#Early 80s hip hop series
I said this to both Kurtis and Melle when we shot, ‘There is no doubt that without you guys, the world would be a different place.’ I would certainly be a different person, that’s for sure.”Ĭassidy calculates that since he began the series on the web as a reaction to quarantine in May 2020, he’s passed the mic to 190 of his R&B and hip-hop favorites. … And then Melle Mel, who was born in the Bronx, performed what is widely regarded as the most important hip-hop song in history, ‘The Message,’ as part of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. When you think about the exposure that gave to a new culture and a new music, it’s kind of surreal. I’ve thought a lot about what that means since I filmed his segment, and it’s chilling to think about how immense of an impact Kurtis had on global pop culture with that one television appearance. Of the two hip-hop originators, he says, “Kurtis Blow, who was raised in Harlem, was the first hip-hop artist on Soul Train.
He shaped the era of music I celebrate on this edition in so many ways, and he continues to do so today.” I don’t know how many living artists can say that, besides Smokey Robison. This is something we kind of know, but that I didn’t actually compute till we put this all together, that Charlie has released music in six decades. Of the Gap Band singer, Cassidy says, “Since I started filming ‘Pass the Mic’ a year and a half ago, I have always dreamed of having Charlie Wilson on the show. And Stephanie Mills won amateur night at the Apollo at age 11 six times in a row, before becoming the Grammy-winning international R&B icon that she is.” “I always discover ties that the artists have to the particular theme of the show. “I always look up the artists when we shoot and learn things I didn’t know,” he says. If I could go back in time to live through another era, this would be the time that I’d put on my DeLorean’s flux capacitor.”Įven though “Pass the Mic” is filmed at his home and those of the participating stars, Cassidy is particularly happy that his special will follow the first “Soul Train Awards” to be broadcast from the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. I’ve always been fascinated by this widely influential intersection. “I listened to surreal first-hand stories about a time in the very early ’80s when the fledgling hip-hop culture of the South Bronx merged with the art world and punk-rock scene of downtown New York City. “The conversations I had filming this edition, I never wanted to end,” Cassidy says. As usual with “Pass the Mic,” the stars will come on camera to sing or rap a verse or two of their prominent hits over the host’s beats in a continual medley (interrupted only for commercials, of course, since the show made the transition to television). The years of the songs on the show span from 1975 to 1985, Cassidy tells Variety.
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