Backspin: Milwaukee's First Hip-Hop Song Radio Milwaukee

We begin the search for Milwaukee's first hip-hop song. But first we have to understand the origins of hip-hop before it got to Milwaukee, and the fertile ground for the genre that Milwaukee provided in the early '80s.

A fertile music culture in Milwaukee lays the groundwork for a new art form. In the early '80s there is an opportunity to make Milwaukee into the next Motown -- it just needs one charismatic entrepreneur to take advantage of it.

A businessman with a business plan finds a group of energetic local kids who model themselves on James Brown and convinces them to record what might be Milwaukee's first hip-hop song.

Controversy swirls around Milwaukee's first hip-hop song. A group of MCs, DJs and musicians who were there weigh in on the scene, the time, and the true beginning of hip-hop in Milwaukee.

The leader of one of hip-hop's greatest groups, Arrested Development's Speech talks about the impact that Milwaukee had on him, and the impact he had on the city and the world.

Justin and Tyrone settle the debate. We hear Milwaukee's first hip-hop song in full and put an end to this journey for Milwaukee's first hip-hop song.