the world of hip hop
Q: Enlighten us on the background of Tha Reel Hapz.
A: When I started Tha Reel Hapz, it was initially centered around conscious Hip Hop. I wanted to create a solid platform to expose Hip Hop artists from my hometown, Indianapolis, Indiana, but unknown to me, it started branching out to other areas. I, then, started introviewing people in the communities such as activists, authors, preachers and getting different views and perspectives on issues which are viewed as controversial through the media and other outlets. So the sole purpose of the magazine was to look at the whole Hip Hop situation and talk about it in depth.
Q: What’s your take on Hip Hop?
A: As far as Hip Hop, I think it started out with people, basically, talking about what they wanted to do, such as driving fancy cars, having money beyond their dreams & etc.
Q: Tell us more about what changes you’ve seen in the Hip Hop era.
A: I can only go back to as far as 1979. I remember when I was probably around fourteen years old, at the time, a record being played by the Sugar Hill Gang, Wrapper’s Delight, which helped to spark some of my interest in the Hip Hop scene. It wasn’t the first time I had heard the song in a party-like setting. My cousin and I were at my Aunt’s house and at the time she had several older people there. In fact, we were supposed to be in the back room, but we managed to find our way to where the party was and onto the dance floor. We were actually dancing and mingling with these older people. I guess you could say we had the “village thing” going on. It was something about the whole vibe that day. They were dancing and moving around and it became, what I called, “infectious.” That’s when I decided to launch my writing career. I was putting words down, but they weren’t rhyming. I was finding my way in the process.
WITH JOHN RESNOVER JR.
FEATURED:
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fuzionzmagazine.com Jul/Aug 2014 4