Great Debate: 7 Times ‘Hip-Hop’ Was Used in Print Before Historians Say

"It was perhaps that casual use in “Rapper’s Delight” that lead some to surmise that the meaning of the term hip-hop wasn’t clearly understood by party-goers in the Bronx or that it hadn’t been meaningfully defined until Manhattan took an interest. But this looks to have been a mistake on the part of regional and/or cultural outsiders."

To read my latest piece celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop, zip on over to my Medium page by clicking here. 

The Size Of A Tiny Crater On The Moon [Hotlinked™]

Phase 2 photographed by MikaV

On December 13, 2019, I would read in the news that my hero, Phase 2 (born Michael Lawrence Marrow), had died from the quiet battle he was having with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He was 64. 

The news left me drained. So much so that I couldn’t even write about his death. What should I say? For more than a month, my blog was silent on his passing. But then it dawned on me–finally–that everything I’d want to say was already covered in my unpublished interview questions. So I publish them here now, in fond memory of Phase 2.

A super cool interview with NY graffiti & flyer legend Phase 2 in IGA Eye On Design Magazine #04

IGA Eye On Design Magazine #04

Back in October of 2018, graphic designer and teaching fellow at Maryland Institute College of Art, Jerome Harris, reached out to me after he'd happened across that little 2012 blog post I wrote on the 1980s hip-hop party flyers of legendary New York graffiti artist, designer and art historian Phase 2.

Jerome had had the honor of curating a show in September 2018 exploring the work of black graphic designers for the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Phase 2's hip-hop handbills were a big part of the show and IGA Eye On Design, a handsome print mag devoted to design, asked the curator to work up a long form piece on the influential (and somewhat illusive) Phase 2.

I was kindly asked if I could be interviewed to get my thoughts on the impact of Phase 2 on graphic design, graffiti art and hip-hop culture as a whole. And I, of course, couldn’t be more pleased to get any chance to talk at length about the dude who's always been one of my biggest creative inspirations.

 eyeondesign.aiga.org

Because he'd been largely unable to pin Phase himself down for a Q&A, Jerome had also reached out to half dozen Phase 2 enthusiasts in addition to me, including Charlie Ahearn (director of Wild Style) to flesh out the piece. I was given a fairly lengthy list of questions that allowed me to cover a lot of ground...but ninety percent of it wound up on the proverbial 'cutting room floor’ when Jerome was finally contacted by the illusive subject himself!

Nonetheless, I was flattered to see that Jerome was using my earliest personal recollection of Phase 2’s impact on hip-hop culture in New York and beyond to help frame the intro of his super cool interview with Phase 2 for the March edition of Eye On Design magazine. And I'm glad that I got the chance to be even a small part of this amazing retrospective.

Priced at $19 + shipping & handling, print editions of the gorgeous Eye on Design #04 (the "Worth" issue) are available at premier retail locations in cities across the US, Japan, the UK, Italy, Germany, China, Taiwan, and several more far flung locales. It'll also be available for digital download for only $9, at some point. But you can order a copy of the print edition today.

Oh, and if you're in Chicago and I like you like that...I may let you borrow mine. LOL

Paco Taylor, Esq.

Funky Flyer Junkie

Phase 2 - April, 1981

Maur – March, 1981

Buddy Esquire - November, 1981

It could easily be argued that one of the most indispensable, though under appreciated, elements of early hip-hop were the industriously-made handbills (aka flyers) that were produced to promote hip-hop parties throughout the New York metro. Phase 2, the most prolific flyer rocker of the time, writes that between 1978 and 1979, flyer production reached its creative zenith with the pieces made not only by himself, but skilled designers like Buddy Esquire, Sisco Kid, Eddie Ed, Maur, and others.

In October of 2004, soulstrut.com would feature on its website a staggering collection of roughly 150 of those classic flyers from the personal archives of a collector called Dustykid. And as others have most certainly done, I downloaded the collection to my own archives. But I think that I may have taken things just one step further. 'Cuz I'm geeky like dat, I wanted to be able to examine the flyers in a more accurate historical context, so I actually organized 'em in chronological order.

I should mention now that it wasn't exactly easy. In fact, many of the flyers only included the day and date of the event, but no year. So the task frequently required my referencing a digital calendar, to determine in which years various days and dates coincided.

The earliest flyer in the collection dates to June of 1979, and the last dates to October of 1986. (Okay, I might have left out the three flyers from '87 that didn't live up to my standards!) Because Dustykid was good enough to share the collection with the world wide web, at some future point I plan to share my chronologically sequenced set with those who might also be interested in such geekery.

In the meantime, feel free to click the link below to download one of my favorite recordings from the period when the funkiest flyers were being made. That's right, true believers, the L Brothers vs. the Herculoids, live at the Bronx River Center! I found this and a few other vintage recordings like it on the interwebs some years back. People often like to tout the phrase "real hip-hop," but this recording audibly illustrates what real hip-hop actually sounds like.

The L Bros vs. The Herculoids at the Bronx River Center (1978)

Archive #6: The Sure Shot Flyer Rockers

When I moved to AZ in the mid-1990s, I met and became fast friends with the crew behind Tempe's now gone, but legendary Style Rock Hip Hop Shop. From Kangol brims, vintage Adidas Run-DMC jerseys and suede Puma Clydes, to b-boy breaking videos, spray tips, fat laces and graffiti mags, the Style Rock Shop had it all– and had it in spades.

To promote the shop, a weekly series of handbills were made by Style Rock staffers Storm (aka Weapon X) and RobGoblen. The dynamic duo rocked these flyers under the collective moniker of Sure Shot Flyer Rockers, a name that – for folks like myself – recalled the freshness of New York's "sure shot" flyer rocking king Phase 2.

Some time back, Storm gave me a rough idea of how many of these flyers had been made over the span of a few years, but I can't recall that number now. I only collected nine of 'em, which isn't at all being said as a lament; until today I didn't recall having any at all. And even a small collection of these flyers gives a nice snapshot of a very cool time in Phoenix-metro area hip-hop.

Submitted for your perusal: the Style Rock Shop flyers.