You could hear the sincerity in his voice. I truthfully expected him to say more. It was my job to ask more. I think I was taken back by the sincerity of his response. There was a huge vacuum of leadership in Black America. The young ones were trying to find their way. I understood him.

LL Cool J is a Queens rapper who obliterated classic MC’s like Kool Moe Dee, Ice T and others like Canibus. He was known for dissing a lot of MC’s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agP6Lkxvs50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwAFN7WXomk

Boogie Down Productions was a Bronx born duo lead by rapper KRS ONE. They went hard at MC Shan for his song The Bride. It was one of the first, and legendary rap conflicts ever. KRS ONE would go on to be known as one of the best MC’s of all time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8csxCThXRII

Classic rap song about Queens from MC Shan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqEt2WH53HY

A TV show from 1988 about aliens who come to live in America from outer space. It chronicles the struggles they have trying to survive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKFED7gE7fQ

This is a great interview with Nas pops https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3epUQlD4oY

Possibly one of the best books on Hip-Hop ever written :) In all seriousness, it is among other things the first book connecting Hip-Hop, chess and martial arts. It features classic interviews with Run DMC, Slick Rick, GZA, RZA and many others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFeqdgqXusI

Arguably one of the best posse cuts ever. In it’s time, this was pretty much unprecedented. Posse cut line ups were made by artists to ensure heat from start to finish. They were repping their city, their squad their coast. There was no easy way to get put on. You had to be dope. Today, corporations choose who gets in on the cipher. In these days artists put on who they knew was raw. Nas was pretty unknown until he opened this track. The rest, is history in the making https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-zndpG0eS8

The biggest magazines from The Bay Area on Hip-Hop at the time were The Bomb founded by Dave Paul, and 4080 . The number 4080 came from A Tribe Called Quest lyric about the shadiness of the rap industry. The magazine had a unique balance of local and national coverage that made The Bay a haven for rappers from all over the country.

I don’t know if he did this song before or after he said the words to me, but not long after the song Credit is Due dropped. It was a B-side but I don’t remember what single it was for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNJ6_WfvFG0