Miami Bass & Booty music.

As Zog pointed out, “in New York they had Biggie and the East Coast stuff, on the West Coast they had Tupac… but down in Miami…we had our own version of Hip-Hop… Miami Bass & Booty music.”

“I actually was the hype man for 2 Live Crew,” Flo Rida said of his relation to one of the greats and Miami native rap group, sharing a bit about their influence on him as an artist.

“Just growing up… with what the Dade County Youth Fair used to be, I just remember going out there and watching all the groups perform. And one in particular was 2 Live Crew, that stood out. So for me to be able to go out on the road and perform with Fresh Kid Ice as the hype man, y’know, definitely helped me with where I’m at today.”

"One of the videos in particular that was my favorite was ‘Move Somethin.’ Watching that video man, it definitely… just inspired me and make me wanna, y’know, just as we bringing the energy today, that was the energy back then. That definitely made me wanna invest all my time and my passion into Hop-Hop.”

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by DJ Zog

Switching it on 'em last minute with a brand new list of questions he doesn’t usually get asked instead of the ones he had planned, Mike Street caught up with DJ Kid Capri to talk about everything from the struggle of carrying crates of vinyl back in the day to events and places he wants to perform at in the future, and more.

After expressing how the new era of entertainers would never know the struggles of the old school way of doing things, Kid Capri recalled, “I carried 15 crates around the world man. I was the first dude to own two tour buses… in Hip-Hop. Because of traveling with 15 crates of albums on airplanes, paying for all the weight, paying for all the extra baggage, I just said you know what I’m gonna buy me a bus.”

"When I went to go buy me a bus, they laughed at me, like ‘people don’t buy buses, the album come out they go on tour for three or four months, they send the bus back,’” Not concerned, Kid bought his first bus and eventually another even bigger one.

Learning to embrace the new wave of using Serato instead of vinyl on turntables after a push from DJ Jazzy Jeff, these days Kid Capri is back to traveling on planes for gigs. But, as he explained, the conversion wasn’t easy.

“As many things as I innovated, I like to keep things lookin’ a certain way. And when I had all the records behind me, it just made it look like a big production. Running to get the record, catching it at the last minute, dropping it, you know, it amazes the crowds. So I thought that once we get on the Serato it was gonna take that feeling away from it, but it just got even more crazier… my shows they be nuts.”

While Serato has made its way into Capri’s scope of skills, he has no plans of making the switch to controllers any time in the future.

Speaking of future, when asked if there are any events or places he has yet to but wants to DJ at, Capri didn’t really have anything in mind, and focused his answer more on appreciating the amazing places he’s already been and the incredible crowds he’s been blessed to perform for. “I’m sure there’s lots of places I haven’t been, plenty events I haven’t done. But I’ve done so many it’s kind of hard to like think of it,” Capri expressed. “Because everything that comes out they either call me first to do, or do the last of it, or do the main event of it, and it be in every city, every state.”

He continued, “I’ve been to every state, every island, all through Europe, and to get that kind of love for as long as I have, it’s truly a blessing. Because they got people in they own city that can entertain them, and for them to call me… they don’t have to do that… but that’s what we work for.  As long as you work and you really work hard and you really care about your fans, it’s gonna resonate with them and they always gonna wanna feel that energy… so I’m grateful in that way.”

Listen to it all plus more, including questioning the common list of Top 5 GOATs, wondering why Twista is never brought up, and wanting to be viewed in Hip-Hop history for doing it “the right way.” Press play on the interview above for all of it.

Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Mike Street