On April 16th, 1955, the man who birthed hip hop culture, The Godfather Of Hip Hop, the inventor of beat juggling (merry go round looping), DJ, Jamaican Immigrant, the inventor of the terms 'B-Boy' & 'B-Girl', the one depicted in the HBO Series Vinyl, international spokesperson for Hip Hop, and founder of Kool Herc & the Herculords Dee Jay Kool Herc (Clive Campbell) was born in Kingston, Jamaica. Herc transplanted The Jamaican Sound System culture to NYC. He was raised around neighborhood parties in Kingston that showcased a DJ’s record collection, loud speakers, and toasting (spitting rhythmic rhymes over a Dub plate to get the crowd hyped). His family moved to The South Bronx when he was 12 (1967), and soon afterwards, got into graffiti writing, record collecting, and basketball. His Dee Jay name derives from his crew and classmates. They called him Hercules because of his height, build, and demeanor on the basketball court.
Hercules was shortened to Herc, and he started hosting back-to-school parties with his sister (Cindy Campbell). Herc used 2 turntables, two amps, and two speakers-playing funky songs with short periods of drums, or full instrumentation without vocals (breaks). He noticed the crowd would get hyped during these parts of the song-the best parts…so he bought two copies and only played those parts-The Break! This was the invention of what he called 'The Merry-Go-Round.' Although his loops weren’t always on beat, he soon mastered the technique. He coined the term ‘break’ or ‘break beat;’ and 'Break Dancers,' which was shortened to B-Boys and B-Girls. They’d take over the dance floor, when he spun classics like The Jimmy Castor Bunch-It’s Just Begun and James Brown-Sex Machine (featuring Bootsy & Catfish Collins). Herc is the reason people can loop today, and all industries worldwide use it-from advertisers to filmmakers. DJ Kool Herc is 64 today.
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On April 16th, 1965, one of the funniest comedians to come out of the post Richard Pryor school of comedy-actor, producer, TV personality, former host of Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam and the star of the sitcom simply called Martin-Martin (Fitzgerald) Lawrence was born in Frankfurt, Hesse, West Germany (but he represents Washington, D.C.). He’s named after Martin Luther King, Jr., and John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Martin was pretty much a class clown, all through his primary school years. As a teen he got into boxing, and became a top Mid-Atlantic Golden Gloves contender. He started taking comedy seriously after high school, moved to NYC, and regularly performed at The Improv. He also appeared on Star Search, making it to the final round. He was noticed by Columbia Pictures, who were the producers of the reboot of What’s Happening Now!, and they cast Martin in the role of Maurice. Spike Lee noticed his comedic talents on the show, and put him in his 1989 classic Do The Right Thing.
In 1990 he appeared as the stank breath DJ in House Party, alongside Kid 'N Play, Tisha Campbell, and Robin Harris (as Bilal-also in House Party 2). He was the butt of the joke in the first 2 installments, meaning he was there as a jester, something for the crowd to laugh at and not with. His comedic talent from those films, however, secured him a supporting role in Eddie Murphy’s 1992 film Boomerang. That same year, Russell Simmons hired him as host of Def Comedy Jam. He hosted the HBO show for seven years before FOX came calling, and gave him his own sitcom (co-starring Tisha Campbell from the House Party series) Martin. Martin Lawrence is 54 today. It's ironic that FOX built their station on urban viewers-but now cater to a totally different demographic.
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On April 16th, 1947, one of the best centers to ever play in the NBA-social activist, coach, author, TV personality, actor, sports icon, cultural ambassador, the greatest player in college basketball history (UCLA), the ‘second best basketball player in NBA history’ (#1 Michael Jordan), former Yoga master, Bruce Lee pupil, Milwaukee Buck and L.A. Laker-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.) was born in New York City, New York. Kareem was a 7-foot 2-inch center, most known for his signature shot-The Skyhook. He played high school ball at Power Memorial in Manhattan, was the center for UCLA from 1966-1969, and was the first-round draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in 1969.
Kareem has too many stats to fully list in this post. However, some of his notable awards include being inducted into The College and NBA Hall Of Fame, averaging of 24.6 points per game, having his jersey retired feverywhere he played, being a three-time College Player Of The Year, NCAA Champion and Consensus 1st-Team All-American, five-time NBA All-Defensive 1st Team (six-times Second Team), 19-time NBA All-Star, and six-time NBA Champion (with two different teams). All of these stats show that Kareem had a direct effect on a team’s success or failure when he played with them. He’s one of the few former NBA players, turned coach, to win two NBA titles as an assistant coach. Interesting Fact: Kareem was an avid jazz fan. He had an extensive record collection of mostly post-bop and fusion LPs. He lost it when his house burned down. The man that made goggles ‘cool’ is 72 today.
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HONORABLE MENTION: On April 16th, 1929, the man that co-wrote Let’s Get It On-with Marvin Gaye-Ed Townsend (Edward Benjamin Townsend) was born in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He co-produced Marvin's Let’s Get it On LP, which was Gaye’s 13th album (Tamla Records/Motown 1973). He also wrote for others, performed as a solo act, and sang on American Bandstand the first month it aired. He earned a Purple Heart, as a veteran of The Korean War (U.S. Marine Corps). Townsend signed to Capitol Records in the late 1950's, and released several sides. Interesting Fact: His son was a member of the 80's R&B band Surface (David Townsend). Ed Townsend was 74 when he passed away.
On April 16th, 1969, one of the most innovative rock bands from the 1960's counterculture movement-MC5-was dropped from their label Elektra Records. MC5 were the Anglo version of The Black Panther Party. They patterned their band and movement off The Panthers, and represented for the disenfranchised White people in their community of Detroit, MI. Their ‘little brother’ group was The Stooges. MC5’s music is really dope if you like gritty, proto-punk, blues based rock ‘n’ roll. They were dropped because Hudson’s department store in Detroit wouldn’t sell their LP, due to the song title on their LP-Kick Out the Jams, MF! MC5 took an ad out saying "F Hudson’s," and as a result, Elektra dropped them.
On April 16th, 1971, Tejano music pioneer, Latino Music Icon, singer, dancer, actress, songwriter, model, fashion designer, and spokesperson-Selena (Quintanilla-Perez) was born in Lake Jackson, TX. TOV covered her death in the March 31st post, please refer to it for more information. Selena’s musical legacy goes back the mid 1980's, when she started signing professionally. By the late 80's, she’d secured a prominent spot in the Tejano music circuit. She experienced her greatest success in the early 90's, when she began appearing in commercials, designing clothes based off her stage outfits, and acting in films. She was murdered by her former fan club president and fashion boutique manager Yolanda Saldivar when she was just 23.
On April 16th, 2007, jazz musician, free jazz innovator, sideman, saxophonist, composer, bandleader, plastic sax player, arranger, producer-Ornette Coleman won the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his LP Sound Grammar (released September 12th, 2006 on Sound Grammar Records). It was a live album, recorded at his October 14th, 2005 concert in Italy. It’s just under an hour long, has nine songs, was recorded when he was 75 years old, and is mostly free jazz-totally improvised. It became the first sound recording to win the prize and the first for purely improvised music (nothing written per say and devoid of lyrics). Interesting Fact: the panel broke the ‘customary’ rules, and nominated Coleman themselves after purchasing his CD.
For more information on any musician or event reviewed in posts, or for additional information on The Wandering Eyes Blog overall, use the search bar and search the artist or event using keywords. It’s like a Google search for the site. A myriad of information, covering several topics exists on this site going back to 2013 when it was created. PEACE